“A council has delayed evicting Britain's largest illegal gypsy and traveller camp - so that bailiffs can be given 'cultural awareness training'.” The Sun, 26/07/2011

“Eviction of travellers from Britain's biggest gypsy camp delayed while bailiffs undergo 'cultural awareness training'.” Daily Mail, 26/07/2011

The eviction of 400 Irish travellers from Dale Farm in Essex – the largest gypsy settlement in Europe – was always likely to be a controversial move, and one in which the press would take an interest.

The Sun and Mail today reported however that this eviction may be delayed as the council sought “cultural awareness training” for its bailiffs in order to comply with equalities legislation.

Full Fact has previously found that similar anecdotes on “political correctness” in local councils have sometimes got lost in translation, so we decided to take a closer look.

We therefore got in touch with Basildon Council, who are responsible for the eviction, and they provided us with their side of the story.

Dawn French, Head of Corporate Services, said: “The content of the training will include Gypsy and Traveller cultural awareness and discrimination law requirements which are standard practice. It was always envisaged that this would be part of any direct action and would be undertaken immediately prior to any action so that the personnel involved in the operation are suitably trained. There is more than enough time to undertake the training and this is part of our ongoing preparations for the operation.”

While the council therefore seems to accept that the training described in the press is indeed going ahead, it does dispute the suggestion that this will cause delays to proceedings.

In this case therefore, the media reports of council “political correctness” do seem to tally with the action being taken.

That said, only time will tell whether Basildon council or the Mail and Sun are correct on the issue of whether or not the training will cause delays to the eviction.