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 encourage the BAME community in (a) Wolverhampton and (b) England to access dementia-related care when needed.

The Government is committed to delivering high quality care and support for every person with dementia regardless of age, background or culture, and central to this is the provision of personalised care.

NHS England and NHS Improvement published Phase 3 of COVID-19 response in which they asked all trusts and partners to address inequality in the National Health Service provision and outcomes including an urgent action to restore NHS services inclusively, so that they are used by those in greatest need.

Nationally, media spend has been upweighted to target black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) audiences including press, radio, digital display and social.

We have also provided financial support to the Race Equality Foundation to provide additional services to BAME communities with dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic. The money is part of a UK-wide £750 million package of support for the voluntary sector announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in April.

Wolverhampton Clinical Commissioning Group works with the Wolverhampton Mental Health Stakeholder Forum to engage with BAME and community groups to influence ongoing work with commissioners and providers to support the development of culturally competent services and pathways.