Meeting of the Parliament 05 November 2014
Of course that is happening. No project has any right to assume that funding will continue without its outcomes being assessed, and that is one of the key jobs that the advisory group is involved in doing.
At the same time as the projects are taking place, our comprehensive research programme is helping us to build the most holistic evidence base on the issue that we have ever had. The outcomes of all that work have been developed in partnership with the independent advisory group.
It is important to be clear that we are taking a new approach for which time is needed to allow the projects to deliver and evaluate their initiatives, and for research to be carried out and completed. A whole slew of research is being undertaken or has just been completed; indeed, a vast amount of work is under way, and the timescales for delivery will ensure that the evidence that we get back will be robust and informative.
I whole-heartedly welcomed the wide-ranging report that the advisory group published on 13 December 2013, but the point that Elaine Murray missed was that it was an interim report that aimed interim recommendations at organisations across Scottish public life. I also point out that we responded to the report in February. At the same time, and in recognition of the far-reaching recommendations that had been made, I wrote to all the key organisations, including football clubs and authorities, Police Scotland, COSLA and religious leaders, to highlight the recommendations that they needed to give consideration to and address.
A number of the advisory group’s recommendations called for the development of a full research programme. The baseline for our research has been the Scottish Government’s literature review, entitled “An Examination of the Evidence on Sectarianism in Scotland”, which was published in 2013. Since then, we have built on the advisory group’s recommendations by publishing information from the 2013 Scottish crime and justice survey and Scottish household survey; statistics on hate crime statistics, including religious hate crime, from 2013-14; and information relating to religion on demographics, population, households and health from the 2011 census.
All of that will be supplemented next year by the completion and publication of research on the community impact of public processions; a Scottish social attitudes survey module on sectarianism; a study of community experiences of sectarianism in Scotland; and information relating to religion on the labour market, education, housing and transport from the 2011 census.
Of course, academic research in itself does not tell the whole story, which is why, as I have said, we have accepted the advisory group’s recommendation to use funded projects as data sources to ensure that the real experiences of those working in communities can be reflected when we pull all the information together. That, I am afraid to say, takes time. I do not believe that anyone is under any illusions that there are any quick fixes; we need to allow all of the pieces of work to complete before we can bring them all together next year.
I know that the advisory group does not want its report to become a political football, so I was very encouraged when Dr Morrow confirmed that he had been meeting spokespeople from all political parties as well as the Equal Opportunities Committee to discuss the agenda. I fully recognise that there has consistently been a great deal of cross-party support for the agenda and, as recommended by the advisory group, I would like to explore the potential for building on that in the future.
We are, and have always been, committed to tackling sectarianism, and we recognise that we need to work together on the issue. Our work with the advisory group will continue, and I look forward to its final report, which I am sure will help us all to move this agenda forward.
I move amendment S4M-11395.1, to leave out from “considers” to end and insert
“welcomes the report and its recommendations, which require action from groups and organisations across civic Scotland; awaits the final report of the advisory group in 2015 and welcomes the scrutiny given to last year’s report by the Equal Opportunities Committee and the committee’s ongoing interest in this issue; agrees that education and prevention are the best ways of tackling sectarianism, and looks forward to the statutory report on the Offensive Behaviour at Football and Threatening Communications (Scotland) Act 2012, which the Scottish Government will lay before the Parliament next year.”
14:57Motions, questions or amendments mentioned by their reference code.