Baroness Keeley
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Covid-19: Ethnic Minority Disparities
Baroness Keeley Excerpts(3 years, 8 months ago)
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Kemi Badenoch
My hon. Friend asks a very important question, and he is absolutely right. We know that the virus targets different groups differently, but we do not necessarily have all the answers. Some of the issues around the disproportionate impact on men are to do with occupational risk, which is not something we can control for very easily. That is why we are making sure that we address the pandemic holistically. We do not stigmatise any specific groups, but we make sure that we target information and assistance on those who are most vulnerable, particularly the elderly, who are 70 to 80 times more likely to contract the disease and die from it than other age groups.
Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles South) (Lab) [V]
We know that one of the drivers of the spread of covid-19 is people being unable to self-isolate, because they cannot afford to miss work. That is a particular problem for people in insecure or zero-hours contract jobs. Black, Asian and minority-ethnic people are more likely to be on those contracts, so are less likely to qualify for sick pay. If we want to drive down covid-19 rates everyone needs to be able to self-isolate, so will the Minister work with her colleagues to expand eligibility for the self-isolation support payment to everyone who needs it?
Kemi Badenoch
What I can tell the hon. Lady is that, certainly in the Treasury, we look at how different groups are being impacted to make sure that we target help on those who are most vulnerable. All the various schemes—not just the ones that I have mentioned such as the self-employment income support scheme or the CJRS but others such as kickstarter—are targeted at the groups that are most vulnerable, which includes ethnic minority people in particular.