The government will not be specifically recording the “norms and values” of people living in the Netherlands who have roots abroad, despite a parliamentary vote in favour of the idea, prime minister Dick Schoof has said.

On Monday a large majority of MPs voted for a motion requiring government bodies to research and record the “cultural and religious” values held by Dutch nationals with roots in other countries.

The three Christian parties and the Socialists sided with the right-wing government to back the motion, drawn up by VVD parliamentarian Bente Becker.

The motion calls on the government to “keep details of the cultural and religious norms and values held by Dutch people with an immigration background” by, for example, asking the government’s socio-cultural think-tank SCP to publish research and reports.

“Let it be clear that the cabinet is not going to keep track of the opinions of people with a migration background,” Schoof said at his weekly press conference on Friday. The information could however become part of research carried out by the SCP every five years, the prime minister said.

The cabinet, he said, would tread very carefully with the motion because “we know how sensitive it is.”

• Inburgering with Dutch News: understanding normen en waarden

Lawyers have said the motion as it stands contravenes Article 1 of the Dutch constitution and it has been widely condemned as racist and discriminatory because it only covers a specific group of people.

For example, ChristenUnie, which voted in favour, has now said it would “think more carefully” about the possible impact of such a vote if it happened again. The SP has also backpedalled.

Becker herself placed a short film online explaining her motives for the project. In this case, she said, the focus is on people who “may live in parallel societies, who do not embrace democratic values or accept equality between men and women, or gay and straight people.”

The aim, she said, is to gather information so that facts, not gut instinct, guide the current integration debate.

The SCP already looks at a wide range of ideas and attitudes in different parts of Dutch society in various reports, including research focusing on specific immigrant communities.

Belonging

Immigration professor Peter Scholten told the Volkskrant on Saturday that he was surprised by the support for the motion in parliament.

“Dutch people with migration ancestry are again asking themselves ‘when is enough’,” he said. “First you had to speak the language, get qualifications and a job. And now politicians want to know if your religious and cultural values are okay.”