Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department was invited by the Office for National Statistics to provide evidence or input into its review of the ethnicity harmonised standard; and what evidence it submitted, including in relation to the recording of Sikhs and Jewish people as ethnic groups.

The Home Office was invited by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to input to the consultation on the ethnicity harmonised standard. Any changes recommended to the ethnicity harmonisations standard will be applied to our departmental statistics, where applicable, in due course.

It was an open consultation, so anyone could provide a response on an individual basis. The Home Office gathered views from across the department and provided an organisational response.

ONS committed to publish all responses to the consultation, with the names of organisations to be included alongside their response. In line with government consultation principles, a response should be published within 12 weeks of the consultation.