Gypsies, Travellers and Roma: Racism and Discrimination

Lord Alton of Liverpool Excerpts

Thursday 25th March 2021 Lords Chamber

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

My Lords, I am happy to give that assurance to my noble friend.

[Lord Alton of Liverpool (CB)]

My Lords, on 15 February, the Minister gave me a helpful reply concerning roadside evictions of people from the Travelling community. What progress has been made in the discussions that he said he would be having with local authorities to ensure that, at least during the pandemic, there would be no further roadside evictions and that there would be access to safe water and safe sanitation? Given that he told the House that a cross-departmental review was taking place, can he confirm that this was announced originally in June 2019? When will it be published?

[Lord Greenhalgh (Con)]

I wrote to local authorities emphasising the need to take a negotiated, stopping-model approach, which has been taken up by a number of local authorities during the pandemic. I commit that the cross-departmental strategy will be forthcoming. Obviously the focus has been on the Covid-19 pandemic.