Gypsy/Travellers Action Plan: Ministerial Oversight Group minutes - January 2025

Attendees and apologies

• Ms Stewart, Minister for Equalities
• Councillor Maureen Chalmers, COSLA’s Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing
• Ms Minto, Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
• Mr McLennan, Minister for Housing
• Mr McKee, Minister for Public Finance
• Dr Maureen Finn, Director, Scottish Travellers Education Programme

Apologies 

• Ms Don-Innes, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise

Items and actions

Welcome and apologies 

Ms Stewart 

Noted main objectives of meeting as:

• discussion of actions in the Gypsy/Travellers Action Plan (G/TAP)
• set out the main objective of the meeting was to update Ministers on the progress of actions
• STEP (Scottish Traveller Education Programme), one of the key stakeholders, will provide a presentation on their work

Presentation on STEP

Speaker: Dr. Maureen Finn, Director, STEP

Dr. Finn provided an overview of STEP’s work in supporting the delivery of education actions in the Action Plan. Key points from the presentation included:

STEP background: Based at the University of Edinburgh. Works closely with communities to identify needs.

Education concerns

• education statistics for the past decade are concerning, with little improvement in attendance or positive destinations for Gypsy/Traveller (GT) children

• high school engagement remains low due to fears around safety, bullying, and curriculum relevance

• Scottish policy struggles to translate into practical support for GT children

Findings from  community research

• over 40 families interviewed; widespread fear of high school noted
• negative attitudes towards education are often inherited
• concerns include bullying, exposure to drugs and alcohol, and a lack of curriculum relevance
• staff knowledge and practices are inconsistent across local authorities
• limited awareness of alternative education pathways beyond primary school

Achievements

• established a short-life working group (SLWG) with positive impacts
• engaged stakeholders and policy makers, including the SQA, leading to adjustments in qualification arrangements
• increased nursery participation and improved relationships through resource-sharing
• rolled out the national school pledge programme to promote inclusivity
• appointed a designated point of contact for GT families
• developed resources such as books to raise awareness
• recruited the 10th school into the GT education initiative
• implemented a three-phased approach for working with local education clusters:
• engaging local authorities and school staff
• providing training and resources
• creating welcoming environments for GT families

Future steps

• embedding findings from STEP research into education programs
• ensuring GT voices influence policy changes
• strengthening the visibility of GT concerns within national education policies

Updates on actions

The Scottish Government equality actions – Ms Stewart

Officials are continuing working to promote GT needs across Scottish Government (SG), putting in contact policy makers with stakeholders and community representatives when necessary
Work on Scottish census 2022 data is about to begin to understand GT-specific issues
First community conversations are being planned in Argyll and Bute and Fife, with local authority officials and Ministers invited

• the SG’s GT webpage has been updated with recent and future initiatives
• COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) update - Cllr Chalmers 
• initial work has begun with SG, ALACHO (Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers) and COSLA officers meeting in December to discuss the process for accessing the Gypsy/Traveller accommodation fund alongside housing under the affordable housing supply programme
• we will involve COSLA finance colleagues in all future conversations and will engage with SDG / COSLA political structures at appropriate points in the conversations
• the negotiated stopping evaluation report is now published. It has been uploaded to COSLA Migration and Population website and has been sent to the Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller Officer Group
• the next officer Group meeting will take place in February and will focus on the report’s recommendations. We have invited researchers from the lines between to present the report. This will give LA (Local Authority) officers an opportunity to start the discussion on how we act on the report’s recommendations. Police Scotland will also attend the meeting to discuss roadside encampments and negotiated stopping
• we currently have 125 Councillors on our local leaders network mailing list.  We held a productive in-person meeting on 11th November at Verity House, which focused on education and community relations. A lot of connections were made on the day between Cllrs, MECOPP (Minority ethnic Carers of People Project), and STEP. The next local leaders network meeting will take place in spring
• G/T Officer Group – we currently have 70+ local authority lead officers on our Gypsy/Traveller Officer Group mailing list. We held a meeting on 5th November. The meeting focused on the SG and COSLA Hate Crime Strategy and toolkit. The next meeting will take place in February
• house of Commons’ Women and Equalities Committee inquiry on community cohesion – COSLA will be submitting a written response to this inquiry and will include a section on our Gypsy/Traveller work with partners
• community Conversations with the Minister – Cllr Chalmers is looking forward to our visit to Oban and Fife. It is crucial for us to hear directly from communities about the challenges they are still facing and hopefully the benefits they are seeing from the action plan

Health – Ms Minto

The new health plan focuses on three key areas:

• embedding learning from health programs
• finalising local health priorities with communities
• establishing quarterly public health reporting
• a national working group chaired by the SG has been created to strengthen relationships
• collaboration with Crossroads, a third-sector organization supporting GT carers
• funding of £100k allocated for MECOPP (2024/25) to support GT mental health
• MECOPP conducted six co-design sessions with the GT community on the national care service, with a final report due by the end of the financial year

Housing & accommodation – Mr McLennan

• work continues to complete demonstration projects funded in Aberdeen City, Clackmannanshire, Fife, Highland, Perth and Kinross, and South Lanarkshire, and to gather information from them to share with future projects

• good progress has been made across remaining projects although there have been delays in Clackmannanshire which the council continue to work through
• work on the independent evaluation of the fund and site design guide continues
• work with COSLA and ALACHO has begun to take the necessary steps for Gypsy/Traveller accommodation funding to be accessed alongside housing under the affordable housing supply programme
• work on the Gypsy/Traveller accommodation needs toolkit has been delayed but the process to restart the commissioning has begun

Education – government official

• significant progress on objectives 8 and 9 of the Action Plan
• STEP’s community research report is being finalised for publication in the coming months
• a seminar was held with stakeholders (ADES, COSLA, Education Scotland, Local Authorities, SQA, MECOPP) to discuss initial findings of the community research
• a Strategic Learning Steering Group has been established:
• agreed Terms of Reference
• held two meetings focusing on barriers and solutions

Updates on key initiatives

• revised anti-bullying guidance to include GT-specific concerns
• development of a teacher toolkit to support inclusive education
• increased distribution of Starter Sacks for early years education

Planning –government official

• focus on improving communication between planners and the GT community
• cultural awareness training for planners held in August 2024 – well attended – objective 7.1 completed

Objective 6.1 expanded to cover development of two new planning guides:

• one tailored for planners
• one designed for the GT community, ensuring accessible language work in progress

Any other business (AOB) and closing remarks

• roadside encampments: Police updating procedures
• local leadership engagement: 125 councillors are on the local leaders mailing list
• MECOPP Initiatives: strengthening connections and engagement with the GT community
• officials to circulate minute prior to publication on SG website
• next meeting to be held on the 29 April 2025