Government has comprehensively failed Gypsies, say MPs

Gypsies, Roma and Travellers have worst outcomes in huge range of areas, report says

The government has “comprehensively failed” Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in Britain, according to a report.

The Commons women and equalities committee said Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities had the worst outcomes of any ethnic group across a huge range of areas, including education, health, employment, criminal justice and hate crime, but little was being done to tackle longstanding inequalities.

The report was the conclusion of a two-year inquiry, which heard that students from Gypsy, Roma or Traveller backgrounds had the lowest attainment of all ethnic groups throughout their school years.

Travellers are likely to die more than a decade earlier than non-Travellers, and one in five Gypsy Traveller mothers will experience the loss of a child, compared with one in 100 in the non-Traveller community. Many Roma families were being exploited by “rogue landlords” and were being paid below the minimum wage, the report added.

The Conservative MP Maria Miller, the committee’s chair, said: “Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people have been comprehensively failed by policymakers and public services for far too long. Access to education, health, employment, criminal justice, tackling hate crime and domestic violence – all these require services which differentiate between different groups who have different needs, and yet so many services are ill-equipped to support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people.”

The committee was particularly concerned with the government’s focus on encampments and planning, arguing it had eclipsed other pressing issues.

The report made 49 recommendations for change, including a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller “champion” for each public body and for Gypsy, Irish Traveller and Roma categories be added to the NHS data dictionary. Campaigners are calling on the government to act quickly on the recommendations.

Sarah Mann, the director of Friends, Families and Travellers, a national charity working on behalf of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, said: “There are a number of strong and clear recommendations which the women and equalities committee have made which have the potential to address inequalities faced by Gypsies, Roma and Travellers. We will be using all of the tools at our disposal to call on the government to deliver upon these.”

Debby Kennett, of London Gypsies and Travellers, said: “There have been many reports produced over the last few decades giving evidence of the huge inequalities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK but little action has been taken by governments to address this situation.

“This latest report gives yet more evidence to show the persistent failure by government to tackle these inequalities, or to recognise and challenge the shocking level of racism and discrimination that the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller community face in their everyday lives, which perpetuates disadvantage and leads to the poorest outcomes in every aspect of life including education, health and employment.”

A spokesperson for Gate Herts, which supports Travelling communities, said it welcomed the report, but was not surprised by the findings. “Hate crime doesn’t just affect individuals. It is well documented that hate crime represents a severe threat to the physical and psychological safety and wellbeing of its victims,” they said.

Abbie Kirkby, the advice and policy manager at Friends, Families and Travellers criticised the report for overlooking the issue of site provision. “The chronic shortage of places where Gypsies and Travellers can live is intrinsically linked to the stark health and educational inequalities and social exclusion faced by these communities. This absolutely must be addressed,” she said.

Anita, a member of the Irish Traveller community, said: “We would put the kids to sleep some nights, receive an eviction notice to leave before morning and have to wake them up in the middle of the night and move. We might have to do a 25-mile school run depending on where we could stop. It’s physically and emotionally draining – none of us were getting sleep. Sometimes we would drop the kids off at school after an eviction and they wouldn’t know where they’d be going to at 3 o’clock.”