Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Covid-19: BAME Key Workers

Wednesday 17 June 2020 · 1 question

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Kate Griffiths raised concerns about the loss of BAME frontline workers in her constituency.
  • The Minister acknowledged the importance of collecting better data on ethnicity within the NHS.
  • Government work is focusing on implementing stakeholder recommendations to protect at-risk groups.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Kate Griffiths Con Burton and Uttoxeter
NHS
Context

The MP raises concerns about the loss of frontline workers from the black, Asian and minority ethnic community in her constituency.

Question

In my constituency of Burton and Uttoxeter, we have sadly lost a number of dedicated frontline workers from the black, Asian and minority ethnic community. My constituents are understandably worried, and I have raised concerns previously in the House about how we can protect those in at-risk groups who work on the frontline. Public Health England's recent stakeholder engagement work contains a number of recommendations. Can the Minister give an outline of Government's progress on them?

Answer from Kemi Badenoch (Minister for Women and Equalities)

Many stakeholder recommendations are already in progress, as my hon. Friend states, and as part of existing Government work, we are collecting better data on ethnicity—that was one of the recommendations. We agree that that is imperative and we are working to overcome technical barriers. NHS employers have published some excellent frameworks and occupational risk assessment tools, which can be used now; the race disparity unit is working on communication with covid teams across Departments; and I have said that further research to fill the gaps in PHE's review is one of my immediate priorities.

Answered
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