Hansard

There is absolutely no excuse for hate crime and prejudice. The Scottish Government is committed to tackling it wherever it happens, whenever it happens and whomever it happens to.

An attack on one is an attack against us all, and recent events have emphasised the importance of unity in the face of those who would seek to divide us. The terrorist atrocities in Manchester and London serve to remind us not just of the terrible dangers of hatred and intolerance, but of the hugely inspiring way in which whole communities can rally round to demonstrate unity, to support each other and to stand up to hatred.

At the parliamentary debate on hate crime last November, I said that I would bring forward a full response to the recommendations of Duncan Morrow’s advisory group on hate crime, prejudice and community cohesion. I am pleased to update Parliament that we have, today, published a plan of action to implement the advisory group’s recommendations. I would like to take this opportunity to express again my thanks to Dr Morrow and the group for their good work.

The advisory group’s work has built on a long-standing commitment in Scotland to the issues. This Parliament has a long history of championing equality and of standing united against hatred, and the Scottish Government is actively working to build one Scotland in which diversity is celebrated and everyone has the opportunity to flourish.

We know that inclusive and cohesive communities that embrace diversity provide a better quality of life for everyone. Communities thrive when they feel a shared sense of belonging, when they learn and grow together, and when they feel able to live their lives in peace. However, cohesion is weakened when the things that push us apart come to the fore: isolation and loneliness, poverty and inequality, and intolerance and prejudice. Those are the issues that need to be tackled if we are to remain united. We have therefore worked tirelessly to promote equality and tackle discrimination, and I think that Scotland is in a relatively good place. We know that social attitudes have changed for the better, and equality is very much at the forefront of how we do our business.

However, it is absolutely vital that we are not complacent. Last week’s hate crime statistics show that we still have work to do. A minority of the population still think that it is acceptable to be prejudiced, and we know that people continue to experience hate crime and discrimination. That experience is all too real for too many people.

Unity is hindered by the toxic language that we sometimes hear and read about migration, Islam and refugees, which serves only to divide communities, condone prejudice and encourage hatred and abuse. Some people have used recent events to target the Muslim community. That is completely unacceptable: it cannot be allowed to stand and should always be challenged.

Scotland is in a strong position, but as Duncan Morrow’s group has rightly recognised, there remains much more to be done. In reading the group’s report, I was struck by the experiences of people who suffer intolerance and discrimination, which can sometimes be lost in wider debates about policy and legislation. It is vital that we put that lived experience at the heart of our approach as we seek to tackle the issues, so we will look afresh at our approach in order to ensure that we are hearing the range of voices and views in communities, and to ensure that those communities are actively participating in shaping our approach.

The advisory group’s recommendations are wide ranging, so breadth and depth are required in the approach to implementation. Important though the matter is, dealing with it is not the sole responsibility of the justice system; rather, it requires a truly cross-Government endeavour in which the communities, education, transport and justice portfolios work together to tackle the issues. That is why I am announcing today that we are establishing a multi-agency delivery group, which will have ministerial oversight, to ensure that the advisory group’s recommendations are progressed. In particular, the delivery group will carefully consider the barriers to reporting hate crime and how to remove them. It will also consider how we can better support work to build community cohesion within communities and community planning partnerships, so we will invite the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to join the group as a key partner.

We are also setting up an advisory panel on community cohesion to ensure that our work is always informed by the best expert advice. We need to ensure that our approach is informed by the best evidence, so we are working closely with Police Scotland to produce more detailed statistics on hate crime. We are also updating our national outcome on having strong, resilient and supportive communities, and we will seek to improve how we measure that.

We will continue to work very closely with our justice agencies, which provide front-line support to victims, tackle perpetrators and engage with communities to raise awareness and provide reassurance. That work will include consideration of what more we can do to tackle online abuse. There is, of course, no magic bullet that will solve the problem, but social media companies certainly have a role in removing unacceptable content and in ensuring that their users have a safe experience. We must also ensure that we tackle the underlying behaviours and attitudes that drive people to act that way in the first place.

Ensuring that police and prosecutors have the right tools to tackle hate crime is vital, so the Scottish Government has commissioned Lord Bracadale to conduct an independent review of hate crime legislation. That builds on the recommendation in Duncan Morrow’s report that we should consider whether the existing criminal law provides sufficient protections for people who may be at risk of hate crime, including in relation to their gender, age or refugee or asylum status. Lord Bracadale will make recommendations to ministers in early 2018, and we will consider them very carefully. Lord Bracadale plans to engage widely in developing his recommendations, and I look forward to meeting him later this month. I am sure that other members from across the chamber will seek to engage with the review as it proceeds.

It is also important to look beyond the justice system to ensure that our broader services are responsive to hate crime. We will therefore agree, with public transport operators, a hate crime charter that will provide common standards and consistent processes for dealing with hate crime on public transport. We will develop our understanding of hate crime in the workplace, and we will work with the Scottish Trades Union Congress and other organisations to take steps to address it.

Important as having strong services and quick responses to hate crime are, we know that they are not enough on their own. Awareness of hate crime needs to increase. In November last year I announced that we would run a public awareness campaign on hate crime in 2017. It aims to raise awareness, to help people to understand the impact of their actions and to increase wider societal understanding. It will build on previous campaigns, such as the campaign on standing up to hate crime that we ran in 2014. We plan to run this year’s campaign in conjunction with hate crime awareness week later this year.

All those steps are important, but we need also to tackle the prejudicial attitudes that cause hate crime. That is the fundamental route to preventing it from happening in the first place. Later this month, I will be announcing funding, through the equality budget, to promote equality and cohesion across Scotland. We will continue to support interfaith dialogue, and we are formally adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism. We will ensure that the advisory group’s recommendations are locked into our work to promote race equality and the rights of disabled people.

There are simple things that we can all do as members of our communities. This weekend sees the great get together, inspired by Jo Cox, which will see communities and neighbourhoods come together to celebrate what binds them, and I will be attending Edinburgh pride to stand shoulder to shoulder with the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community in Scotland. I am sure that members throughout the chamber have similar plans, and I very much encourage everyone to get involved in some shape or form. The great get together is a fantastic initiative, so let us put our differences aside and celebrate all that we have in common.

Our response to the advisory group outlines what I consider to be an ambitious yet practical range of steps that will continue our work to build one Scotland with many cultures, where everyone has the opportunity to flourish and everyone can live in peace. I know that Parliament is united on the fact that hate crime and prejudice are unacceptable. Let us also unite around the continuing need to show leadership, remain vigilant and drive real change in the months and years ahead, as we look at practical action that makes a real difference to people’s lives.