Steve McCabe – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Steve McCabe on 2016-10-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the reasons for police forces across (a) regions and (b) the UK having variations in their respective plans of action for dealing with traveller camps in (i) public parks and recreation sites and (ii) other publicly-owned land.

Brandon Lewis

Dealing with unauthorised traveller sites requires a multi-agency response, involving local authorities and supported by the police.

The police have powers under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 to remove travellers from a site. The decision on whether to use these powers is an operational matter for the police who must consider their duties under the Equalities Act and Human Rights Act in each case.