Report on the impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities

The ongoing pandemic has highlighted that it is not only in the USA that institutional racism harms black and other minority ethnic communities.

The ongoing pandemic has highlighted that it is not only in the USA that institutional racism harms black and other minority ethnic communities.

The UK Government has now published its review of the relative risks of COVID-19 to specific groups, including BAME people. This report describes the risk to those with Asian, Caribbean and black ethnicities as “disproportionate”. The UK Government must now set out how it proposes to deal with this disparity in health outcomes.

When this was debated in the House of Commons, I highlighted how some government policies had a disproportionate impact on the BAME community.

Since then, the Prime Minister has announced yet another review into BAME inequalities - but what we need now is not another review, it is action on the recommendations of the many other reviews that have already reported. 

Last week, I questioned the Home Secretary on this.