Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to tackle racial health disparities. .

There is a range of action taking place across the system to tackle ethnic health disparities. This includes work to address disparities in local maternity systems. Last year, NHS England published equity and equality guidance for local maternity systems, which focuses on actions to reduce disparities for women and babies from black, Asian and mixed ethnic groups and those living in the most deprived areas and included an investment of £6.8 million to support the implementation of local action plans.

Each Integrated Care Partnership (ICP) is required to write an integrated care strategy by December 2022 that sets out how the assessed local needs can be met through the Integrated Care Board, partner local authorities or NHS England. This must include clear plans to reduce disparities in health access, experience and outcomes. The Department’s regional teams are working with ICPs to ensure that plans are comprehensive, ambitious and are driven by the evidence on local need.

Good health is driven by a range of factors, from income to housing and wider environment, as well as health behaviours, wider risk factors and access to high quality services. Some groups are at greater risk of poorer health outcomes than others, with disparities by ethnicity, socio-economic status, and geography. The department continues to improve the evidence base on the drivers of poor health and disparities, including why some groups fare worse than others and the policy solutions to address it.