Question reference: S5W-35756
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 4 March 2021
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Current status: Answered by Jeane Freeman on 24 March 2021
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, as part of the COVID-19 recovery process, what research it is undertaking into the impact of the pandemic on BAME groups, and how the needs of Polish people are being (a) identified and (b) addressed.
Answer
Public Health Scotland (PHS) has periodically published statistics on the impact of COVID-19 on minority ethnic groups in it's weekly COVID-19 statistics report. The latest report was published on 3rd March 2021 and showed that the findings from previous PHS analysis were re-enforced, that is, that there is continued evidence of increased risks of hospitalisation or death due to COVID-19 in some ethnic minority groups, which have persisted during the second wave of the pandemic.
A link to the PHS report is here:
Public Health Scotland will continue to update this analysis as more data becomes available. The Scottish Government is also working with PHS and other agencies to implement the recommendations of the Expert Reference Group on COVID-19 and ethnicity. Implementing these recommendations will make improvements to the data and evidence held on minority ethnic groups, which will include Polish people. The ERG cover further research in their recommendations, for example on better understanding ethnic inequalities in health. We are working closely with organisations that support minority ethnic communities to address issues around vaccine hesitancy and to encourage uptake, including amongst Polish people.
'Minority ethnic' groups refers to people who are protected under the Equalities Act 2010, which defines race as colour, ethnicity, nationality and citizenship. Polish people are included in this definition.