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Getting it Right for Young Gypsy/Travellers
Survey Research Report
May 2010
Beth Cadger
Policy & Research
YGTL Article 12 in Scotland
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Executive Summary
The purpose of this report was to ask young Gypsy/Travellers, their peers from the settled
community and those working in a professional capacity to: tell us what you think that we,the government and other organisations, should be doing to make sure that young
Gypsy/Travellers can exercise their rights to voice and opinion on matters that effect them,
and to live free from prejudice? In order to achieve this, Article 12 in Scotlands Young
Gypsy/Travellers Lives (YGTL) Projectutilised, over a year long period, various methods of
research including: conducting online surveys, holding and attending various conferences,
and face-to-face interviews. It was our intention, that by doing so, we would gain a wider
spectrum of answers, include those with literacy issues or without access to the internet in the
process and provide the young Gypsy/Travellers involved in the management of the YGTL
Projectan invaluable insight into the different types of research methods available a coreskill which will hopefully prove to be extremely useful throughout the course of their lives.
Various questions and common themes have been raised throughout the course of our
research, which will be hugely important and influential in deciding our future course of
action.
Every stage of our research highlighted a strong sense of shared views. The major issues at
the forefront of concern are: the development of better partnerships, consultation and
networking between young Gypsy/Travellers, their peers, professionals and the national/local
government; an increase in funding; greater provisions for health-care and education; a huge
emphasis on increasing the quality and number of council and privately run sites; and a
positive action campaign highlighting all the many amazing aspects of the Gypsy/Traveller
culture.
Above all, it has been widely agreed that we all need to work together in order to end the
racial discrimination faced by the Gypsy/Traveller community in Scotland today. We must
help give a real voice to young Gypsy/Travellers after all, it is their culture that we all wish
to safe-guard.
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Introduction
The vibrant culture of Gypsy/Travellers, their nomadic way of life and their strong family ties
are all part of a tradition in which many of us can find our roots indeed, settled life is a
relatively modern phenomenon. Despite this, discrimination and harassment towards
Gypsy/Travellers on the grounds of their ethnic background is rife in our society, leaving
many feeling cut-off and cast-out from main-stream culture. Article 12 in Scotlandhas been
working with young Gypsy/Travellers from all over Scotland, alongside their peers from
settled society and professionals in the field, in order to ask the question what needs to be
done? Our policy is to ensure that young Gypsy/Travellers can exercise their rights and
voice their opinions on important matters which effect them, allowing them to live their lives
free of prejudice and helping to put an end to the last socially acceptable form of racism in
Scotland today.
The findings of this report were sourced via answers logged at The Young Gypsy/Travellers
Lives Conference which took place in May 2009; a questionnaire which was posted on the
Survey Monkey website between the months of April and December 2009; the March 2010
Race Equalities Conference which was initiated by the Scottish Government; the Young Scot
Were Here Conference which was held in March 2010 and finally through consultations
with Universal Connections, also taking place in March 2010. Numerous methods of
research were implemented in order to give our young participants experience, and indeed aninsight, into some of the various methods of gathering information - ranging from conducting
face-to-face interviews and informal chats, to giving presentations and electronic voting.
It is hoped that by asking the key question what needs to be done, we have succeeded in
highlighting the major areas which really need to be worked on and improved, in order to
help achieve a fairer society for all - without reference to individual lifestyle choices or
bigotry towards different cultures.
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The Survey Monkey questionnaire
April December 2009
Survey Monkey is an online resource whereby agencies, organisations and individuals can
upload their own survey electronically. It is hoped that by doing so, relevant questions may
travel further, allowing more varied and informative results. Article 12 in Scotlandcreated a
survey which centred around the question what needs to be done? This survey was posted
on various websites including the Travellers Times site, with a total of 30 participants
taking part. Answers were received via the Survey Monkey questionnaire website, and also
by hand-written responses logged on-site, which were carried out by our young
Gypsy/Traveller Co-ordinator Karen Balfour, allowing those without internet access or with
literacy issues to take part in the survey and voice their opinions. The nature of the survey
meant that the responses received online were completely anonymous, encouraging honest
opinions and real answers. It also gave a modern twist to proceedings and indeed it was
hoped that by posting a relevant questionnaire online, a greater number of young
Gypsy/Travellers would start to use the internet as a tool for information.
Responses were received from both female and male participants, with ages ranging from 13
years old and upwards, from all over Scotland. Around 60% of respondents were young
Gypsy/Travellers, with the remaining 40% comprising of those in a professional capacity
who are working towards helping to end the discrimination faced by Gypsy/Travellers on an
all too real level, every day.
There is a strong sense of common themes evident in the Survey Monkey responses.
Primarily, young Gypsy/Travellers want help in establishing their own voice - a well
informed and represented voice. This can be achieved through consultation with, and indeed
by listening to, the Gypsy/Traveller community. Keeping this process jargon free will
prevent alienation and enable everyone to take part and reach the decision makers through
direct participation, giving the Gypsy/Traveller community greater representation andfunding opportunities within local authorities. It was also stated that there should be
discussion sessions between professionals and Gypsy/Travellers before research is carried
out, in order to ensure that relevant areas and issues are being highlighted. A progressive
campaign which would promote the lifestyle and culture of Gypsy/Travellers in a positive
light was also mentioned, helping to alleviate racial discrimination and promote alternative
lifestyles.
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Several key areas for improvement were also noted: more decent pitches and/or land
available for rent; greater equality within education and healthcare; aid in stopping control of
current sites; needs assessments for future provision of sites and services; better on-site
facilities such as nurseries, creative and sporting pursuits etc; social spaces for young
people; investment in on-site education, and more school visits in order to raise awareness inthe up-and-coming generation. There is also a need for help in improving working rights and
ensuring that human rights in general are being met.
In short, the results of the survey highlight a shared voice, asking for safer and more
thoughtfully planned sites, decent health care and education, better rights for workers, better
facilities for child-care, socialising, creativity, more choice of land and pitches, and help with
technical skills. These requests are not unreasonable and are, in fact, commonplace within
the settled community. We need to ask ourselves: why is this not the case for
Gypsy/Travellers?
NB: A visual representation of these findings is available in appendix 2
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TheRace Equalities Conference
March 2010
The Race Equalities Conference, initiated by the Scottish Government, took place in
Glasgow during March 2010. The primary aim of the conference was to promote racial
equality and tackle the racism and discrimination which is rife in Scotland today, as part of
the One Scotlandcampaign. Article 12 in Scotlandwas present at this conference and used it
as an opportunity to askwhat needs to be done?
Participants were given a list of 8 key areas of improvement from which to choose, with the
list of objectives being presented via the process of e-voting (electronic voting). The results
echo those of the Young Gypsy Travellers Lives Conference and the Survey Monkey
questionnaire.
The top two issues highlighted were: better provisions for education, and access to decent
health care facilities. The nature of a transient lifestyle dictates that families will generally
have no real settled address, this results in sporadic bursts of mainstream education if any,
and a reluctance from GP surgeries to have Gypsy/Travellers signed up to their practices.
This further alienates the Gypsy/Traveller community from the rest of society and is, quite
frankly, putting the lives of vulnerable people at risk. All babies, children, pregnant women
and the elderly or infirm should have regular access to good medical services if they so wish.
Those who live in settled society take education and the National Health Service for
granted, considering these facilities as part of their human rights. Again, we must ask
ourselves: why this is not the case for those living within the Gypsy/Traveller community?
Further, participants indicated that addressing the issue of racial discrimination was of
upmost importance. Raising cultural awareness was also a key concern, which many felt
could be tackled through consultation with Gypsy/Travellers themselves, capacity building
(helping to build upon existing skills and develop new ones in order to help alleviate social
and economic problems) and community engagement. This would also help
Gypsy/Travellers to know their rights and be able to defend themselves in a confident and
informed manner, backed up by professionals and indeed the local authorities.
Finally, the need for better sites was again highlighted. This is a real problem for many
Gypsy/Travellers in todays society. Access to decent, dedicated sites for Gypsy/Traveller
are few and far between many council sites are erected in dubious areas, for example, close
to council dumping grounds, or busy roads.
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The majority of Gypsy/Travellers will have young children to consider and, quite
reasonably, would not want their families living in such conditions. Private sites are often
completely full, and many holiday parks do not want Gypsy/Travellers on-site this leaves
many families with little choice but to park up in lay-bys, or on waste ground. This is one of
the major factors that has led to people from mainstream society rejecting Gypsy/Travellersand their culture, and in some cases subjecting them to harassment. It would make sense
then, to allocate funding to creating new sites sites in desirable areas, with good facilities
and large amounts of pitches. This would also cut down on the number of families being
moved on by the police and might help to alleviate the mistrust which is so evident between
Gypsy/Travellers and the law, indeed, police relations were also indicated as an area which
needs to be improved upon. However, in order to do this, we need to raise the profile of
Gypsy/Travellers, helping the general public to see the many positive aspects of their culture.
NB: A visual representation of these findings is available in appendix 3
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Universal Connections
March 2010
Universal Connections is an initiative run by South Lanarkshire Councils Youth Learning
Service and is a place for young people designed by young people to go in order learn,
use the internet, socialise with friends, meet new people and access a range of advice - free
from prejudice. It is one of the few resources available that really caters for young
Gypsy/Travellers. Article 12 in Scotlandvisited the centre at Larkhall on the 24th of March
2010 in order to carry out consultations with some of the young Gypsy/Travellers in
attendance. This enabled face-to-face interviews within a relaxed atmosphere, while the
interviewees were in a situation which was both familiar and comfortable to them. Eight
young people and three members of staff were in attendance to answer our question.
These consultations centred on the all important issue of providing more thoughtfully planned
out sites for Gypsy/Travellers. Again, it was put forward that there is a huge need for secure,
well-lit council sites in more desirable areas, preferably on a good bus route. The group paid
particular attention to discussing the differences between privately run sites and the sites
provided by the council. Council sites tend to be erected on areas of land deemed unsuitable
or unusable for other, more profitable ventures. Usually these sites are located in undesirable
or unsafe areas. As there is a huge emphasis on family within the Gypsy/Traveller culture, it
is no wonder many families are less inclined to stay on these sites, especially with young
children and women to take into consideration. It was also stated, backing up what has
already been said, that these sites need much better on-site facilities including (but not
exclusively): facilities for cooking and washing utensils; disabled access; youth activities and
support; adult learning centres for those with literacy issues; support for those wishing to
enter employment, in particular for females, and safe play-areas for children. Many
Gypsy/Travellers also feel that, if no pitches are available either on council or privately run
sites, they should be able to camp wherever they choose without fear of being moved on or
charged by the police - within reason, obviously.
It is extremely important to understand that living a transient lifestyle makes keeping in touch
with educational activities, friends and current affairs much harder, therefore, it has been
suggested that an initiative to supply young Gypsy/Travellers with personal laptops would be
hugely beneficial for educational purposes, access to information and indeed keeping in
contact with other Gypsy/Travellers and friends from the settled community. By providing
this service we can help build relations between those who travel around, and those who
dont.
NB: A visual representation of these findings is available in appendix 4
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The Young Scot Were Here Conference
March 2010
The Young Scot Were Here Equalities Conference took place on the 24th of March 2010.
Article 12 in Scotlandcarried out two workshops which included presentations, involving 22
participants. These workshops - centred on our key question - were again aimed at getting to
the core of the issues which lie at the forefront of the concerns of young Gypsy/Travellers,
and allowed for face-to-face question and answer sessions. The purpose of the Young Scot
Were Here Equalities Conference was to help raise awareness, within the more
conventional settled community, of the plight of young Gypsy/Travellers. By focusing on
groups of young people, it is hoped and intended that the up-and-coming generation our
future - will carry with them, the message that racism and discrimination towards
Gypsy/Travellers is not okay in todays society.
Interestingly, the same issues indicated previously in this report, were once again brought to
the fore. It was strongly felt that a positive action campaign concentrating on the problems
faced by young Gypsy/Travellers, alongside a constructive marketing campaign aimed at
introducing much of the general public to the wonderful culture, history and traditions of the
Gypsy/Traveller community is needed. Ideas put forward in order to implement this
included; more visits to schools in order to raise awareness and making podcasts.
Participants also reiterated the need for more government recognition in order to implement
and reinforce equality laws. Policies need to be put in place to safeguard Gypsy/Travellers
and their culture and traditions, with an emphasis on better council sites and provisions for
one-stop-shop health-care services.
Contributors were then requested to state which areas of the workshops and presentations
they had found to be the most useful, informative and in some cases, surprising. Participants
indicated that they found the use of statistics to be very interesting and easy to digest
backing up our view that bite-size visual graphics can make more of an impact on certain
audiences than pages and pages of text. They were also surprised to learn that the true level
of Gypsy/Travellers in Scotland today is unknown, and were saddened to hear of the low
levels of school attendance. Satisfyingly, we found that not only had participants
acknowledged the high levels of discrimination faced by Gypsy/Travellers on a widespread
basis every day, but it was stated that prior to our workshops, many of the young people
involved admitted that their opinions of Gypsy/Travellers had been quite negative, but after
our presentations, this had now changed.
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Conclusions
In short, the findings of this survey indicate through the views and suggestions of a
substantial cross section of both the Gypsy/Traveller community, and also participants fromsettled society in both a personal and professional capacity that we are merely at the start
of our campaign to help alleviate, and eventually aim to end, the discrimination faced on a
daily basis by the Gypsy/Traveller community in every aspect of their lives. The groundwork
has indeed been started, but we still have a long way to go in order to start to make a real
difference.
Firstly, there is a real need to try and get young Gypsy/Travellers involved from across
Scotland as a whole, as this would really bring focus to our campaign into all areas of thecountry. By working with these young Gypsy/Travellers, we are helping them to develop
important skills which will benefit them in both personal and work-based situations
throughout the course of their lives, and indeed giving them scope to help others. Secondly,
findings indicate that by reaching out to young Gypsy/Travellers and getting them involved,
through online resources and face-to-face interaction at events, conferences and on-site visits,
we can inspire them to fight for their culture and perhaps help to change attitudes in time for
their own children growing up. By engaging them and giving them a voice, we will be able
to get more young people involved, and also convince those who are unsure about campaign
work to give it a chance. The provision of personal laptops is perhaps a means of
maintaining contact, offering support to and gaining an insight into the Gypsy/Traveller
community?
Our findings show that professional opinions are strongly backed up by the opinions of young
Gypsy/Travellers, and indeed from young people within the settled community. There is a
clear and unanimous voice indicating the key issues that need to be addressed. Our main
focus initially, should centre on the fundamental issues which have come up time and again
throughout the course of our research. It has been proved that we need to concentrate on:
creating a positive action campaign, aimed at informing the general population of all the great
aspects of Gypsy/Traveller culture; more consultation between ourselves, the
Gypsy/Travellers community, parliament and local authorities in order to ensure that the
needs of Gypsy/Travellers are being properly and fairly met for example: more sites, better
facilities, access to healthcare, education and on-site help and support, and finally, we all
need to work together to help young Gypsy/Travellers to have a voice of their own, a voice
which we actually listen to and understand.
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In conclusion then, through listening, visiting and helping to give a voice to these young
Gypsy/Travellers, and indeed their community in general, we can start to challenge the
evident racism towards this group: Gypsy/Travellers are considered to be an ethnic minority,
yet discrimination against them still seems to be all too prevalent, and indeed socially
acceptable, in our society. This must change, and by promoting their traditional way of lifein a positive manner and helping to provide better representation for this community, perhaps
by visiting more schools, campaigning, and lobbying governing bodies, we can help to bring
the views of much of our society out of ignorance and into the 21st century. We need to
stand behind young Gypsy/Travellers, and allow them to inform and enlighten the youth of
today in order to educate past and indeed future generations, and help end discrimination
towards Gypsy/Travellers the last socially acceptable form of racism in Scotland.
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Recommendations
Increasing funding for safer and better equipped sites. Improve working rights. Better on-site facilities such as education, nurseries, disabled access and social
spaces for young people.
Provision of activities, such as sport, computer skills and creative pursuits such asart.
More direct participation from the community itself. More land/pitches available for rent. Better health provisions. A big push for greater government and local authority support. A marketing campaign aimed at positively promoting the history, traditions and
culture of the Gypsy/Traveller community.
Support for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendercommunity. Personal laptops for young Gypsy/Travellers. Implementation and enforcement of equalities laws. Literacy classes for adults. Help in gaining employment. Policies put in place to stop the police from pressing charges against families who
are parked-up in lay-bys etc, when suitable private or council pitches are not
available.
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Appendix 1: Young Gypsy/Travellers Lives Conference, May 2009
Whatneedstobe
done?
Betterpartnership
andnetworking
21% SupportyoungGypsy/
Travellers
throughmorefunding21%
Promotediversetyandacceptance
17%
MoreGovernmentBillsandsupport
7%
Raiseawarenessoftheissues
facingyoung
Gypsy/Travellers
10%
Moresites
7%
Betteraccessto Education
3%
MoreconsultationwithyoungGypsy/
Travellers
14%
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Appendix 2: Survey Monkey questionnaire results
Whatneedsto
be
done?
Helpustoreachdecisionmakersthrough
directparticipation
Weneedindividualpitches
and/orland
availablefor
rent
Worktogethertoensureequalitywithin
educationandhealthcare
BetterrepresentationoftheGypsy/Traveller
communitywithinLocalAuthorities
ConsultGypsy/Travellersbefore
researchiscarriedouttoensurethatthecorrectissuesarebeing
addressed
Avoidjargon
and
keep
everyoneinformedandinvolvedinany
progress
Worktowardsstoppingracism,andhelpotherstoleadtheirlivesastheychoose
Helpstopcontrolon
sites
Helpwithfunding
PromotethelifestyleofGypsy/
Travellersina
positiveway
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Survey Monkey questionnaire results (continued)
Whatneedsto
bedone?
FightfortherightsofGypsy/
Travellers
ProvidetrainingtohelpGypsy/Travellers
haveavoice
oftheir
own
CarryoutaproperNeedsAnalysis,for
futureprovisionofsitesandservices
Better
facilitieson
site
Socialspacesforyoungpeople
Betterfacilitiesfor
young
people
Investment
ineducation
onsite
Visitmoreschools
Helpustotelloursideof
thestorytoa
public
forum/raisemore
awareness
Betterhealth
provisions
Listenmore
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Appendix 3:Race Equalities Conference
Areasofimprovement
Bettersiteprovision
13%
Education
18%
Policerelations
2%
Accesstohealthcare
17%Addressingtheissuesofracismand
discrimination
14%
Consultation,capacity
buildingandcommunityengagement
15%
Rightsandequality
12%
Raisingcultural
awareness
7%
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Appendix 4: Universal Connections
What
needs
to
bedone?
Moreemphasisontheprovisionofsitesacross
Scotland
Ifthereisawaitinglistforcouncil/privatesites,
we
should
beabletosetupcampwhere
wewish
Weshouldnotbechargedbythepoliceiftherearenoplacesin
council/private
sites
Sitesshouldbemoresecurewithbetterlightingandalsoonabus
route
Betteron
site
facilitiesforyoungandold
Adult
learning
facilitiesforthosewith
literacyissues
Programmestohelpwith
gainingemployment,especiallyfor
females
Safeplayareasforyoung
childrenonsite
Councilsshouldbe
developingsitesinmore
desirableareas
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Appendix 5: The Young Scot Were Here Conference
Whatneedstobedone?
Raisemoreawarenessin
schools
Apositiveimage
campaign
Podcasts
Implementandreinforceequalitylaws
'Onestopshop'health
careprovision
providedin
eacharea
Moregovernmentrecognition,andrelevantpoliciesputin
place
Amarketingcampaignaimedatpromotingculture,
historyandtraditions
Councilsneedto
identifyand
provide
bettersites
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Questions raised by participants at the Young Scot Were Here Conference
Why dont the government build dedicated sites on decent land? Why do some Gypsy/Travellers dislike using council run sites? Why cant Gypsy/Travellers register with a GP? How can we interact more with the Gypsy/Traveller community? How can we help to stop the police from unfairly moving on Gypsy/Travellers
camped on unauthorised sites?
What are the religious beliefs of Gypsy/Travellers? What are the differences between Water Gypsies and the rest of the Gypsy/Traveller
community?
How many Water Gypsies are there in Scotland/Britain? How have things changed for the younger Gypsy/Traveller community? What sort of work do Gypsy/Travellers do? Are there sub-cultures within the Gypsy/Traveller community? How is the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community treated within the
Gypsy/Traveller culture?
There was also discussion about the way in which Gypsy/Travellers are represented inthe media.