Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they last undertook an assessment of the long-term educational and welfare needs of Travellers and Gypsies in the UK.

Both the Department for Education and Ofsted have commissioned and published a number of studies over the past six years that focus on how to improve the education of Gypsy and Traveller children. These include:

Improving the outcomes for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils: final report and literature review (Department for Education, October 2010, attached).https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/improving-the-outcomes-for-gypsy-roma-and-traveller-pupils-final-report; as well as case studies of schools showing successful practice in improving the attendance and attainment of Gypsy, Traveller and Roma pupils. These are available (attached) at: https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/gypsy-roma-and-traveller-pupils-supporting-access-to-education and https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/ofsted-examples-of-good-practice-in-schools#gypsy-traveller-and-roma-children.

The Department for Education regularly publishes and monitors data on the educational progress and achievement of pupils from Gypsy and Irish Traveller backgrounds attending schools in England. This data includes annual statistics on the attainment of pupils from these groups in the year 1 phonics screening check; teacher assessments at the end of key stage 1 and national assessments at the end of key stages 2 and 4; and on levels of pupil attendance at, and exclusion from, school. Inspection reports published by Ofsted include commentary where appropriate on the quality of school provision for Gypsy and Traveller pupils and their progress and attainment.

The previous Government’s Ministerial Working Group on Gypsy and Traveller inequalities published a report in April 2012, which included 28 commitments from across Government to help reduce the inequalities experienced by Gypsies and Travellers. The document can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/reducing-inequalities-for-gypsies-and-travellers-progress-report

The 28 commitments have since been taken forward by the relevant Government departments and a table setting out progress against those commitments as at October 2014 was deposited in the House of Lords library. This is available at: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2014-10-29/HL2504/