Gypsy/Travellers action plan: 2023

We have extended and refreshed the Gypsy/Travellers Action to 2019 - 2021 Plan to Autumn 2023. We continued using the the action plan for 2019 to 2021 in 2022 due to the effects of the pandemic. 

We have created this action plan covering June to September 2023 to ensure the plan is remains relevant to the needs of Gypsy/Traveller communities and takes into account current contexts.

June to September

Our Strategic Team for Anti-Racism will develop its approach to tackling anti-racism and developing anti-racist infrastructure. It will also consider how the work to support Gypsy/Traveller communities can align with this.

We will hold a listening exercise with communities and stakeholders between July and September 2023. This will enable everyone with an interest to share their views what actions and priorities should be included in a future phase of work.

Our commitment to Gypsy/Traveller communities 

We remain committed to supporting Gypsy/Traveller communities by continuing to work closely with partner organisations and community members directly. We will ensure our work continues to be relevant, culturally appropriate, and meets the needs of communities.

Refreshed action plan 

This refreshed action plan  focusses on priorities that can be delivered by September 2023,  taking into account the current financial and resource challenges we face. 

The refreshed plan aims to set out actions: 

• which have been committed to previously with a clear target date set out within 2023 
•  which are ongoing and being delivered by policy teams, stakeholder organisations and COSLA
• that are focussed on priority areas that the community and stakeholders have fed back on, such as accommodation, education and health 

Reprioritisation 

Some actions have been completed in full or are partially completed. Other actions may have been reprioritised for a number of reasons, including:

• to simplify the plan and remove actions that can be condensed with other actions
• work may be taking place elsewhere within our partner organisations
• action points may feature in a review of our future phase of work, due to lack of resource at this stage and not being viewed as a priority area

Format for the listening exercise: taking stock and looking to the future 

We will hold a series a focus group sessions with the community and partner organisations from July to September 2023. These will be run by the Strategic Team for Anti-Racism. The sessions will discuss the challenges and successes of the current action plan and what a future phase of work should look like. 

These sessions will take the form of in – person and virtual conversations throughout Scotland. 
We hope to engage with as many people, as possible throughout Scotland, including young people and those who don’t usually engage in such processes.

The listening exercise will specifically focus on:  

• what worked well – what specific examples of pieces of work were delivered well
• delivery – why did some actions not deliver intended outcomes
• evaluation – the approach taken to review the progress of the action plan with the community and stakeholders and
• accountability – how were decision makers held accountable during the lifetime of the action plan

Future phase: questions will focus on what the key priorities are for the community and what we can do to see the greatest improvement in the lives of Gypsy/Travellers. We want to spark an open, free-flowing discussion so that suggestions are shaped by who will be directly affected. 

Initial reflections to improve our next phase of work

Specific, clear targeted actions 

Actions must be focussed on a particular goal and set out how it will be delivered and what the intended outcome will look like

A robust evaluation process in place

This will support on going monitoring of the next phase of work and ensure progress is regularly reviewed against the evaluation framework

Clear lines of accountability

A strong accountability mechanism must be developed to ensure decision makers and other responsible individuals are keeping abreast and supporting the progress and work streams they are responsible for

Better co-ordination and collaboration

We will ensure there are shared safe spaces where partners, policy officials and others can regularly talk to each other and contribute. This will ensure everyone involved is informed about with how the next phase of work is progressing. 

Specific steps between June and September 2023

We will conduct a listening exercise to support the Strategic Team for Anti-Racism to develop and consider options:

to deliver future phases of work including specific actions and ambitions we should commit to

for effective evaluation and accountability of future phases of work

Timescales

• June - launch of the Refreshed Action Plan and Narrative Document   
• July/September - listening exercise 
• September - consider results of listening exercise to include in next steps