Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following their Race Disparity Audits, what steps they are taking to ensure that educational institutions improve attainment at GCSE level for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department’s education reforms, including those aimed at improving teaching, literacy and numeracy, and strengthening the curriculum and examination system, are designed to deliver opportunity and high standards for all pupils, regardless of their ethnic background. These reforms are reinforced by new school accountability measures, which are intended to encourage schools to focus more closely on the attainment of all their pupils. The introduction of a new national curriculum for maintained schools from 2014, with phonics at its heart and the establishment of 32 English Hubs in 2018 specifically support primary schools to improve standards of reading.
The department knows that the most significant factor affecting pupil attainment, which cuts across all ethnicities including a high proportion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, is economic disadvantage. To tackle this, the department has provided a total of £13.75 billion from April 2011 to March 2018 through the pupil premium to help schools improve the progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. The department continues to provide this additional funding, which is £2.4 billion this year alone.
In January last year, the department established the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller stakeholder group to inform policy development to raise the attainment and participation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils at all stages of education.
Asked by: Lord Bishop of Lincoln (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following their Race Disparity Audits, what steps they are taking to ensure that educational institutions improve the standard of reading among Gypsies, Roma and Travellers aged 6–7.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department’s education reforms, including those aimed at improving teaching, literacy and numeracy, and strengthening the curriculum and examination system, are designed to deliver opportunity and high standards for all pupils, regardless of their ethnic background. These reforms are reinforced by new school accountability measures, which are intended to encourage schools to focus more closely on the attainment of all their pupils. The introduction of a new national curriculum for maintained schools from 2014, with phonics at its heart and the establishment of 32 English Hubs in 2018 specifically support primary schools to improve standards of reading.
The department knows that the most significant factor affecting pupil attainment, which cuts across all ethnicities including a high proportion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, is economic disadvantage. To tackle this, the department has provided a total of £13.75 billion from April 2011 to March 2018 through the pupil premium to help schools improve the progress and attainment of their disadvantaged pupils. The department continues to provide this additional funding, which is £2.4 billion this year alone.
In January last year, the department established the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller stakeholder group to inform policy development to raise the attainment and participation of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils at all stages of education.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to protect the rights of Gypsies, Travellers and Roma in his Department's response to the consultation on powers for dealing with unauthorised development.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
Government departments have an ongoing responsibility to meet the Public Sector Equalities Duty (PSED) under the Equality Act 2010. When formulating policy following consultation, ministers must have due regard to achieving the objectives of eliminating discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act; advancing equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and those who do not; and fostering good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.
The Ministry of Justice will work with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Home Office to agree policy proposals for dealing with unauthorised development and encampments.
Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has taken steps to implement the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recommendation that local authorities in England should have a duty to provide sufficient safe and adequate sites for Gypsies and Travellers based on the pre-2015 Planning policy for Traveller sites definitions of Gypsy and of Traveller.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Under section 8 of the Housing Act 1985, there is a statutory requirement on local authorities to consider the needs of people residing or resorting to their district with respect to the provision of caravan sites. The Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (PPTS) sets out the Government’s planning policy for traveller sites and should be read in conjunction with the revised National Planning Policy Framework. The PPTS is clear that local planning authorities should make their own assessment of need for the purposes of planning. They should identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets. Travellers who do not fall within the definition in Annex 1 of the PPTS should have their housing needs assessed under the National Planning Policy Framework.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the next census in England and Wales will separate Gypsies and Travellers into two categories.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the NHS Data Model and Dictionary will include entries for (1) Gypsies, (2) Travellers, and (3) Roma; and if so, when.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
The Department is in the process of reviewing the collection of data within the National Health Service and has commissioned NHS England to complete a scoping exercise to understand how information on protected characteristics is gathered in existing NHS datasets, including the NHS Data Model and Dictionary which currently use the 2001 census ethnicity categories. Subject to the publication of the 2021 Census White Paper, we plan to complete an initial assessment by the end of 2018, which will form the basis for future decision-making on NHS data collection.
Asked by: Baroness Whitaker (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what information about Gypsies, Travellers and Roma community is available from the NHS’s Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme.
Answered by Lord O'Shaughnessy
This information is not available as Roma, Gypsies and Travellers are not separately identified in NHS Digital codes used when recording ethnicity of patients.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Buscombe on 31 July (HL9752) and their response to the report by the Women and Equalities Committee, Race Disparity Audit, published by that Committee on 11 September, when they will adopt the same categories as are used in the Census as the minimum standard for data collection on ethnicity across Government departments; and whether this will include specific categories for Gypsies and Irish Travellers.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The ethnicity data published on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website includes data from the Census, published official statistics, numerous Government surveys and Departments’ own administrative records.
Currently, the website has 52 measures (web pages) that present data using the detailed classification of ethnicity developed for the 2011 Census, which includes Irish Traveller and Gypsy/Roma Travellers (GRT). However, figures for the GRT ethnic group in some of these measures were suppressed for reasons of confidentiality protection and/or because the numbers were too small to enable robust estimates to be produced.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is responsible for the design of the Census, including advising Parliament on the format of a question about ethnicity.
ONS also has a leadership role across the Government Statistical Service, to encourage those conducting household surveys to use survey questions and output classifications that are harmonised with the Census approach, and across government more generally in relation to the use of harmonised approaches (to data collection) on administrative systems
The Cabinet Office is working with the ONS on how to support the widespread adoption of the detailed ethnicity classification that will be used in the 2021 Census
The Cabinet Office's Race Disparity Unit is also taking steps to enhance the degree of harmonisation in ethnicity data presented on the Ethnicity Facts and Figures website, for example by requesting new analyses to match the high level groups that represent the current harmonised ethnicity standard.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the report, Pressing for Progress, published by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission in July 2018, when he plans to respond to the recommendations to (a) replace the current planning definition of Gypsies and Travellers with the more inclusive definition in the Housing Act 2004, and (b) reintroduce the duty on local authorities to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers under the Caravan Sites Act 1968.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Government response to the recent consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework confirmed that we are considering whether any changes may be required to the planning policy for traveller sites, as a result of the changes in the revised Framework. In addition, the Government is also reviewing responses to the consultation on Powers for dealing with Unauthorised Development and Encampments, which closed on 15 June. This consultation asked whether there are any specific barriers to the provision of more authorised permanent and transit sites and, if so, whether there is any action that the Government could take to help overcome those barriers. We will provide a formal response to this consultation, as well as confirming whether any changes are required to the planning policy for traveller sites, in due course.
Asked by: Andy Slaughter (Labour - Hammersmith)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, with reference to the recommendations of the July 2018 report of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission entitled Pressing for Progress, if he will take steps to (a) replace the current definition of Gypsies and Travellers in the Government's policy paper Planning policy for traveller sites with the definition in the Housing Act 2004 and (b) reintroduce the duty on local authorities to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government published a consultation earlier this year alongside the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, in order to seek views on the effectiveness of powers for dealing with unauthorised development and encampments. Views were sought on a range of related issues, including planning for travellers and site provision. The consultation closed on 15 June, with over 2,000 responses received. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation, alongside those submitted in response to the recent consultation on the National Planning Policy Framework, before deciding on next steps. We will announce a way forward in due course.