Disasters, Crises & Emergency Services

Background / Overview – Scotland

Background / Overview – UK

COVID-19

An analysis from the Office for National Statistics indicates that provisional analysis for the period 2 March to 15 May 2020 shows, that after taking into account size and age structure of the population, the mortality rate for deaths involving COVID-19 was highest among males of Black ethnic background at 255.7 deaths per 100,000 population and lowest among males of White ethnic background at 87.0 deaths per 100,000. This analysis showed that for all ages the rate of deaths involving COVID-19 for Black males was 3.3 times greater than that for White males of the same age, while the rate for Black females was 2.4 times greater than for White females.

Fire and Rescue Services workforce

According to the Fire workforce and pension statistics, year ending March 2024 for England and Wales, in 2024, 94.0% of all fire and rescue staff in England were White (out of those whose ethnicity was known). For comparison, 80.7% of working age people (aged 16 to 64 years) in England were White at the time of the 2021 Census. From 2011 to 2024, the percentage of firefighters who were White went down from 96.5% to 94.6%. From 2011 to 2024, the percentage of firefighters who were from Mixed ethnic backgrounds went up from 1.2% to 2.6%.

Armed Forces Workforce

According to the UK armed forces biannual diversity UK statistics in April 2024, people from ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) made up 3.3% of officers in the UK regular armed forces, compared with 2.4% in April 2012. for other ranks, 13.1% of armed forces personnel were from ethnic minorities, compared with 7.9% in April 2012. out of the different armed forces, the Army had the highest percentage of people from ethnic minorities in both officer roles (3.6%) and other ranks (18.9%). The data shows that, from April 2012 to April 2024 the percentage of officers in the armed forces who were from ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) went up from 2.4% to 3.3%. The percentage of Army officers from ethnic minorities went up from 2.8% to 3.6%. The percentage of Royal Air Force officers from ethnic minorities went up from 2.3% to 3.3%. The percentage of Royal Navy and Royal Marines officers from ethnic minorities went up from 1.8% to 2.7%.

Strategy Policy, Legislation

Listed Authorities

Race Equality Framework (REF)

Immediate Priorities Plan (IPP)

Disasters, Crises & Emergency Services – IPP Recommendation

Link	Description
IPP – IDE 02: Improving Ethnicity Coding Through Improved Data Infrastructure – Linkage to the Census	The census currently provides the most robust information on ethnicity for the population of Scotland. Data linkage to the census should be immediately pursued by the Scottish Government to monitor the equity of the COVID-19 response in relation to ethnicity. This should not only include the immediate infectious consequences of COVID-19 (such as risks of infection, hospitalisation and death), but also secondary health harms arising from the pandemic response (such as reductions in the use of appropriate healthcare for other health conditions). If a vaccination becomes available, monitoring of its uptake by ethnicity should also be pursued using data linkage. Under the principle of collecting data once but making use of it many times, linkage to the census should be pursued to allow long-term monitoring and research of ethnic inequalities in health. At present, linkage is done for the purposes of a specific project and for this reason such analyses are often not conducted in a timely manner and are resource intensive. The ERG recommends the addition of an ethnicity field derived from the census is added to an appropriate population spine (such as the Community Health Index, CHI) which would be available for routine analyses without requiring approval from multiple organisations. This recommendation should be considered an important priority which could substantially improve data quality and facilitate timely and responsive analysis.
IPP – IDE 07: Improving Ethnicity Data Collection at Source – Co-ordinated Action	A co-ordinated set of initiatives must be put in place by the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland as soon as possible building on the lessons from past successes to improve recording of ethnicity within health databases. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a clear illustration of the importance of collecting this data, so such action has a greater chance of success than in the past. These initiatives cannot be one-off projects but rather a sustained plan of action that embeds the process of ethnicity data collection in the culture of the NHS in Scotland.

Link

Description

IPP – IDE 02: Improving Ethnicity Coding Through Improved Data Infrastructure – Linkage to the Census

The census currently provides the most robust information on ethnicity for the population of Scotland. Data linkage to the census should be immediately pursued by the Scottish Government to monitor the equity of the COVID-19 response in relation to ethnicity. This should not only include the immediate infectious consequences of COVID-19 (such as risks of infection, hospitalisation and death), but also secondary health harms arising from the pandemic response (such as reductions in the use of appropriate healthcare for other health conditions). If a vaccination becomes available, monitoring of its uptake by ethnicity should also be pursued using data linkage. Under the principle of collecting data once but making use of it many times, linkage to the census should be pursued to allow long-term monitoring and research of ethnic inequalities in health. At present, linkage is done for the purposes of a specific project and for this reason such analyses are often not conducted in a timely manner and are resource intensive. The ERG recommends the addition of an ethnicity field derived from the census is added to an appropriate population spine (such as the Community Health Index, CHI) which would be available for routine analyses without requiring approval from multiple organisations. This recommendation should be considered an important priority which could substantially improve data quality and facilitate timely and responsive analysis.

IPP – IDE 07: Improving Ethnicity Data Collection at Source – Co-ordinated Action

A co-ordinated set of initiatives must be put in place by the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland as soon as possible building on the lessons from past successes to improve recording of ethnicity within health databases. The COVID-19 pandemic provides a clear illustration of the importance of collecting this data, so such action has a greater chance of success than in the past. These initiatives cannot be one-off projects but rather a sustained plan of action that embeds the process of ethnicity data collection in the culture of the NHS in Scotland.

Dr Addy's – Scottish Anti-Racism Resource Library (ARRL)