Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, if the Government will publish the reasons for the higher number of deaths from covid-19 among BAME people; and what steps she plans to take to reduce that higher number of deaths.

On 4 June the Government announced the next steps to address the disparities identified in the Public Health England (PHE) Report. As Minister for Equalities, I will be working with the Race Disparity Unit (RDU) and the Department for Health and Social Care to further understand the drivers of disparities. This includes commissioning further data, research and analytical work by the Equality Hub to clarify the scale, and drivers, of the gaps in evidence highlighted by the Report. This vital work will help the government take appropriate evidence-based action to address the disparities.