Meeting of the Parliament 17 April 2024
First, non-crime incidents are not related to this act in any way. As we know, the recording of non-crime hate incidents is an approach across the whole of the United Kingdom. I am aware of the Miller recommendation that has been implemented in England and Wales. Police Scotland has indicated that it is currently reviewing it for implementation in Scotland.
Since 2014-15, an average of 6,700 hate crimes have been recorded by the police each year. In 2021-22, 6,927 hate crimes were recorded by the police. Of those, 62 per cent included a race aggravator, 27 per cent included one for sexual orientation and 8 per cent included one for disability, highlighting the clear need for hate crime legislation.
From research in 2020-21, we know that around a third of hate crimes involve a victim who has experienced an incident at their place of work or as part of their occupation. Most of those victims work in retail or service industries, and that does not include the police. The same research shows that almost a quarter of all victims of such offences that were recorded in 2020-21 were police officers.
We have worked closely with our justice partners, including Police Scotland, since the act was passed in 2021 to ensure that its implementation and delivery would be robust. I am grateful to Police Scotland for its outstanding dedication and professionalism since the act came into force.
Within the first week of the act’s implementation, Police Scotland received more than 7,000 reports of hate crime, of which the vast majority were assessed not to be criminal. Over the same week, 232 hate crimes and 30 non-crime hate incidents were recorded.
There have been reports of individuals and groups exploiting the new legislation to make vexatious complaints in order to overwhelm police systems. We must send a strong message to those making vexatious complaints that they must stop doing so. I hope that every member across the chamber, regardless of political affiliation, will stand united in that call.
Online reporting drastically decreased by 74.4 per cent during the past week to 1,832. That fall was not reflected in the number of recorded hate crimes, which further strengthens the Government’s position that the legislation is needed to support those who are the target of hate crimes. We have also seen the first recorded crimes using the new age aggravator, with 38 such crimes recorded in the first fortnight of implementation. Police Scotland has reiterated that, although the increase in reporting has been greater than usual, that is being managed by the contact centres and the impact on front-line officers has been minimal.
I turn to our plans on misogyny. Women, like everyone else, are already protected in law from threatening and abusive behaviour but are not specifically covered in the 2021 act, for well-known reasons. During the consultation on Lord Bracadale’s report, a number of women’s groups raised concerns that the proposed hate crime framework did not reflect the reality of the misogynistic harassment and abuse that is experienced by so many women.
For that reason, we established the working group on misogyny, led by Baroness Helena Kennedy, to consider in detail issues relating to misogyny and the criminal law and to make recommendations for reform. We consulted on draft legislation to implement the report’s recommendations in 2023. Those will inform a final bill, which we will introduce this year.
During the development of the hate crime strategy, we heard from people who felt unable to leave their homes due to the fear of being the target of hate crime. The 2021 act will go some way to providing those people with the confidence to carry out their lives in a safe manner.
Today, the Conservatives call for the repeal of the 2021 act. Let me be crystal clear: this Government has no intention of repealing the act. Repealing it in full would leave Scotland as the only country in the United Kingdom without specific legislation to protect communities from hate crime. Why would anyone not want our communities to be protected from hate and crime?
I understand that the Conservatives want the act to fail because they need to justify why they did not support it in 2021. They will therefore do everything that they can to discredit it. However, my message is that that will not work. Legislation that protects people from hatred is not new; it is still needed and the misinformation that has surrounded the act is irresponsible.
The 2021 act modernises and updates legislation—