To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle health inequalities affecting (a) Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities and (b) lower income communities in response to links between covid-19 and existing health inequalities.
Answered on
6 September 2021
In March, we published ‘Transforming the Public Health System: Reforming the Public Health System for the challenges of our times’
which sets out our plans to reform the public health system. This is driven by learning from the experiences of COVID-19.
Reducing health disparities will be a core aim of the new Office for Health Promotion, including disparities experienced by certain ethnic minority communities and people from lower socio-economic backgrounds. It will set health improvement priorities for Government and will work with the National Health Service, local Government and industry. The Department are creating a new cross-government ministerial board to drive this agenda.