Every parliamentary written question tabled by Jas Athwal this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 61–80 of 142 · this parliament
How many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
The Ministry of Justice records Sikh or Sikhism, as a religion or belief and not as an ethnicity. Please refer to Civil Service Statistics 2024 Table A3 where statistics on religion or belief by department as at 31 March 2024 are published: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2024. This includes statistics on those recorded as ‘Sikh’.
How many Sikhs are employed in his Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
As of 31st May 2025, Department for Business and Trade (DBT) employs 63 civil servants who have self-declared as Sikhs. In DBT, Sikhs are recorded as a Religious Group, and not an Ethnic Group.
How many Sikhs are employed in his Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero currently has 34 employees who have declared their religion as Sikh.In the HR system religions such as Sikh, are recorded under ‘religion belief’ and not ethnicity.
How many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
Statistics on religion or belief for the Attorney General’s Office, as at 31 March 2024, are published on the Civil Service Statistics 2024 (Table A3). The Cabinet Office publish the information annually.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many Sikhs are employed in his Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff can share if they are Sikh via the religion category on our people management system. 0.8 per cent of UK Based Staff have shared that they are Sikh.
How many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
HM Treasury employs 14 Sikh staff (0.7% of the department), and this is recorded under religion in line with the Government Statistical Service (GSS) guidance.
How many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
According to the latest published Civil Service Statistics, as at 31 March 2024, 140 staff in the department, including associated executive agencies, recorded their religion as Sikh. These figures are published in Table A3 of the Civil Service Statistics 2024, available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2024.Updated data as at 31 March 2025 is due to be published by the Cabinet Office in July 2025.Those who are recorded as ‘Sikh’ are captured in the department’s HR system under ‘Religion’, not as an ethnic group.
Media and Sport, how many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
The number of DCMS Civil Servants who are recorded as Sikh is below 5.In line with Civil Service Statistics guidance, DCMS records Sikh under the classification of Religion.
Food and Rural Affairs, how many Sikhs are employed in his Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.
In Core Defra, as of 30 April 2025, there were 37 employees recording a religious belief of Sikh. 36 of these employees declare to be of an ethnic minority.
What assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of new research by Trussell which found that the impact of (a) hunger and (b) hardship drives an additional £6.3 billion in public service expenditure on healthcare each year.
The Government welcomes the Trussell report on the cost of hunger and hardship and recognises that poverty is a wider determinant of health. Under the Health Mission, the Government is committed to supporting people to stay healthier for longer, reducing health inequalities, easing the strain on the National Health Service and driving economic growth.The Department is also working closely with the Child Poverty Taskforce to develop and deliver an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty, tackle the root causes, and give every child the best start in life. The Government is supporting those in need through the Healthy Start scheme and through the roll out of breakfast clubs. The Government is also expanding Free School Meals which will benefit over half a million more children and lift 100,000 children out of poverty.
With reference to Public Health England's report entitled Commercial infant and baby food and drink: evidence review, published in June 2019, what steps he is taking to help tackle commercial baby foods with high levels of added sugar.
Children’s early years provide an important foundation for their future health and strongly influence many aspects of wellbeing in later life.A 2019 evidence review showed that babies and young children are exceeding their energy intake requirement and are eating too much sugar and salt. Some commercial baby foods, particularly finger foods, had added sugar, or contained ingredients that are high in sugar.More recently, a report by the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition highlighted that free sugar intakes are above recommendations, and that commercial baby food and drinks contributed to around 20% of free sugar intake in children aged 12 to 18 months. This does not align with recommendations that, in diets of children aged 1 to 5 years, foods including snacks high in free sugars should be limited, and that commercially manufactured foods and drinks are not needed to meet nutrition requirements.It is vital that we maintain the highest standards for foods consumed by babies and infants, which is why we have regulations in place that set nutritional and compositional standards for commercial baby food. The regulations also set labelling standards to ensure consumers have clear and accurate information about the products they buy. We continue to keep these regulations under review to ensure they reflect the latest scientific and dietary guidelines.
Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to help support councils to provide temporary accommodation in London.
Homelessness levels are far too high, and we are taking the first steps to get back on track to ending homelessness. As announced at the Budget, grant funding for homelessness services is increasing this year by £233 million compared to last year (2024/25). This increased spending will help to prevent rises in the number of families in temporary accommodation and help to prevent rough sleeping. This brings total funding to nearly £1 billion in 2025/26. This Government has inherited record levels of temporary accommodation, and we recognise the pressure this has put on councils. The government regularly takes a wide range of evidence into account when determining the overall level of funding available for local government services, including expected temporary accommodation pressures in 202/26. The majority of funding provided through the Local Government Finance Settlement is un-ringfenced in recognition that local councils are best placed to understand the needs of their communities. The Government has confirmed there will be over £5 billion additional government grant funding available for local government services in 2025/26, over and above increases to council tax. Of this, over £2 billion is being made available through the Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025/26. The Government is clear that, in the short-term, we must prioritise eliminating the worst forms of temporary accommodation such as families in Bed and Breakfast (B&B), other than in genuine emergencies. We have also launched Emergency Accommodation Reduction Pilots, backed by £8 million, to work with 20 local councils with the highest use of B&B accommodation for homeless families, including 11 London Boroughs. This will support LAs to move families into more suitable accommodation. Redbridge is one of the pilot areas we’re working with to test innovative approaches and kickstart new initiatives; sharing the learning across the country. In addition, the £1.25 billion Local Authority Housing Fund will provide capital funding directly to English councils and is expected to around 7,700 homes by 2026. It will create a lasting asset for UK nationals by building a sustainable stock of affordable housing and better-quality temporary accommodation for local communities.
Food and Rural Affairs, what steps he is taking to help meet (a) climate and (b) nature targets.
The Government is committed to delivering for nature and climate. We are taking action to meet our Environment Act targets, to restore and protect our natural world, and one of the government’s five missions is to make Britain a clean energy superpower, delivering clean power by 2030 and accelerating to net zero across the economy. The Government has concluded a rapid review of the existing Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP23), including progress on Environment Act targets. The Government published a statement of the rapid review’s key findings on 30 January 2025, to be followed by publication of a revised EIP later this year. This will include delivery information about how we will meet our ambitious targets. The Government will also publish an updated plan that will outline the policies and proposals across Defra sectors needed to deliver Carbon Budgets 4-6 and the 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution on a pathway to net zero, in due course. To support our climate and nature targets we have pledged up to £400 million for tree planting and peatland restoration over the current [2024/25] and next [2025/26] financial year.
What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help reduce levels of poverty among children in Ilford South constituency.
The Child Poverty Taskforce continues its urgent work to publish the Child Poverty Strategy and is exploring all available levers across government to deliver an enduring reduction in child poverty in this parliament, as part of a 10-year Strategy for lasting change. The Devolved Governments and Local Authorities are a key part of our approach to learning directly about the experience of poverty in different communities and solutions already underway. The Strategy will look at four key themes of increasing incomes, reducing essential costs, increasing financial resilience; and better local support especially in the early years. This will build on the reform plans underway across government and work underway in Devolved Governments. The Taskforce is listening to experts and campaigners and engaging with families, charities, campaigners and leading organisations across the UK to shape and inform the Strategy. The vital work of the Taskforce comes alongside our commitments to triple investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million, introduce a Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and increase the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April to boost the pay of three million workers. To further support struggling households, funding of £742 million will be provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.
What recent assessment she has made of trends in the level of youth unemployment in (a) Ilford South constituency and (b) London.
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Whether she has had discussions with the Mayor of London on improving accessibility on the London Underground.
Disabled people should be able to travel easily, confidently and with dignity. Ministers and officials have regular conversations with Transport for London on a variety of issues including accessibility of their network. Transport in London is devolved to the Mayor and TfL is responsible for managing the London Underground.
Innovation and Technology, what steps he is taking to help protect children from (a) deception, (b) bullying, (c) abuse and (d) harmful content online.
Our priority is the implementation of the Online Safety Act so children benefit from its protections.The Act requires services to protect users from illegal content. Companies will also need to assess whether their service is likely to be accessed by children and provide safety measures to protect them from harmful and age-inappropriate content and activity, such as abuse, bullying, and content that promotes eating disorders or self-harm. Measures include using age assurance and changing their algorithms to filter out harmful content.The illegal content duties are now in effect and the child safety duties will be enforceable by this summer.
What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on steps to help tackle image-based abuse.
The Government was elected with a landmark mission to halve violence against women and girls (VAWG) in the next decade as part of the Safer Streets mission. This will require a cross-government approach, and Minister Phillips at the Home Office and I co-chair the VAWG Ministerial Group which regularly brings together Ministers from relevant Departments to ensure we are using all government levers available to achieve our mission. The Government’s VAWG strategy will be published this year with contributions from across Whitehall, including on joint steps to tackle image-based abuse.Tackling intimate image abuse requires a combined effort from colleagues across government, namely, Home Office, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Ministry of Justice, as well as Ofcom. As a first step, we have confirmed that we will legislate this parliament to make it a criminal offence to create sexually explicit deepfake images. This is alongside introducing new offences for the taking of intimate images without consent and the installation of equipment with intent to enable the taking of intimate images without consent.
What steps her Department is taking to help tackle domestic abuse.
This Government is committed to tackling domestic abuse in all its forms as part of our unprecedented mission to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. We have already announced a series of bold measures designed to strengthen the police response to domestic abuse, protect victims and hold perpetrators to account.In February, under a new approach named 'Raneem's Law', the first domestic abuse specialists were embedded in 999 control rooms in five police forces to advise on risk assessments, work with officers on the ground and ensure that victims are referred to appropriate support services swiftly.To further strengthen protections for victims, in November 2024 we launched new Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs) in selected police forces and courts - which is a huge step towards a new national approach. On 5 March, we expanded the use of DAPOs to Cleveland and we plan to onboard North Wales in the coming months - offering access to these new orders to a greater number of victims. The new DAPO brings together the strongest element of the existing protective order regime into a single comprehensive, flexible order.On 28 November 2024, the Government announced a funding increase of £30 million, meaning a total investment of £160 million in the Domestic Abuse Safe Accommodation Grant in 2025-26. This will enable local authorities to invest in essential support in frontline safe accommodation services.We are determined to deliver a cross-Government transformative approach to halving violence against women and girls, underpinned by a new VAWG strategy to be published this year.
What steps his Department is taking to tackle racial inequalities in access to healthcare.
We have set a Health Mission with the aim of tackling the social determinants of health, focusing on prevention, and ensuring that everyone lives longer, healthier lives. The Government recognises that racial health inequalities are linked to broader socioeconomic factors. Tackling these disparities is central to building a fairer health system where outcomes are not dictated by race or background. We are committed to ensuring that everyone, regardless of where they are born or their financial circumstances, can live longer, healthier lives, spending less time in poor health.We are working to halve the gap in healthy life expectancy between the richest and poorest areas by addressing the social determinants of health. This includes measures to reduce socioeconomic inequalities that disproportionately affect ethnic minority communities, ensuring everyone can live longer, healthier lives.We will also take a cross-Government approach to tackle the root causes of health inequalities. By prioritising prevention, shifting care closer to communities, and intervening earlier in life, we are committed to raising the healthiest generation of children in our nation's history.The National Health Service’s Core20PLUS5 approach targets health inequalities by focusing on the most deprived 20% of the population, the Core20, and specific inclusion health groups and ‘PLUS’ populations, including ethnic minorities. Integrated care boards are responsible for implementing this approach, aiming to reduce inequalities in health outcomes and improve equitable access to healthcare treatments and services.