Department for Energy Security and Net Zero: Ethnic Groups

(asked on 10th July 2025) - View Source

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing specific (a) Sikh and (b) Jewish options for a person’s ethnic group in data collection conducted by his Department.


Answered by
Michael Shanks Portrait
Michael Shanks
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
This question was answered on 18th July 2025

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero follows established government standards and guidance when collecting data on ethnicity. At present, there are no plans to introduce specific Sikh or Jewish options for a person’s ethnic group in departmental data collection. For external surveys and research, we generally use the harmonised ethnicity standards developed by the Government Statistical Service (GSS), which currently do not include specific Sikh or Jewish categories. However, it is important to note that these standards are under ongoing review. In addition, while Sikh and Jewish are not included as ethnic categories, they are represented in the harmonised question on religion.

Reticulating Splines