Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what gaps in the PHE report Beyond the data: Understanding the impact of COVID-19 on BAME groups he has identified; and what the timeframe is for removing those data gaps.

The Public Health England (PHE) report, “COVID-19: review of disparities in risks and outcomes”, published on 2 June 2020, looks at the COVID-19 mortality rates of different ethnic groups. This rapid review necessarily had some gaps, and as Minister for Equalities, I am now leading further work to build on this by, for example, driving forward work examining the impact of factors such as sub-categories of occupation and co-morbidities; analysing the key drivers of disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, the relationships between different risk factors, and what can be done to close the gap. This work is supported by the Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office.

‘Beyond the Data: understanding the impact of COVID-19 on BAME groups’, is a separate piece of work that was carried out by the PHE; PHE engaged with a significant number of individuals and organisations within the BAME community to hear their views about the impact of COVID-19 and this informed ‘Beyond the Data’ which was published on 16 June 2020.