Equality Impact Assessment - Commissioning Of A Housing Related Support Needs Of Gypsy/Traveller Community

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• Equality Impact Assessment - Commissioning Of A Housing Related Support Needs Of Gypsy/Traveller Community

Populations served/affected:

The Gypsy and Traveller ethnic group, living in the Royal Borough of Kingston, regardless of tenure are affected by this screening process.

The proposal is that a specific Supporting People Gypsy/Traveller Service be established.

Swallow Park Caravan Site, Chessington, provides 15 pitches, for traveller households. The main ethnic group is English Gypsy. Two households are Irish Traveller. There is a plan to extend and improve the Swallow Park Caravan site to provide a further 3 pitches. This proposal arose from an accomodation needs assessment.

Every local housing authority must, when undertaking a review of housing needs in their district under section 8 of the Housing Act 1985 (c. 68), carry out an assessment of the accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers residing in or resorting to their district.

There are two small unauthorised traveller sites.

There are also Gypsy/Traveller community residing in bricks and mortar. It is difficult to identify this group as they are not a specific group within ethnic monitoring. Additionally some people may identify themselves as White British/English, although have a travelling culture or family background.

Is it relevant to the general duties as specified by the Race Relations Act and the Disability Discrimination Act? (See Guidance notes)

Which of these aspects does the function relate to (if any)?

       Eliminating Discrimination  

       Promoting Equality of Opportunity

       Promoting good relations  

       Preventing harassment

       Enabling participation in public life

Yes, the Race Relations Act is relevant as the community is specified within equality legislation as an ethnic group for race relations and the need for public authorities to promote race equality and good race relation in exercising their functions.

Individuals in Swallow Park community are reported to have literacy problems and have difficulties in reading or writing thereby preventing access to services and inequality in opportunity.

There is also a lack of understanding within the community of how to access public services to prevent social exclusion.

The Gypsy/Traveller community has difficulty accessing mainstream services. Royal Borough of Kingston Education Service has long recognised its statutory responsibilities and that this duty will be applied equally to all children, regardless of race, religion/faith, cultural background, age, gender, sexual orientation and disability in accordance with the Borough’s Equal Opportunities Policy. Current education services for Gypsy Traveller community are tailored to the needs of the children in this community, with the aim to achieve as good an outcome as other communities. This proposed housing related support service will continue this model of providing specialist support.

Do you monitor your users?

Yes. Gypsy/Travellers are a specific vulnerable group within the Supporting People programme. In the past when this community accessed Supporting People services, their vulnerability as a Gypsy/Traveller was defined as the secondary vulnerability and they may have accessed the services because, for instance they were homeless.

Additionally a pilot was conducted with a homeless Traveller household to assess the acceptability of proposed support service.

There is a housing needs assessment conducted by Fordham Research in regard to the housing needs of this community.

Additionally there is a Traveller customer profile form to be completed by Housing regarding the equality monitoring of residents on Swallow Park. This information does need to be more robust and will therefore form part of the work of the proposed support service.

Is there any evidence or reason to believe that some groups could be differently affected?

Yes, if the service is not “cross tenure” then people living in some tenure may not receive a service. This could be a breech of the Disability Discrimination Act. Consequently the Commissioning Body agreed in September 2007 that all non-accomodation based services will be commissioned cross tenure.

It is acknowledged that within Supporting People Programme as a whole there are Hard to Reach Groups who may also require a specialised service to maintain their tenancies and independence.

  

What is the degree of relevance?

In your view, is the information you have on each category adequate to make a decision about relevance?

No, the current information on the needs of the Gypsy/Traveller community is not sufficient for any category, except Race.

Are there any triggers for this review (for example is there any public concern that functions/services is being operated in a discriminatory manner?) If yes please indicate which:

No, not at a local level in terms of discrimination, however the Audit Commission recognised that further work in terms of improving best practise was required, in relation to Equality and Diversity within the Supporting People Programme.

The needs of the Gypsy Traveller community are now identified in the Supporting People Equality and Diversity Statement to promote social inclusion. 3.2.2 The Commission for Race Equality’s 2006 report on Gypsies and Irish Travellers, Common Ground, found that many local authorities were failing to fulfil duties to the Traveller community.

It noted that:

“Many authorities have not considered the possibility that tension over unauthorised encampments and developments may be connected to their failure to provide and manage sites, blaming Gypsies and Irish Travellers instead for antisocial behaviour.”

Commission of a housing related support service is one of the measures taken by Royal Borough of Kingston under its statutory duties to provide a comprehensive service to Traveller community, at a time of significant change in legislation around housing rights for residents on Traveller Sites.

Additionally at a national level there is concern about the disadvantage, homelessness, racism and poor health outcomes faced by the Gypsy/Traveller community.

Conclusion

On the basis of the relevance test would you say that there is evidence that a medium or high detrimental impact is likely?

Commissioning of a housing related support service can only enable a better understanding of the needs of this community and improve access to services for the Gypsy/Traveller community. However as the Support Service is commissioned for a one year period, a full EQIA will be required prior towards the end of the one support contract in October 2009 to look at the best way to tailor the contract to the support needs of the community.

Assessment completed by:

Anita Harris

Supporting People Officer, Supporting People Team

September 2008