Census: UK MPS launch drive for separate Sikh ethnicity

LONDON :A group of British MPS have launched a year-long campaign to lobby for Sikhism to be added as a separate ethnicity tick-box in the next UK census in 2021, after the country’s statistical authority, in a recently released White Paper, concluded that it was not required. The date for the next UK census has been confirmed as March 21, 2021, subject to Parliamentary approval.

The All-party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for British Sikhs accused the Office of National Statistics (ONS) of ignoring ‘overwhelming’ community support for such an additional category to ensure fair treatment of British Sikhs and address racial discrimination.

“The ONS with its latest proposals in the White Paper has now opened itself up to legal action and a claim of institutionalising discrimination against Sikhs,” said Labour MP Preet Kaur Gill, Chair of the APPG for British Sikhs. “MPS, with the support of gurdwaras, organisations and the community, are starting a year-long nationwide campaign to put this right and an ethnic tick box to be added when the Census Order 2019 is presented in the House of Commons,” she said.

In a recently released White Paper, titled ‘Help Shape Our Future: The 2021 Census of Population and Housing in England and Wales’, the ONS had said that the estimates of the population can be met through data from the specific response option in the religion question.

“The ONS does not propose adding an additional specific response option to the 2021 Census ethnic group question because of the evidence that this would not be acceptable to a proportion of the population,” the White Paper states.

“There are differing views within the population as to whether a specific response option should be added to the 2021 Census, and views on each side are passionately held… All respondents who stated they were ethnically Sikh (in question versions with or without a specific Sikh response option) also stated their religious affiliation was Sikh,” it notes.

Sikhs are already recognised as a separate religion in the optional religious question introduced in the 2001 Census. The UK’S Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000 placed an obligatory and specific duty on the country’s public authorities to monitor and positively promote race equality in the provision of public services.

As per some British groups such as Federation UK, public bodies tend to only reference the ethnic groups used in the census and demand a separate ethnic tick-box to ensure Sikhs have fair access to all public services.

“The recommendations fully recognise the need for good data on the Sikh community,” said John Pullinger, UK’S National Statistician, who has also written to the APPG for British Sikhs with assurances.

The Network of Organisation (NSO), which had campaigned against such a separate ethnicity tick-box, welcomed the conclusions of the White Paper as ‘common sense’.

MPS, with the support of gurdwaras and the community, are going to get an ethnic tick box added when the Census Order 2019 is presented in the House of Commons. PREET KAUR GILL, Labour MP