Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to (a) inform and (b) engage Black and ethnic minority communities to ensure that those communities can access and engage covid-19 self-isolation support where applicable.
When an individual is required by National Health Service Test and Trace to self-isolate, financial support is available, subject to certain eligibility criteria, through the Test and Trace Support Payment Scheme. This scheme is administered through local authorities, enabling tailoring of messaging and communication to best support and engage local communities. The NHS Test and Trace service also helps signpost people who need support while self-isolating to local authority helplines and to the NHS Volunteers service.
At both the testing and contact tracing stages, there are also services in place to provide real time translation in a range of languages.