Covid-19: Disparate Impact

Naz Shah Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kemi Badenoch]

I agree with my hon. Friend and, as I said to the hon. Member for West Ham (Ms Brown), this is not something that should be a cause for division in the House. We should be working together on this. I did not write the letter just to Conservative colleagues; I wrote it to all colleagues, and I hope that people will take up the notices in it and share them across their communities.

[Naz Shah (Bradford West) (Lab)]

I am glad that the Minister referred to her letter, because I have just had a check and I certainly have not received a letter from her; she referred to the matter in her answer to our shadow Minister.

On 19 April, I wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and asked about languages specifically, offering my help and support in reaching ethnic minorities. I have a large minority. I come from Bradford—a diverse city—and Bradford West is one of the most diverse constituencies in the country. Again, I asked about languages commissioned in September, in a written question, as have others. While I appreciate that today the Minister has said we have spent £4 million, the truth is that, while this debate has been going on, I have spoken to commissioners for Geo News, Dunya News, ARY and Channel 44, and £4,000 has been commissioned for the 12 channels that I know of that communicate in the language of Urdu, and that is without speaking to all the BAME media, while this statement has been going on. Sunrise Radio, the largest Asian radio station outside London, has had one campaign, from 2 to 7 May, in Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu, but it had nothing from 7 May right until 19 October. So how can she stand here and tell this House that the Government have been reaching out to BAME communities? Jang newspaper had to go to Downing Street and negotiate for written—not for radio communication and not for TV—adverts. So when will the Conservative party get real about communicating honestly with black and minority ethnic communities in their languages?

[Kemi Badenoch]

We have published public health messages in over 600 publications. If the hon. Lady would like to write to me with places that have not received communications, that is something I can take up with the Cabinet Office, but I myself have done quite a bit of media—BBC Asian Network, BBC Radio Manchester and other local media outlets—and I have done lots of social media activity. We have had ethnic minority influences reaching 5 million people. I am sorry to say that if the hon. Lady is not seeing these things, then perhaps she is not watching, but the money that we have spent is a testament to how hard we are working to reach people. There are still some hard-to-reach communities, and that is why we are having the community champions, because at the end of the day it cannot just be TV and it cannot just be social media. We need local authorities and people who know their local areas to be able to go out and find those people who still are not hearing the message. I hope that is something that she will do. I will find out from the House why she has not received the letter. It should have been sent to all colleagues, and I know many across the House have received it.