Agenda item

(1)       This report updated Members on the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month, the national Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Achievement programme and the outcomes of early consultation with the community and a review of the Minority Achievement Service.

(2)       Jenny Robson said that KCC had been selected by the Government as one of ten local authorities taking part in a pilot programme to address the national Under Achievement of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.  This was in recognition of Kent’s significant and diverse gypsy, Roma and traveller population, and the effective work which the Minority Communities Achievement Service was currently undertaking to support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils (including new EU arrivals). 

(3)       Jenny Robson also briefed Members on the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month which was a nationwide event taking place in June 2008.  The aims of the History Month would be to explain the history and culture of these communities, to challenge misunderstanding to breakdown barriers and to celebrate the richness that these communities contribute to everyday life.  History Month would be led by community members on a regional basis and the contact for the South East was Mr Jake Bowers.  Kent was being represented at Regional Network Planning meetings by staff from the MCAS and members of the local Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Community.  In Kent, schools were being encouraged to take part in a national poster campaign led by Education Leeds launched in the House of Lords with government endorsement.  Locally, History Month was seen as an opportunity to draw attention to projects and developments already placed and promote a greater understanding of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history and achievements.

(4)       Jenny Robson also briefed the meeting on outcomes of consultation with Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller Community members.  In July 2006, the Department for Schools, Children & Families set out an agenda for the future through its document “Positive Pathways to the Future Provision for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children”.  Specialist services were encouraged to reassess the orientation of their core work within the context of the agenda for Every Child Matters so that an assessment could made of the educational needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities, by

(a)       assisting the local authority and other partners to fulfil their legal and professional responsibilities

(b)       focusong on the traditional work of supporting families, children and schools; and

(c)        clarifying the role function and leadership and service delivery model within the local authority for any specialist service with goal of achievement of equality in terms of access, attendance and achievement. 

(5)       In her report, Jenny Robson also provided the Advisory Board with details of the consultation arrangements and also feedback on the outcomes of the consultation.

(6)       Jenny Robson provided the Board with an update on the mapping of specialist services for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Community.  She said that a priority for the Minority Communities and Achievement Service was to work with other service providers to ensure that the services of all children, young people and their families/carers in Kent were accessible to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Community and strategies to achieve this priority were already in place and these were detailed in her report. 

(7)       Jenny Robson also gave the Board a briefing on a review which had been undertaken of the Minority Community Achievement Service and how it was intended it would meet budget reductions (which had been agreed through the Medium Term Plan) whilst at the same time maintaining its high quality services to schools, settings, children and young people and supporting the transition to Local Children’s Services Partnerships.

(8)       Following discussion of her report and the issues which it raised, the Advisory Board noted it for information and also noted that a further report on the pilot of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Achievement programme would be submitted to a future meeting.