A situational policy analysis of Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen, and Boater (GTRSB) communities in the UK: exclusion and inclusion in housing, health, and education.

This brief contextual chapter aims to build on and develop the overview of Gypsy, Traveller, Roma, Showmen, and Boater (GTRSB) communities in the UK that was offered in the previous chapter. As a key concern here, the focus is with policy and practice that both promotes social inclusion and reduces social exclusion. A range of examples will be drawn on from across the UK, including some references to the European context, to show how discrimination and prejudice in a variety of public policies and their service delivery is endemic, but also to show that there is some evidence of innovation and best practice when it comes to the operation and implementation of social and public policies that can assist GTRSB inclusion. The areas examined in this chapter are largely taken from the policy worlds of housing, health, and education. Before moving on, it must be said that this brief review is not designed to be exhaustive and is highly selective, but the examples chosen are illustrative of wider phenomenon that hopefully reflect some of the main concerns of the communities themselves, as well as policymakers and other agencies/officials who are charged with trying to construct and operationalise policies that ‘do more good than harm’ (Smith-Merry, 2020).