Mr. Eamonn Waters:

It was referenced earlier on. The most robust figures we have are ones published a couple of years ago but they are largely based on the census in 2016 so things have been moved on a bit since then. The next census is next year so it is not ideal that we have such a gap. Similar issues arise with ethnic identifiers in homeless accommodation as they would in respect of social housing needs assessment. Emergency accommodation is provided for anyone who needs it based on his or her presentation. He or she is assessed by a local authority and ethnicity is not a factor.

We have certain data and can take certain details out of the data we produce every month but there is no means to disaggregate that into numbers by county based on someone's membership of the Traveller community. When we combine what we know from that information with the anecdotal information from local authorities, we can get a general picture of where there are particular areas that are under more pressure than others. The Vice Chairman is correct in saying that there are certain areas, counties, towns and cities where homelessness would be more prevalent. The composition of the homeless population would be made up to a greater extent of Travellers so we know that.

In answer to the Vice Chairman's question, we do not publish county by county or do not have data that would allow us to do that on a county-by-county basis but when one combines what we know from homeless emergency accommodation figures, local authority evidence and what will come out of the identification through social housing assessment, we will get a better picture and a better evidence base to make policy decisions in the provision of accommodation. There is an issue with good data. We know a good bit but we could do with an awful lot more detail.