Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to include the health care needs of Gypsies and Travellers in the commissioning of health services.

Both NHS England and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) have a legal duty to reduce health inequalities in both access to services and health outcomes. Public Health England (PHE) evidence and Joint Strategic Needs Assessments of local population groups which include Gypsy and Travellers is used by CCGs to develop local services. Services commissioned locally by CCGs are based on equality and health inequalities evidence and needs of local diverse communities.

The CCG Improvement and Assessment Framework provide us with an opportunity to assess how each CCG is meetings its duty to reduce health inequalities in diverse communities; particularly those that face the greatest health inequalities be that by deprivation or ethnicity.

The Department has commissioned research to investigate approaches to community engagement that are most likely to enhance trust between Gypsy/Travellers and mainstream health services. The project is due to report later in 2018.