Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the report by the Traveller Movement entitled Available but not Accessible, published on 27 March 2023; and whether he plans to take steps to help tackle issues described in that report affecting Gypsy, Roma, Traveller people on the prison estate.

We recently launched a Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Strategy which sets out our approach to improve outcomes for GRT people in prison or on probation. It identifies the work being undertaken across His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service to support GRT people, and focuses on how we can make improvements.

The strategy has six key areas of focus. These include improving the data we capture; improving access to culturally appropriate services and purposeful activity; and strengthening our relationships with specialist third-sector organisations.

A governance framework will be established to monitor progress.