Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to tackle hate crimes against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

The Government takes hate crime against all communities very seriously, which is why we published the hate crime action plan (Action Against Hate: The UK Government’s plan for tackling hate crime) in July 2016. This plan was refreshed in October 2018.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is supporting Herts GATE (Gypsy and Traveller Empowerment) with over £75,000 of funding in 2019/20 to encourage reporting and support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) victims of hate crime.

In November 2019 the Crown Prosecution Service held its second National Scrutiny Panel on hate crime affecting GRT communities. The Panel considered issues relating to the investigation and prosecution of GRT hate crime and subsequently produced an Action Plan of commitments, including working with key departments across Government to raise awareness of the issues. This followed a first Action Plan that was published in February 2017.