The Covid-19 pandemic has shone a light on the ongoing health and social inequalities faced by ethnic minorities in the UK. Are we facing a data gap when it comes to ethnicity? This joint event from the RSS and Office for National Statistics (ONS) will explore the evidence base regarding data on those from Black, Asian and ethnic minority backgrounds. The panel will discuss what is being done currently to address the gaps and what needs to be done further to ensure data is being utilised fully and appropriately for the public good.
Chair: Professor Deborah Ashby, RSS President
New initiatives on inclusive data at ONS - Liz McKeown, Director of Public Policy Analysis at the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Liz McKeown will present recent work to fill ethnicity data gaps on key policy questions like factors affecting differential impacts of Covid-19 across ethnic groups and providing deeper insights into ethnic pay gaps. She will also highlight new strategic initiatives to improve inclusiveness in data collection, analysis and reporting at ONS and more widely through the work of the Inclusive Data Taskforce.
Data and evidence gaps on the relationship between Ethnicity and COVID-19 diagnosis or mortality - Vasileios Antonopoulos, Head of Analysis and Briefing at the Race Disparity Unit
The Race Disparity Unit (RDU) will present the existing evidence on the relationship between Ethnicity and COVID-19 diagnosis or mortality. RDU has been working with government departments and academics to clarify the scale, and drivers, of the gaps in evidence highlighted by the PHE report. The presentation will focus on what (a) the data gaps are (for example, the occupations of COVID-19 fatalities, by ethnicity, which was not available when PHE undertook its original analysis), and (b) whether the data could be produced, for example by linking datasets, with a view to then filling the gaps.
Surveying ethnic minority populations in times of crisis - Dr Nissa Finney, University of St Andrews and Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity
Nissa will outline an innovative new survey of ethnic minority populations, currently being designed by the Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE; www.ethnicity.ac.uk), funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and due to launch in January 2021. The survey will provide unrivalled evidence about the experience of ethnic minority populations in Britain during the coronovirus pandemic. It will be unique in its content, and its non-probability sampling approach to obtaining 16,000 participants.
Chair: Professor Deborah Ashby, RSS President
Speakers:
Liz McKeown, Director of Public Policy Analysis, ONS
Vasileios Antonopoulos, Economic Adviser & Head of Analysis and Briefing, Race Disparity Unit
Dr Nissa Finney, University of St Andrews and Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity
Royal Statistical Society and the Office for National Statistics