Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, in their recent consultation Strengthening police powers to tackle unauthorised encampments, the Home Office took note of the Government's Consultations Principles Guidance 2018; and whether the Home Office intends to review its consultation in order to ensure that the views of Gypsies and Travellers can be reflected.

Home Office officials have worked with the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community (GRT) to agree a bespoke consultation response system to ensure they are able to fully contribute to the ongoing consultation.

This bespoke system is now in operation and provides an opportunity for the GRT community to submit their views in a simplified format on the general proposals contained in the consultation. Since its launch last month, over 1700 responses have been received by the Home Office through this method. The views of respondents will be captured in the consultation response.