Birmingham City Council will become the first in England to recognise Sikh and Jewish identities in its data collection.

A motion tabled by the Birmingham Labour group was passed at a full council meeting. It will change how information is collected from residents in the future. Current council questionnaires do not include the categories, despite the presence of over 30,000 Sikhs and around 2,000 Jewish residents in the city.

The Labour group said the change would help the council better understand its communities and tackle discrimination. It added that Sikhs and Jews have been legally recognised as ethnic groups for more than 40 years, but public bodies have not routinely collected data on them.

The motion was brought by Councillor Jamie Tennant and seconded by councillor Rinkal Shergill.

Tennant said he would encourage other councils to follow Birmingham’s lead.

Shergill said the move was important for communities not recognised in NHS data despite being disproportionately affected by certain diseases and during the pandemic.