GSS consultations
This page includes open consultations which are available to members of the Government Statistical Service (GSS). We value all voices across the community and encourage you to share your reflections through these short surveys.
If you have questions about the content on this page, require support, or would like to publicise your consultation, please email GSSNet@statistics.gov.uk.
This consultation closed on 4 February 2026.
Thank you to everyone who took part. The team will begin analysing responses and will publish a consultation update at a later date.
Summary
This consultation asked for views on whether additional tick-box response options were required for a new ethnicity harmonised standard. It took place as part of the Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation team’s ongoing review of this standard, alongside the Office for National Statistics’ consultation on topics for Census 2031, which asked about user needs for ethnic group data alongside many other topics.
The new ethnicity harmonised standard will be recommended for use by data collectors across the GSS, including teams working on the next censuses in the UK. We expect the UK statistics organisations to consider this standard when developing questions, and the relevant census question to align to this standard in England and Wales. We will continue to work closely with teams across the UK to understand their requirements for the standard. Depending on the user needs of each UK nation, this may be delivered through a single version or a suite of harmonised questions.
Further information is available on the consultation webpage, and through the introductory webinar recording.
Slides from the introductory webinar are available in both English and Welsh language:
The GSS Vision: Strength in Numbers was published last year. The GSS Metrics Task and Finish Group launched a short survey in August to help monitor progress on the ambitions, what you feel is working, and what we should focus on improving. The survey closed in September. Findings will be reported to NSEG in November, and updates will be provided to members on action we are taking in early 2026.