Question reference: S5W-32018
- Asked by: Liam Kerr, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 24 September 2020
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Current status: Answered by Humza Yousaf on 8 October 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, further to the statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on 23 September 2020 (Official Report, c.20), whether it will provide a full list of the stakeholders that the cabinet secretary said he had spoken to “to seek their views on the areas of the [Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill]" that he was "committed to considering”; what date each discussion took place, and whether it will publish the minutes of each discussion.
Answer
I met with the following stakeholders to seek their views on the areas of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill that I was considering amending:
- Faculty of Advocates (04 September 2020)
- Law Society of Scotland (14 September 2020)
- Humanist Society Scotland (14 September 2020)
- Catholic Church (14 September 2020)
- Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Group [1] (22 September 2020)
- Scottish PEN (22 September 2020)
- Federation of Scottish Theatre (22 September 2020)
- National Union of Journalists (22 September 2020)
- Scottish Society of Playwrights (22 September 2020)
- Writers’ Guild (22 September 2020)
- Scottish Police Federation (22 September 2020)
These engagements informed the development of the policy change to the Bill that I outlined to Parliament on 23 September 2020. Discussion also covered a range of other matters connected with the Bill as well as wider hate crime policy.
Short notes of the meetings will be published here by the end of the month and once permission has been received from the organisations in attendance.
[1] https://www.gov.scot/groups/tackling-prejudice-and-building-connected-communities-action-group/ .