Race Disparity Audit

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 1:30 pm on 10 October 2017.

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Photo of Damian Green Damian Green First Secretary of State and Minister for the Cabinet Office 1:30, 10 October 2017

I can only reply to the hon. Lady with what I said to Afzal Khan. 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. Many of the data sets have existed for decades, and we as a society have to decide over time how much personal information we want to collect and publish on every individual in this country. It is sometimes helpful to collect such information, because it helps public policy making, but people sometimes regard it as intrusive. Our view on that may change over time, and we can always have discussions in this House about what level of personal information we want to give to Governments and then have Governments publish, so that might be a way to aid public policy making, and I am happy to discuss that with her.