London: Here on Wednesday Preet Kaur Gill MP reportedly challenged the Cabinet Office Minister Rt. Hon. Damian Green in Parliament on the failure of public bodies to monitor Sikhs as part of the Race Disparity Audit. His response showed his lack of understanding of the legal status of Sikhs as an ethnic group as well as a religion.
Preet Kaur Gill the Labour MP from Birmingham, Edgbaston and the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs asked.
“Why have Sikhs, who are recognised as a separate ethnic group in legislation, been excluded from the audit? Will he put that right by ensuring that Sikhs are not further discriminated against and that the 2021 census will include a Sikh ethnic tick box?
Damian Green replied: “Religion is not routinely collected in many of the 130 data sets, so it would be impossible to include. It is not a question of excluding any particular group.” This demonstrated the Minister who must in the next few months recommend to Parliament the Census 2021 questions does not understand the legal status of Sikhs as not only a religion, but also as an ethnic group.