Written questions by Athwal.

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.

How many Sikhs are employed in her Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.

Home Office workforce Diversity data is published annually: Home Office workforce diversity statistics - GOV.UK.Home Office reporting captures Sikh as a religion in line with Cabinet Office guidance.

How many Sikhs are employed in his Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.

As at 1 June 2025, there were 177 Ministry of Defence (MOD) civil servants who had reported a religion or belief of Sikh. Data for religion or belief is based on self-declarations by individuals on the MOD HR personnel systems. Figures include civil servants in MOD Main Top Level Budgetary areas and the four Executive Agencies (DE&S. SDA, UKHO and Dstl).Sikh category is recorded solely as a religious group, it is not an option for ethnicity.Further published statistics can be found on the following link, tables 6.1 and 6.2 contain the full list of categories for religion and belief: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-diversity-dashboard-index

How many Sikhs are employed in his Department; and whether they are recorded as (a) an ethnic or (b) a religious group.

In line with Office for National Statistics’ guidelines for collecting data on ethnic group, religion, and nationality, the Department records Sikhs as a religious group.Employees of the Department are asked to self-declare diversity data, including on their religious group. Of these, 40 have declared as 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 reduce misogynistic content online.

The Online Safety Act requires in-scope services to proactively tackle the most harmful illegal content, including illegal misogyny.Where this type of abuse is not illegal, services likely to be accessed by children must provide safety measures to protect them from harmful and age-inappropriate content and activity, including content which is hateful and abusive. Category 1 services will also need to remove legal misogynistic content, where it is prohibited in their terms of service.The Act requires Ofcom, the regulator, to publish guidance about protecting women and girls online, which it published in draft for consultation on 25 February.

Whether he has had discussions with (a) hospices and (b) charities on improving end of life care.

In early February 2025, I met with key palliative and end of life care and hospice stakeholders, including Hospice UK, Marie Curie, Sue Ryder, Together for Short Lives, MacMillian, and the Association for Palliative Medicine, where we had a productive conversation about improving palliative and end of life care in England. Long-term sector sustainability, within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan, was discussed at length at this meeting.On visits to hospices, I have also heard from staff on their thoughts on how palliative and end of life care could be improved.

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.

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.

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his (a) Middle Eastern and (b) Palestinian counterparts on reducing the impact of damage to (i) educational and (ii) cultural facilities in Gaza.

We are deeply alarmed by the disproportionate impact of the conflict on children in Gaza. Education is a priority sector, and we are engaging with partners to ensure children's needs are integrated into recovery planning. The destruction of cultural facilities is also highly concerning. The Foreign Secretary welcomed the Arab initiative of a Recovery and Reconstruction Plan for Gaza, alongside Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Italy on 8 March. We are funding technical expertise to support Palestinian Authority planning for Gaza's recovery and reconstruction. The UK is engaging with international partners to support a Palestinian-led recovery.