Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle health inequalities highlighted by the covid-19 outbreak.

The Minister for Equalities (Kemi Badenoch MP) has been leading work on the response to tackle COVID-19 disparities experienced by individuals from an ethnic minority background. The ‘Third quarterly report on progress to address COVID-19 health inequalities’ was published in May 2021 and is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/third-quarterly-report-on-progress-to-address-covid-19-health-inequalities/third-quarterly-report-on-progress-to-address-covid-19-health-inequalities

The focus over the last quarter has been on those ethnic minority groups worst affected by the second wave of the pandemic.

Widespread vaccination could potentially combat inequalities in the impact of COVID-19 between ethnic groups. The Community Champions scheme announced in the first quarterly report has continued to engage with a wide variety of communities to help dispel myths around vaccines. Funding was also provided to Strengthening Faith Institutions and Near Neighbours in order to utilise their networks with at-risk communities. Both organisations are partnering with a host of community organisations as well as Community Champions across England to increase vaccine uptake. Broader health inequalities work will be led by the Office for Health Promotion under the direction of the Chief Medical Officer.