Public Health England Review: Covid-19 Disparities Debate

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Department: HM Treasury

Public Health England Review: Covid-19 Disparities

Wendy Chamberlain Excerpts
Thursday 4th June 2020

(3 years, 10 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Kemi Badenoch Portrait Kemi Badenoch
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Yes, my hon. Friend is right. Within some medical circles, there is an expectation that when we do account for co-morbidities—I believe that there was an article in The Times which referenced the SAGE report—some of these differences do reduce to zero. That is why we are not rushing to take into account what one specific report is saying; we are looking at what has been said by all the different reports, such as the one from Public Health Scotland, to make sure that we find out exactly what is going on.

Wendy Chamberlain Portrait Wendy Chamberlain (North East Fife) (LD)
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I have received a great deal of correspondence from constituents who are rightly angry at the Government’s delay in publishing this report. Given the lack of recommendations, guidelines or action plan, will the Minister also now commit to establishing a post-covid-19 equality strategy to take forward work to develop policies to tackle health inequalities post covid-19?

Kemi Badenoch Portrait Kemi Badenoch
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I think the hon. Lady is asking for what we are doing at the moment. That is what we are planning to do and that is what we will be looking into. On her accusation that the Government delayed this report, it is simply not true. We asked for a report for the end of May, and that report was brought before the House at the first available opportunity, Mr Speaker, which I am sure you will appreciate.