Jas Athwal

This Government's approach is to resolve the issue at the source by tackling the reasons women and girls are pushed into period poverty to start with. We are protecting women’s living standards, alongside the public services they rely on, so that no one has to go without life's essentials.

We are also continuing to make free period products available through several different avenues, including in schools and hospitals, to ensure that they are accessible to those most in need.

This government is clear that someone’s race or ethnicity should never be a barrier to success. We are taking a number of steps across government to address race inequalities through our mission-based programme of reform and our Plan for Change.

As set out in the King’s Speech last July, we are committed to introducing mandatory ethnicity and disability pay gap reporting for large employers. We have been discussing our proposals with trades unions, employers and their representative bodies and others and

have published today a consultation on our proposals.

These measures will be part of the draft Equality (Race and Disability) Bill.

This Government is committed to transforming the lives of working women across the country, regardless of geographical location; this includes going further and faster to close the gender pay gap.

Tackling the gender pay gap will put more money in women’s pockets and help deliver on our Plan for Change, increasing household income.

Amongst a range of measures in the Employment Rights Bill which will support the lives of all working people, we are taking the first steps towards requiring employers to publish action plans alongside their gender pay gap figures. These action plans will detail the effective steps employers are taking to improve gender equality in their workplace, and narrow their gaps.

Statistics on religion or belief for the Attorney General’s Office, as at 31 March 2024, are published on the Civil Service Statistics 2024 (Table A3). The Cabinet Office publish the information annually.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Gentleman's Parliamentary Question's of 3rd June is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Gentleman's Parliamentary Question's of 3rd June is attached.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Gentleman's Parliamentary Question of 3rd June is attached.

Departments should be recording Sikh or Sikhism, as a religion or belief and not as an ethnicity.

Departments are advised to refer to Civil Service Statistics 2024 Table A3 where statistics on religion or belief by department as at 31 March 2024 are published: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2024. This includes statistics on those recorded as ‘Sikh’.

This government is taking tough action to reduce public sector fraud.

In January, we introduced the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill, giving us more tools to combat fraud, allowing government to investigate fraud, recover public money and sending fraudsters a clear message: you won’t get away with stealing public money.

The Bill was introduced on 22nd January, and is currently being examined at the Committee Stage.

Utilising emerging technology to counter fraud is vital. That’s why the Public Sector Fraud Authority uses advanced analytics and is developing artificial intelligence tools to help counter fraud experts better understand, prevent and detect fraud.

As of 31^st May 2025, Department for Business and Trade (DBT) employs 63 civil servants who have self-declared as Sikhs. In DBT, Sikhs are recorded as a Religious Group, and not an Ethnic Group.

Revitalising our high streets is a priority for this government. We are delivering across government to create better conditions for high street businesses to thrive.

We have heard businesses’ concerns about the impact of anti-social behaviour in town centres, including in Ilford South. Last month, we introduced the Crime and Policing Bill, which will scrap the effective immunity for low-value shoplifting and do more to protect retail workers from assault. We are also introducing High Street Rental Auction powers for local authorities and over 100 Banking Hubs have now opened - providing essential banking services for businesses and high street users.

Last year the Business Secretary announced a new Business Growth Service which will make it easier and quicker for businesses across the UK to get the help, support and advice they need to grow and thrive. Our Small Business Strategy, to be published later this year, will set out this Government’s plan for further supporting small businesses across key areas, including on the high street.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero currently has 34 employees who have declared their religion as Sikh.

In the HR system religions such as Sikh, are recorded under ‘religion belief’ and not ethnicity.

The Government’s Clean Power 2030 action plan details the Government's strategy to protect people from increased energy bills caused by volatile global gas markets and accelerate our pathway towards greater energy independence through the deployment of clean energy.

Importing cheaper electricity during peak times reduces the need to turn on carbon-intensive domestic generation and enhances security of supply by providing access to a more diverse generation pool that complements our domestic energy mix.

The Government is committed to radically scaling up deployment of technologies such as onshore wind, as demonstrated by our lifting of the planning ban earlier this year.

A clean power system will protect consumers from global gas prices and fluctuations which, as a result of the failure of the party opposite, drove increases of over £1,300 in the electricity price cap for a typical household during the winter of 2022 / 2023.

The Government is increasing investment in alternative methods through delivery of the Replacing Animals in Science strategy. The strategy was supported by £75 million of funding to accelerate the development, validation and uptake of alternative methods, with multi‑year funding secured through the Spending Review to provide stability for key programmes. UK Research and Innovation has already launched a £20 million funding call for a preclinical translational models hub, and Innovate UK has launched a £2 million Contracts for Innovation competition to support the development of alternative approaches. Further investment will be taken forward through delivery of the strategy and associated programmes.

On 3 December 2025, the Secretary of State confirmed in Parliament that the government is exploring how emerging services, such as AI chatbots, interact with the Online Safety Act and what further measures may be required.

The Department has regular discussions with Ofcom about online safety matters. Ministerial meetings are published through quarterly reports on GOV.UK.

The Online Safety Act 2023 places robust duties on user-to-user and search services to tackle abuse and discrimination where it is illegal or harmful to children. These duties apply regardless of whether content is created by AI or not. Services must implement effective systems to prevent, identify, and swiftly remove illegal material. Additionally, in-scope service providers have a responsibility to protect children from ‘priority’ content that is harmful to children, which includes violent content or content that is hateful or abusive based on certain characteristics. Services must also put in place adequate mechanisms for users to report bullying and online harassment.

The government is concerned about the proliferation of AI-enabled products and services that facilitate the creation of deepfake non-consensual intimate images.

Government legislated to ban the non-consensual creation of sexually explicit deepfake images in the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, ensuring that offenders face the appropriate punishments for this atrocious harm. The government is aware of the concerns over the tools themselves and is looking into this closely.

The Online Safety Act protects users from harmful and illegal pornographic content. Extreme pornography is a priority offence, meaning that services must proactively mitigate and remove such content.

In addition, the Secretary of State and Victims Minister are introducing a new offence via the Crime and Policing Bill that will crack down on violent pornography, criminalising the possession and publication of images depicting strangulation and suffocation. This will also be designated as a priority offence under the Online Safety Act, meaning platforms will be required to take proactive steps to prevent users from seeing illegal strangulation and suffocation content.

Since 25 July 2025, services that host, publish or allow the sharing of pornography must also implement highly-effective age assurance to prevent children encountering pornographic content.

These measures are part of the government's Plan for Change to halve violence against women and girls, sending a strong message that dangerous and sexist behaviour will not be tolerated.

The Government believes in the power of grassroots sport. Everyone should have access to quality sport and physical activity opportunities.

We provide the majority of support through our Arm’s Length Body, Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding to support grassroots participation.

Sport England invests in over 90 place partnerships to promote sport and physical activity opportunities in the communities that need it most.

The number of DCMS Civil Servants who are recorded as Sikh is below 5.

In line with Civil Service Statistics guidance, DCMS records Sikh under the classification of Religion.

This Government recognises that grassroots sports facilities are important to communities up and down the country. Everyone, no matter who they are or where they live, should have access to high quality facilities and opportunities to participate in sport and physical activity. Sport England’s site Buddle provides free learning and support resources to inspire and strengthen clubs and community organisations offering sport and physical activity.

The Government has committed to continued funding for grassroots facilities. £123 million is being invested UK-wide via the Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme throughout 2024/25, including support for 20 projects in London.

The Government is dedicated to supporting every aspect of women’s sport and ensuring all women and girls, no matter their background, have access to high quality sport. We want to break down the barriers that exist and prevent women and girls from being active including but not limited to kit, facilities, time and cost. This Girl Can, which recently celebrated its ten year anniversary, is an inspiring campaign that has promoted women’s sport, challenged prejudice and made clear that sport is for everyone.

The Government provides the majority of support for grassroots sport through Sport England, which annually invests over £250 million in Exchequer and Lottery funding. Separately, as a government, we are investing £123 million in inclusive grassroots sport facilities that will support more women and girls to take part in the sports that they love.

In the last financial year, 2023-24, Sport England awarded over £75,000 to Ilford South constituency.

The department is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We have announced that free school meals will be extended to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit from September 2026, lifting 100,000 children across England out of poverty and putting £500 per child back in families’ pockets as set out in our Child Poverty Strategy.

Providing over half a million disadvantaged children with a free, nutritious meal each day supports higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes. This expansion ensures funding is targeted where it is most needed, supporting pupils from low-income families.

The department does not routinely assess the impact of free school meals at constituency level, but national evidence shows the positive effect they have on pupils’ attainment, wellbeing and readiness to learn.

Free school meals are also available to eligible pupils and all infant pupils, alongside programmes such as the Holiday Activities and Food programme.

The School Food Standards set the mandatory nutritional framework for food and drink provided in state‑funded schools in England. They are designed to ensure children receive the energy and nutrients they need during the school day, while giving schools flexibility to design menus that work for their pupils and local circumstances.

Since the School Food Standards were introduced in 2014, the dietary recommendations on free sugar, fibre and sweeteners have changed and the proportion of children living with obesity is high. The department is committed to raising the healthiest generation ever, so we are consulting on proposed updates to the School Food Standards in England to ensure that all food served at school, including ‘grab and go’ options, better reflects current nutritional guidance and support children’s health, wellbeing and learning. The consultation is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/school-food-standards-updating-the-legislative-framework.

As part of our proposals, we are proposing that ‘grab and go’ options must also contain or be accompanied by vegetables or salad.

The department collects information on the ethnicity of pupils annually through the spring school census, in line with the harmonised standards set by the Office for National Statistics and the Government Statistical Service.

The department publishes the data code sets that must be used when submitting information as part of the Common Basic Data Set (CBDS). The CBDS ethnicity code set does not include separate categories for Sikhs or Jews.

The department does not collect information on pupils’ religion.

The Government Statistical Service ethnicity consultation has been promoted across the department’s analytical community. While individual staff may submit responses in their own capacity, the department is gathering input from data collection, statistical publication and policy teams to inform any collective contribution it may make to the consultation.

The department welcomes the opportunity to input into updated harmonised standards and expects to implement them across departmental data collections and statistics where appropriate in due course.

Schools are under no obligation to report data on deepfake intimate image abuse to the department.

The department’s statutory safeguarding guidance, 'Keeping children safe in education', which supports schools and colleges to safeguard and promote the welfare of children, includes robust advice on how to protect pupils online. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-children-safe-in-education--2.

This Government will crack down on fly-tipping by supporting councils to seize and crush more vehicles of fly-tippers, forcing fly-tippers to clean up their mess and bringing in new prison sentences for those transporting waste illegally. We also taking steps to develop statutory fly-tipping enforcement guidance to support councils to consistently and effectively exercise their various enforcement powers.

In the meantime, Defra will continue to work with stakeholders through the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group, such as the National Farmers Union, local authorities and police, to promote and disseminate good practice on tackling fly-tipping.

In Core Defra, as of 30 April 2025, there were 37 employees recording a religious belief of Sikh. 36 of these employees declare to be of an ethnic minority.

The Government is committed to delivering for nature and climate. We are taking action to meet our Environment Act targets, to restore and protect our natural world, and one of the government’s five missions is to make Britain a clean energy superpower, delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero across the economy.

The Government has concluded a rapid review of the existing Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23), including progress on Environment Act targets. The Government published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025, to be followed by publication of a revised EIP later this year. This will include delivery information about how we will meet our ambitious targets.

The Government will also publish an updated plan that will outline the policies and proposals across Defra sectors needed to deliver Carbon Budgets 4-6 and the 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution on a pathway to net zero, in due course.

To support our climate and nature targets we have pledged up to £400 million for tree planting and peatland restoration over the current [2024/25] and next [2025/26] financial year.

Poor air quality continues to be the biggest environmental risk to human health. Responsibility for air quality is devolved in London, but we welcome the progress made in London to address air pollution and improve people’s health. Defra officials regularly meet with the Greater London Authority to discuss air quality.

Fly-tipping is a serious crime which blights local communities and the environment.

Local authorities have enforcement powers to help them tackle fly-tipping, including fixed penalty notices of up to £1000, and prosecution action which can lead to significant fine or even imprisonment. We encourage councils to make good use of their fly-tipping enforcement powers and we are also taking steps so that we may develop further guidance to support local authorities to consistently, appropriately and effectively exercise these existing powers.

We committed to forcing fly-tippers and vandals to clean up the mess that they have created as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour. We will provide further details on this commitment, and other actions to tackle fly-tipping, in due course.

In the meantime, Defra chairs the National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group through which we work with a wide range of stakeholders such as local authorities and the Environment Agency, to promote and disseminate good practice with regards to preventing fly-tipping. Various practical tools are available from their webpage which is available at: https://www.keepbritaintidy.org/national-fly-tipping-prevention-group#.

The Department invites employees to self-declare their diversity using pre-defined criteria including ‘prefer not to say’.

Of employees who completed their data as of 31 May 2025, there are currently 39 individuals who have recorded their religion as Sikh.

Disabled people should be able to travel easily, confidently and with dignity. Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London on a variety of issues including accessibility of their network. Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL is responsible for managing the London Underground.

Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London (TfL) on a variety of issues. However, transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL has overall responsibility for the management of the Elizabeth Line which is operated by their current contractor MTR Corporation (Crossrail) Limited.

The Government will provide £120m of additional funding to extend the Plug-in Van Grant and the Plug in Wheelchair Accessible Vehicle Grant next financial year. Grants for motorcycles, taxis, and trucks are currently available until at least the end of this financial year. All grants are kept under review to ensure the best value for taxpayer’s money.

Zero emission vehicles will receive favourable Benefit in Kind tax rates until at least 2030. They are also exempt from vehicle excise duty (VED) until April 2025, after which electric vehicles will still have preferential first year rates of VED in comparison to the most polluting vehicles.

The Government is committed to accelerating the rollout of charging infrastructure, to ensure electric vehicles are easy to use. There are currently over 74,000 publicly available charging devices and the Government has introduced the Public Charge Point Regulations 2023 to improve consumer experience of charging infrastructure.

The Department adheres to the current harmonised definitions for ethnicity and religion, which are owned and managed by the Office for National Statistics.

I refer my Hon. Friend to the answer I gave on 18 July 2025 to PQ UIN 66615.

The Department notes the plan by the Office for National Statistics for an updated harmonised standard, which will be applied to our departmental statistics where applicable in due course.

This is an open consultation due to close on 4 February 2026, and the Department provided a response on 28 January 2026.

Children in separated and single-parent families are statistically more likely to experience poverty compared to those in non-separated families. Through both statutory and non-statutory arrangements, Child Maintenance payments currently help keep around 120,000 children out of poverty each year.

The Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is committed to ensuring that parents meet their financial responsibilities in full and on time. Recent system changes enable us to identify at-risk cases earlier, allowing caseworkers to intervene promptly where partial payments are made and before payments stop altogether.

Where parents fail to meet their obligations, the CMS will not hesitate to use the full range of enforcement powers available. These powers are applied fairly and in the best interests of children and separated families.