Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.

According to the latest published Civil Service Statistics, as at 31 March 2024, 140 staff in the department, including associated executive agencies, recorded their religion as Sikh. These figures are published in Table A3 of the Civil Service Statistics 2024, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2024.

Updated data as at 31 March 2025 is due to be published by the Cabinet Office in July 2025.

Those who are recorded as ‘Sikh’ are captured in the department’s HR system under ‘Religion’, not as an ethnic group.