Black and Minority Ethnic Babies: Mortality Rates Debate

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Department: Department of Health and Social Care

Black and Minority Ethnic Babies: Mortality Rates

Baroness Whitaker Excerpts
Wednesday 15th November 2023

(7 months, 3 weeks ago)

Lords Chamber
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Lord Markham Portrait Lord Markham (Con)
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Yes, I would be very happy to take up my noble friend’s suggestion and will make sure that the regulators, NICE and the MHRA, are linked into that as well.

Baroness Whitaker Portrait Baroness Whitaker (Lab)
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My Lords, research has shown that the mortality rate among Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children is far higher than among any other minority-ethnic group, yet this is hardly ever reflected in any account of the situation. Will the Minister get his department to recognise more explicitly the disproportionate mortality rate in this often unrepresented ethnic-minority group?

Lord Markham Portrait Lord Markham (Con)
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Yes. Obviously, we want to find every group and then understand the targeted action around them. Noble Lords will have often heard me say that one of the most effective bits of joined-up government I have ever seen was the Troubled Families initiative, led by the noble Baroness, Lady Casey, and I am interested in the 13 local authority pilots that are using wraparound services to identify community groups and troubled families in particular and provide them with cross-government help.