Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their response to the recommendations in the report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons <i>People in prison: Gypsies, Romany and Travellers </i>that there should be further research into the reasons why people from those communities are in prison and how they are supported; and that the number of young people of Gypsy, Romany and Traveller background in Secure Training Centres should be investigated.

The Ministry of Justice is considering how best to take forward Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIP) report recommendation for research into the reasons why people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities are in prison.

To address the historically low declaration rates of GRT prisoners and to improve the support received by GRT prisoners, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) has carried out extensive work to increase the declaration rates of GRT prisoners including work to increase the confidence of GRT prisoners to declare their ethnicity.

In March 2014, NOMS implemented a new tool to monitor various outcomes for prisoners against a range of protected characteristics, including GRT prisoners. NOMS is now monitoring outcomes for this group of prisoners.

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) commissioned and jointly published (with HMIP) the report: 'Children and Young People in Custody 2012-13: An Analysis of 12-18 year olds' perceptions of their experience in secure training centres'. This was the first published annual summary of children and young people's self-reported experiences and perceptions from surveys carried out with young people in each of the four Secure Training Centres (STCs).

The YJB will continue to commission these reports and monitor the findings from this survey in future years to gain a better understanding of the representation GRT young people within STCs.