The Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Edgbaston and Chair of
the All-Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs, , will table an amendment
in her name to the Census Bill when it comes before the House
today (3rd September).
If passed, the amendment will help tackle the inequalities and
discriminations faced by the Sikh community by improving the
quality and depth of information collected at the next census –
information used by public bodies to help improve services.
In 2016, the UK Sikh Survey reported that almost a fifth of
British Sikhs have encountered discrimination in a public place
and one in seven have experienced workplace discrimination.
Campaigners argue that collecting data on different ethnic
groups, including Sikhs, would enable public bodies to understand
the obstacles facing our communities in greater detail which can
then be used to inform policy planning.
The amendment, which has gained cross-party support would require
the census question on gender identity to be written in such a
way as to provide information about gender identity within
different ethnic groups.
In her speech today, will say:
“Discrimination exists in different ways within different
communities and the only way to successfully understand the
outcomes, the reasons behind discrepancies and to provide
services is to look at intersectional areas including the
breakdown of gender within different ethnic groups.
At the national and local level, public bodies including
schools, hospitals, police forces, local authorities, central
government departments use ethnic group categories specified in
the Census to collect data for public service planning and
decision making.
In total, that is 40,000 public bodies across the country.
This amendment will allow the under-estimation of Sikh numbers
and inadequate allocation of resources to Sikhs based on current
census statistics to be overturned.
According to the Women and Equalities Committee, the quality
and depth of data on ethnicity collected by departments varies
widely, which is hindering efforts to tackle racial
discrimination in public services. As a result of not being
monitored as an ethnic group, Sikhs, both male and female are
left out of the equation in policy decisions.”
-Ends-
Notes to editors
- The Census Bill
is at the Committee Stage of the House of Commons, before
progressing to the Report Stage and then the Third Reading;
- The Census Bill
will make the census question about gender identity and sexual
orientation voluntary by removing the criminal penalty for not
answering them;
- Photo of
attached;
- The full-name
for the Bill is: Census (Return Particulars and
Removal of Penalties) Bill [Lords]: proceedings in Committee and
remaining stages.
