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Written Question
Coronavirus: Minority Groups
Thursday 30th July 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the statement by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that “data suggests a disproportionate burden of illness and death among racial and ethnic and minority groups” from COVID-19; and whether the CDC study has direct implications for the control of the virus in the UK.

Answered by Lord Bethell

To provide a more comprehensive response to a number of outstanding Written Questions, this has been answered by an information factsheet Science of Covid-19 note for House of Lords, which is attached due to the size of the data. A copy has also been placed in the Library.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Ethnic Groups
Wednesday 3rd June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the Institute of Fiscal Studies Are some ethnic groups more vulnerable to COVID-19 than others?, published on 1 May; and what comparison they have made of the findings of that report and their own analysis of COVID-19 and the incidence and impact of that virus within BAME communities.

Answered by Lord Bethell

Public Health England (PHE) led a review to better understand how different factors such as ethnicity, deprivation, age, sex (male and female) and obesity can impact on how people are affected by COVID-19. PHE’s report Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 was published on 2 June 2020 and is attached.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Ethnic Groups
Wednesday 3rd June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the accuracy of the measurement of the differential incidence of COVID-19 within BAME communities.

Answered by Lord Bethell

Public Health England led a rapid review to better understand how different factors such as ethnicity, deprivation, age, sex (male and female) and obesity can impact on how people are affected by COVID-19.

The review found that people from Black ethnic groups were most likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19. Also, death rates from COVID-19 were highest among people of Black and Asian ethnic groups.

These findings did not account for the effect of occupation or comorbidities. These are important factors because they are associated with the risk of acquiring COVID-19, the risk of dying, or both.

A copy of Disparities in the risk and outcomes of COVID-19 is attached.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Ethnic Groups
Monday 1st June 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with governments of other countries about the differential impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities; and what lessons they have learned from any such discussions.

Answered by Lord Bethell

The Department is regularly in discussions with other countries on a wide range of issues of issues relating to COVID-19. COVID-19 presents a global challenge which requires a collaborative response. The Department will continue to work with other countries throughout the crisis and beyond.

Public Health England is undertaking a programme of stakeholder engagement as part of its review into the impact of COVID-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities; this has included the devolved nations. PHE continues to be committed to working with experts in the devolved nations to share learning and identify opportunities for collaboration. PHE is also working with the National Institute for Health Research to undertake an evidence review looking at the factors impacting health outcomes from COVID-19 on BAME communities. The scope of this work will include international evidence.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Industrial Health and Safety
Wednesday 27th May 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the letter sent by Sir Simon Stephens to all NHS Trusts on 29 April which stated "on a precautionary basis we recommend employers should risk-assess staff at potentially greater risk and make appropriate arrangements accordingly"; and what action NHS Trusts should take in response.

Answered by Lord Bethell

Proper risk assessment is key to ensuring the protection and wellbeing of our staff. NHS Employers, working in partnership with key stakeholders, published guidance for employers on 30 April on how to carry out risk assessments particularly for vulnerable groups, to understand the specific risks staff members face from exposure to COVID-19 and actions which employers can take to keep staff safe. NHS Employers will be keeping its guidance to employers under review to reflect any feedback or additional evidence coming to light and signpost to key national guidance where available.


Written Question
Coronavirus: Ethnic Groups
Thursday 7th May 2020

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that a higher proportion of black, Asian and minority ethnic people are dying as a result of COVID-19 than people of other ethnicities; whether they have now established an inquiry into the issue; and if so, what that inquiry has discovered to date.

Answered by Lord Bethell

We are very concerned by the apparent disproportionate number of people from minority ethnic backgrounds who have died, both within the National Health Service and overall. We have asked Public Health England (PHE) to complete a rapid review to understand how COVID-19 may be having an impact on different ethnic groups, and other groups of concern. PHE has begun linking thousands of existing health records for people who have had COVID-19 in order to gather more robust data.

To complement this rapid review by Public Health England, the National Institute for Health Research and UK Research and Innovation issued a joint call on 22 April for research proposals to investigate emerging evidence of an association between ethnicity and COVID-19 incidence and adverse health outcomes.


Written Question

Question Link

Monday 3rd July 2017

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

Her Majesty's Government when they intend to bring forward proposals for a consultation on social care.

Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy

The Government will work to address the challenges of social care for our ageing population, bringing forward proposals for consultation to build widespread support.

We will provide further details on the next steps on social care in due course.

The Government is committed to listening to people’s views on how to reform the social care system, to ensure it is sustainable for current and future generations and that the quality of care improves.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Ethnic Groups
Tuesday 14th July 2015

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, following the Ethnic Inequality and Mental Health Consultation by Lankelly Chase Foundation, what efforts they are making to address the dissatisfaction felt within the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic mental health sector with the Government's lack of commitment to address ethnic inequalities in mental health.

Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton

Everyone should be able to access mental health services according to need. However, we know that there are inequalities in the access to mental health services. For example, older adults, men, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and those who are Deaf are not accessing services in the numbers predicted by prevalence studies. The National Health Service is leading on work on equality of access. We are listening to people with experience of mental health within BAME communities and continuing to make the changes needed to ensure equality throughout mental health services.

There are no plans to make additional resources available for mental health services in BAME communities. However, planning requirements for 2015-2016 require clinical commissioning groups to invest additionally in mental health in line with the growth in their overall funding allocation, which should benefit all communities.

In July 2014, the Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health published guidance for commissioners of mental health services for those from black and minority ethnic communities which is attached and can be found at the following link:

http://www.jcpmh.info/wp-content/uploads/jcpmh-bme-guide.pdf

The Department has been working with NHS England and commissioners to disseminate this guidance which describes what ‘good’ mental health services for people from BAME communities look like.

One of the key priorities of the work in updating the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice, which was published in January 2015, was to eliminate discrimination, including for people from BAME communities. The Department’s published Equality Analysis Equality for all: Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice sets out a range of additional guidance that has been included aiming to address concerns raised by BAME stakeholders and others.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Ethnic Groups
Tuesday 14th July 2015

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of early intervention and preventative mental health services and the extent to which these are used by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.

Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton

Everyone should be able to access mental health services according to need. However, we know that there are inequalities in the access to mental health services. For example, older adults, men, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and those who are Deaf are not accessing services in the numbers predicted by prevalence studies. The National Health Service is leading on work on equality of access. We are listening to people with experience of mental health within BAME communities and continuing to make the changes needed to ensure equality throughout mental health services.

There are no plans to make additional resources available for mental health services in BAME communities. However, planning requirements for 2015-2016 require clinical commissioning groups to invest additionally in mental health in line with the growth in their overall funding allocation, which should benefit all communities.

In July 2014, the Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health published guidance for commissioners of mental health services for those from black and minority ethnic communities which is attached and can be found at the following link:

http://www.jcpmh.info/wp-content/uploads/jcpmh-bme-guide.pdf

The Department has been working with NHS England and commissioners to disseminate this guidance which describes what ‘good’ mental health services for people from BAME communities look like.

One of the key priorities of the work in updating the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice, which was published in January 2015, was to eliminate discrimination, including for people from BAME communities. The Department’s published Equality Analysis Equality for all: Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice sets out a range of additional guidance that has been included aiming to address concerns raised by BAME stakeholders and others.


Written Question
Mental Health Services: Ethnic Groups
Tuesday 14th July 2015

Asked by: Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon (Labour - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to make additional resources available to mental health services in Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities, and if so, what resources they will make available.

Answered by Lord Prior of Brampton

Everyone should be able to access mental health services according to need. However, we know that there are inequalities in the access to mental health services. For example, older adults, men, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and those who are Deaf are not accessing services in the numbers predicted by prevalence studies. The National Health Service is leading on work on equality of access. We are listening to people with experience of mental health within BAME communities and continuing to make the changes needed to ensure equality throughout mental health services.

There are no plans to make additional resources available for mental health services in BAME communities. However, planning requirements for 2015-2016 require clinical commissioning groups to invest additionally in mental health in line with the growth in their overall funding allocation, which should benefit all communities.

In July 2014, the Joint Commissioning Panel for Mental Health published guidance for commissioners of mental health services for those from black and minority ethnic communities which is attached and can be found at the following link:

http://www.jcpmh.info/wp-content/uploads/jcpmh-bme-guide.pdf

The Department has been working with NHS England and commissioners to disseminate this guidance which describes what ‘good’ mental health services for people from BAME communities look like.

One of the key priorities of the work in updating the Mental Health Act 1983 Code of Practice, which was published in January 2015, was to eliminate discrimination, including for people from BAME communities. The Department’s published Equality Analysis Equality for all: Mental Health Act 1983: Code of Practice sets out a range of additional guidance that has been included aiming to address concerns raised by BAME stakeholders and others.