Covid-19: Disparate Impact Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Covid-19: Disparate Impact

Tony Lloyd Excerpts
Thursday 22nd October 2020

(3 years, 5 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Kemi Badenoch Portrait Kemi Badenoch
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The reason I have asked that we mandate recording is that that was one of the gaps identified. We did not get a full picture of what was going on, and we need to have a full picture. As my hon. Friend rightly says, everything we are doing will help the whole population. We are not segregating people on the basis of this disease. Mandating ethnicity data will not just help ethnic minority populations; it will help everybody.

Tony Lloyd Portrait Tony Lloyd (Rochdale) (Lab) [V]
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I am sure the Minister will be well aware of the research by the Financial Conduct Authority showing that while one in three of our fellow citizens has seen an income cut because of covid, that rises to 40% among black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. The impact is not just on individuals or even households: where there is a concentration of people from BAME backgrounds, it affects the much wider community. What research will the Minister engage in on the economic impact, because we know that economic collapse leads to lower mental and physical health and all the other social aspects that come with it?

Kemi Badenoch Portrait Kemi Badenoch
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That would be outside the terms of reference of the review that I am leading over the year. However, as a Treasury Minister, I can tell the hon. Gentleman that we have distributional analysis that comes out with all this information and influences all the policies that we put out in terms of economic interventions for specific groups.