Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what funding the Government has allocated to help increase levels of reporting of hate crimes by the Sikh community in each of the last five years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
All forms of racial and religious discrimination are completely unacceptable, including that directed at Sikhs. No one should ever be a victim of hatred because of their race or religion and the government continues to work with police and community partners to monitor and combat this.
Over the last 5 years, the government has provided funding to True Vision – the police hate crime programme and online reporting portal – to encourage communities to report hate crime and reinforce relationships between communities and policing. As a part of this, True Vision has been working with the Sikh Guard (established by the National Sikh Police Association) and Rakkha initiatives to encourage reporting from within Sikh communities.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department holds on the number of Sikh people living in deprivation.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We do not hold or collect data specifically on people from religious communities living in deprivation. The Indices of deprivation (2019) are publicly available and can be used to identify patterns of deprivation across England and Wales which could subsequently be cross-checked against Census data relating to the geographic locations of people who identified with a religion.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will publish all (a) research and (b) reports (i) commissioned and (ii) requested by her Department on (A) the Jewish community and (B) Jewish groups and organisations in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Department has not commissioned any research or reports on the Sikh community, Sikh groups and organisations. The Department did commission some insight research during 2024 with members of the Jewish community in the aftermath of October 7th. We intend to publish the report from this work in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will publish all (a) research and (b) reports (i) commissioned and (ii) requested by her Department on (A) the Sikh community and (B) Sikh groups and organisations in each of the last three years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
This Department has not commissioned any research or reports on the Sikh community, Sikh groups and organisations. The Department did commission some insight research during 2024 with members of the Jewish community in the aftermath of October 7th. We intend to publish the report from this work in due course.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department collects on Sikh people in order to meet its public sector equality duty.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public authorities to have due regard to certain equality considerations when exercising their functions, like making decisions. The Department applies the Cabinet Office's consultation principles when consulting as part of the policy making process.
Individual assessments are made by specific policy teams, and any data involved in the assessment process is not held centrally. Details of MHCLG’s public consultations can be found at: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Citizen Space.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department collects on Jewish people in order to meet its public sector equality duty.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public authorities to have due regard to certain equality considerations when exercising their functions, like making decisions. The Department applies the Cabinet Office's consultation principles when consulting as part of the policy making process.
Individual assessments are made by specific policy teams, and any data involved in the assessment process is not held centrally. Details of MHCLG’s public consultations can be found at: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Citizen Space.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department holds on how many and what proportion of the Sikh population (a) are living in (i) temporary accommodation, (ii) rented accommodation, and (iii) owner occupied housing and (b) are homeless.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The English Housing Survey (EHS) contains details on the demographic profile of households in England. In the published figures for 2022-23, there were 99,000 owner occupied households where the Household Reference Person (HRP) identified as Sikh. Within the rented sectors, there were 7000 private rented households and 15,000 social rented households where the HRP identified as Sikh.
In the published figures for 2022-23, there were 88,000 owner occupied households where the HRP identified as Jewish. Within the rented sectors there were 21,000 private rented households and 6000 social rented households where the HRP identified as Jewish.
The department does not hold information on the religion of households that are homeless or in temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what data her Department holds on how many and what proportion of the Jewish population (a) are living in (i) temporary accommodation, (ii) rented accommodation, and (iii) owner occupied housing and (b) are homeless.
Answered by Rushanara Ali
The English Housing Survey (EHS) contains details on the demographic profile of households in England. In the published figures for 2022-23, there were 99,000 owner occupied households where the Household Reference Person (HRP) identified as Sikh. Within the rented sectors, there were 7000 private rented households and 15,000 social rented households where the HRP identified as Sikh.
In the published figures for 2022-23, there were 88,000 owner occupied households where the HRP identified as Jewish. Within the rented sectors there were 21,000 private rented households and 6000 social rented households where the HRP identified as Jewish.
The department does not hold information on the religion of households that are homeless or in temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle hate crimes based on religion in (a) the West Midlands, (b) Birmingham and (c) Birmingham Edgbaston constituency.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 37961 on 20 March 2025.
Asked by: Preet Kaur Gill (Labour (Co-op) - Birmingham Edgbaston)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing regulations for managing agents.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the Written Ministerial Statement made on 21 November 2024 (HCWS244).