Covid-19: Disparate Impact

Lord Duncan of Springbank Excerpts

Tuesday 27th October 2020 Lords Chamber

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

We now come to the 30 minutes allocated to Back-Bench questions. I ask that questions and answers be brief so that I can call the maximum number of speakers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Baroness Berridge (Con)]

My Lords, yes. As I have mentioned, one of the other factors in the disparity is that working-age men are more likely to die of Covid than working-age women. In relation to obesity, the Government published in July, I believe, the obesity strategy, and we are aware that dealing with that issue is important in terms of co-morbidities. We are working closely with PHE, the Office for National Statistics and the BMA, which gave the advice in relation to taxis and private hire vehicles which led to masks being made mandatory in those vehicles. Yes, we now know more about exposure: black and minority-ethnic people are in certain densely populated areas and multigenerational households, so we have been taking action to try to reduce the risk. We will continue to act going forward.

[The Deputy Speaker (Lord Duncan of Springbank) (Con)]

My Lords, all speakers have now spoken.

House adjourned at 6.39 pm.