Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a Sikh ethnic tick-box across government datasets.

Answered by Seema Malhotra

This Government recognises the valuable contribution that Sikh communities make to this country and is committed to bringing down barriers to opportunity for all.

The Government Statistical Service (GSS) ethnicity harmonised standard helps to make statistics and data more comparable, consistent and coherent. The current ethnicity harmonised standard does not recommend collecting data on Sikhs as a distinct ethnic group.

A review of the harmonised standard for ethnicity data collection is underway by the GSS Harmonisation team. As part of this review, a consultation on user needs for additional response options in a future ethnicity standard ran from 28 October 2025 to 4 February 2026.

In total, the consultation received 1,433 responses, 113 of which were from organisations, including four UK government departments. The GSS will publish a full report on the consultation in late summer 2026. This report will include all formal responses to the consultation, and the names of the organisations that responded. The GSS has published its evaluation criteria for additional response options in the new harmonised standard.

Found: Labour; Colchester) Janet Daby (Labour; Lewisham East) Sir Ashley Fox (Conservative; Bridgwater) Warinder Juss

Found: committee clerks for following up with further detail on the above issue, following a question from Warinder Juss

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Andy Slaughter (Chair); Janet Daby; Sir Ashley Fox; Warinder Juss

Found: Warinder Juss: Good afternoon.

Found: Watch the meeting Members present: Andy Slaughter (Chair); Sir Ashley Fox; Warinder Juss; Tessa Munt