Luton Borough Council

03/07/2023 - Gypsy, Roma and Traveller month

Did you know that one out of every 200 people in the UK is from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities?

People are often surprised to learn that one person in every 200 in the UK is from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities. This means that most of us will know someone from these groups! One of the key aims of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month in June was to highlight the impact the ongoing discrimination has had upon the health of these communities and learn about these communities that live in the UK.

The Office of health improvement and disparities evidences that Gypsies and Travellers have life expectancies of between 10 and 12 years shorter than the general population and have the worst outcomes of any ethnic group across areas including health, education, employment, criminal justice and hate crime. Some 42 per cent of Gypsies and Travellers are affected by a long term condition as opposed to 18 per cent of the general population. Irish Travellers are 6.6 times more likely to die by suicide than the general population with suicide believed to cause 11 per cent of all deaths. The communities also have disproportionately high levels of infant mortality, child mortality and still births and are 20 times more likely to experience the death of a child than the general population.

In 2022, Luton officially launched its position as the first Marmot Town in the UK. Luton is well-placed to become a Marmot town – it has a thriving and vibrant voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector, a resilient economy and no shortage of the ambition and leadership needed to put health equity at the top of the agenda.

This June, and to help address these health inequalities, Luton Irish Forum, Luton Public Health, the University of Bedfordshire and Dr Tahir Mehmood - Luton clinical lead for Children, Young People and Families teamed up to hold our third Traveller Family Fun Day. This event which has doubled in size offered Irish snacks and refreshments, a children’s entertainer, makeup demonstrations as well as health advice, physical wellbeing checks, welfare and passport information.

Luton Irish Forum has worked with HMP residents at Bedford on a successful mural project, intended to develop Traveller pride in their heritage and is helping to engage GRT prisoners in Littlehey, Five Well and Stanford Hill.

Luton Roma Trust and Luton Irish Forum, ran a cultural awareness session for Luton Council staff teams and councillors to increase learning and insight into the GRT community. The session looked at similarities and differences between Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, their lived culture, and the challenges they face, but also explored opportunities for working together on specific issues faces by these communities such as accessing services and site shortages leading to unauthorised encampments.

Cllr Javed Hussain, Portfolio Holder for Highways and Sustainability, which the GRT community comes under said: “The session was really insightful and interesting and held myself as executive member and our staff to build an understanding of these communities, their aspirations and contribution, as well as the problems they face. I look forward to continuing to work with Luton Irish Forum and Luton Roma Trust to work towards better understanding of how we can resolve some of these challenges and enable more mutual cooperation as part of a more inclusive and equitable Luton for all of our residents.”