Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his department has taken to raise awareness in (a) the general population and (b) BAME community of the changes to the law in England following the implementation of the Organ Donation (Deemed Consent) Act 2019 on 20 May 2020.

NHS Blood and Transplant launched a communication campaign, on behalf of the Government in April 2019, to make the public fully aware of the new system of consent in England. The campaign has continued to date, with social media activity running through the summer. Activity will increase in the autumn, with radio and social media activity to coincide with Organ Donation Week. Television, video on demand, out of home and radio will run from November. There will be a further multimedia campaign in spring 2021 to reinforce the role of the family and normalising sharing a decision with family members. NHS Blood and Transplant will also be releasing new Key Stage 3 and 4 materials for schools.

As part of the campaign, there have been specific initiatives to drive awareness amongst black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) populations. These have included engagement with faith leaders and community media advertising, targeted press release activity and case study stories. Such initiatives will continue, with specific focus on Black History Month in October and year 3 of the BAME Community Investment Scheme to be launched later this year.