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

Attendees and apologies

 

• Ms Stewart, Minister for Equalities
• Councillor Maureen Chalmers, Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) Spokesperson for Community Wellbeing
• Ms Don-Innes, Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise
• Richard Foggo, Director of Population Health, representing the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health and the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport
• Government Official, Gypsy/Traveller and Residential Mobile Homes Team Lead, representing the Minister for Housing
• Government Official, Head of Development Planning, representing the Minister for Public Finance
• Charise Barclay-Daly, Interim Gypsy Traveller Service Lead, Minority Ethnic Carers of People Project (MECOPP)

 

Apologies       

• Mr McKee, Minister for Public Finance
• Mr McLennan, Minister for Housing
• Ms Minto, Minister for Public Health and Women's Health
• Ms Todd, Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport

Items and actions

 Welcome

• Ms Stewart welcomed attendees and noted the main objectives of the meeting were to provide updates on the delivery of actions included in the Gypsy/Traveller Action Plan (G/TAP)

 

 MECOPP presentation

• Charise Barclay-Daly provided an overview of activities undertaken by MECOPP who support the delivery of actions included in the Action Plan

Accommodation and planning

• MECOPP noted they have undertaken extensive engagement work with community members in partnership with the Scottish Government on the proposed definition of Gypsy/Travellers within planning legislation to inform the local development plan evidence report
• findings from pilot planning and engagement work in North Lanarkshire was showcased to local authorities in August 2024
• three briefing papers were developed to highlight community feedback regarding:
• maintenance on local authority sites
• allocations policy on local authority sites; and
• a capacity crisis in Gypsy/Traveller accommodation

Health

• MECOPP noted they deliver a “Community Health Matters” service that aims to improve physical and mental health, increase access to services and support better health outcomes. Key project highlights included:

• liaison with the Chief Pharmacist to escalate the issue of community members travelling long distances to access medication. This resulted in patients being able to access up to one cycle of a regular repeat medicine through the unscheduled care Patient Group Direction (PGD) as an alternative to registering as a temporary patient with a General Practice (GP) while travelling
• producing resources for frontline NHS services to improve access and Gypsy/Traveller patient experiences. Highland Equality and Diversity Leads have subsequently included this in training and Anti-Bullying policies
• collaborating with multidisciplinary health board and policy teams to improve GP registration in Greater Glasgow and Clyde, and partnering with Grampian Regional Equality Council (GREC) to support health and diversity projects in Grampian.

Children and families mental health service

• MECOPP noted provision of a range of support to young people through their mental health and wellbeing rights and arts workers, which include activities such as mental health crisis support, a children and young people youth group and arts therapy

Social Security, work and combatting poverty

• MECOPP noted they deliver a further range of services and activities to Gypsy Traveller communities, including providing culturally appropriate information, income maximisation, pop-up services and a referral scheme to access foodbanks and fuel

Close

• Charise Barclay-Daly closed to note that while there is much positive progress to celebrate, MECOPP remain concerned that due to ingrained inequalities within Gypsy/Traveller communities that ongoing work and support will be required after the conclusion of the G/TAP in 2026
• Ms Stewart thanked Charise Barclay-Daly for the presentation, and the examples of the great work MECOPP are undertaking to support Gypsy/Traveller communities across Scotland

 

Updates on Actions

Scottish Government Equality Actions – Ms Stewart

• officials continue to promote Gypsy/Traveller needs across Scottish Government, putting policy makers in contact with stakeholders and community representatives
• community conversations are still be scheduled in Fife and Argyll and Bute and will be confirmed as soon as possible
• officials are planning the Scottish Government’s annual, national event to celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month on 19 June at Dynamic, Edinburgh. This is an occasion to raise awareness on the culture of Gypsy/Traveller and Roma communities and recognise the work of national and local partners. Elected representatives, stakeholders and members of the public will be invited to join us for the occasion. Meeting attendees were encouraged to share the invitation and registration information within their networks

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

• Scottish Traveller Education Programme (STEP) have finalised and published their  report to demonstrate community experience and perspectives on education to enhance the current evidence base and understanding. The findings are being disseminated to a range of Community Learning  Development (CLD) and third sector partners
• the short-life Gypsy/Traveller education steering group have held their third meeting.  Members engaged with the barriers to education faced by young Gypsy/Travellers and began a process of aligning these with existing policy and services
• ongoing work to progress a toolkit for practitioners  and other educations remains underway.  STEP have met with Education Scotland to discuss progressing a consultation and have met with staff from 13 local authorities who participated in training events promoting the use of the toolkit
• a digital transition advisory group of teachers and experts consulted on a resource to support transitions between primary and secondary education – this included hearing from twenty-five young people and families regarding barriers to transitions
• continuation of the distribution of the “STEP Starter Pack” programme so every child is able to learn through play and offer a best start for going to school
• a total of eight schools are participating in “Schools Pledge” programme and another four schools are expected to join later this year
• we have updated our national anti-bullying guidance, Respect for All, which was published in November 2024.  Work on interim guidance for schools to respond to racism and racist incidents is being developed with an estimated publish date of  summer 2025
• STEP used information from four consultation activities to inform the development of a virtual learning toolkit with five new online resources for  families and education staff and a Digital Essentials learning programme to  improve staff confidence and skills to support Gypsy/Traveller families
• STEP has also delivered in-person, enhanced digital transitions workshops on one Traveller site and virtual community-led literacy development workshops in 4 schools
• 20 digital transitions sacks have been distributed to local authorities as part of the pilot study, with a further 25 being rolled out by August 2025

Health - Richard Foggo, Director of Population Health, represented the Minister for Public Health and Women's Health and the Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport

• highlighted the Scottish Government has received the first iteration of Health Boards anti-racism plans, and are currently being reviewed. Health officials will liaise with Ms Minto, and the Minister for Equalities, to provide further information
• outlined that health boards have been tasked to ensure that the plans are developed in partnership with communities but that ultimately health boards are responsible for the actions within them
• noted the sustainability of essential work that MECOPP are undertaking is important from a strategic perspective. For example, funding has been secured for MECOPP at present, and Scottish Government will think about what a sustainable service looks like in future. It was noted that a coordinated approach would most beneficial to achieve positive outcomes, and Public Health Scotland (PHS) are working alongside Scottish Government to provide an options appraisal, which will shared with this group in due course

Next meeting agenda item

• Ms Stewart asked if a specific agenda item regarding sustainability could be included during the next meeting
• Richard Foggo suggested this could be touched upon briefly by Ms Minto at the next meeting, before further discussions take place.
• both Chairs noted agreement on this approach

Housing and Accommodation – Government Official, Gypsy/Traveller and Residential Mobile Homes Team Lead, representing the Minister for Housing

• noted positive progress on work required so that funding for Gypsy/Traveller accommodation can be accessed alongside housing through the Affordable Housing Supply Programme (AHSP) from 2026/27 onwards
• alongside this work to mainstream funding into the AHSP, the Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed to work in partnership to review site standards and align with relevant aspects of housing standards.
• there have been delays to some of the remaining Gypsy/Traveller Accommodation Fund (GTAF) demonstration projects but local authorities are working to progress and complete these projects.  An event to share lessons learned from the GTAF  demonstration projects is taking place later today to showcase the positive work undertaken through the Fund and share learning for future projects.  Diffley Partnership who are undertaking the independent evaluation of the GTAF  will provide an update on progress so far

COSLA update - Councillor Chalmers

• COSLA’s leaders have accepted in principle the Settlement and Distribution Group’s recommended approach to the integration of the G/T Accommodation Fund into the Affordable Housing Supply Programme. Leaders are only able to provide in principle approach until it is clear there will be additional funding for this additional ask on the AHSP
• COSLA’s Community Wellbeing Board is considering a review of minimum standards for site guidance from 2015. Next steps will be taken forward in partnership with COSLA, Scottish Government and ALACHO
• discussions are ongoing regarding the Negotiated Stopping evaluation. Next steps may include showcasing good practice examples and updating website information
• COSLA will ask MECOPP to consider providing a session on competency led capacity building to the COSLA Local Leaders Network in May
• MECOPP and COSLA presented at the Community Safety Network Conference in March in relation to the Hate Crime Strategy and the G/TAP.
• it was noted that Community Conversations can take time to set up, and the discussions can be challenging at times, however further conversations are anticipated to be organised soon

Government Official - Head of Development Planning, representing the Minister for Public Finance

• great to hear the positive feedback from Cllr Chalmers around Planning.
• in terms of objective 7, on sharing advice on contacting communities and cultural awareness for planners, this has been delivered. Officials instigated the positive training session that Charise presented at, which was held in August. Well attended by local authority planners involved both in preparing local  development plans and dealing with planning applications. Slides and resources/ links from the session available on the HOPS Knowledge Hub
• on objective 6 - around the Guides - separate guides tailored to both GT community and planning officer audiences ware being developed. This year's grant letter for MECOPP secures their input to bring members of the community to the table to input to the form and content of the guide. Meeting with the Lanarkshire Councils, MECOPP due to take place in early June to look at progress

Any Other Business (AOB)

• in closing, Ms Stewart asked Ministers to keep attention high on the delivery of action across all relevant portfolio areas, and thanked Charise Barclay-Daly for her time, enthusiasm and integrity, noting MECOPPs contribution is invaluable

Actions

• a sustainability item will be added to next meeting agenda to begin considering what future health service delivery may look like (Ms Minto)
• officials will circulate the meeting minute prior to publication on the Scottish Government’s website
• the next meeting will be held in August 2025 (date to be confirmed)