NHS: Ethnic Groups

(asked on 15th July 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what funding his Department has allocated to support Black and Minority Ethnic NHS workers at risk of contracting covid-19; and what assessment has he made of the adequacy of the level of that expenditure.


Answered by
Helen Whately Portrait
Helen Whately
Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
This question was answered on 4th September 2020

Public safety is the Government’s top priority. The Chancellor has been clear that the National Health Service will get whatever funding it needs to respond to COVID-19. We do not, however, collect data on how much employers spend specifically to support black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) workers at risk of contracting COVID-19.

Employers across the NHS have a duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their staff in the workplace. In April, the Chief People Officer at NHS England and NHS Improvement launched a comprehensive programme to address the impact of COVID-19 on BAME staff in the NHS. As part of this work, NHS England and NHS Improvement wrote to all NHS organisations on 24 June requiring them to complete risk assessments for high risk staff.

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