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Travellers: Ethnic Groups

Asked by Mike WoodConservativeWomen and EqualitiesTabled Answered 29 October 2025UIN 84662

The question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the style guide entitled Writing about ethnicity, updated in October 2024, for what reason references to travellers were capitalised.

Answered by Seema Malhotra

In October 2024, the style guide ‘Writing about ethnicity’ on the Ethnicity facts and figures website was updated. While the guide makes no direct reference to the capitalisation of references to Travellers, a capital letter was used to align with the Government Analysis Function's harmonised standard for ethnicity, based on the 2011 Census.

This standard is also followed by the Office for National Statistics in its service manual.

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