Chamber and committees

Sure. As I said in my opening statement, we saw at the weekend with the old firm game that it is about the logistics of trying to get down there and detain the people who have deployed the pyrotechnic devices. I will not get into police operations because it is up to them to gather intelligence, look at who is doing that at football stadiums and to search those people proactively as they enter the stadium and remove the pyrotechnic from them or charge them with having a pyrotechnic.

As I said in my opening statement, it is in 2024 for the next financial year.

We had to engage with stakeholders, so we were not able to implement the provisions before June. We did not have the detail to move forward with the public campaign. I am very keen for the public campaign to go live in June, so that it is in place for bonfire night this year.

As I said, we will have a public awareness campaign in June, and we are working with Police Scotland and all local authorities on that. The regulations are being introduced today so that people are aware of them as we progress through the implementation of the 2022 act.

The football clubs are supportive of that. I hope that, when we have our public campaign, they will support that as well, to deter fans from using pyrotechnics at football games.

I will answer the second part of your question first, if I may, then bring in officials for the first part.

The legislation is coming in June, so if it goes out to consultation there will be a tight timescale. The local authorities are working with our officials. I am not sure of the exact councils, but I think that Glasgow and Lothian will have zones in place for bonfire night this November. I am unsure of any other local authority, but those are the ones that have engaged with us and really want to use the legislation. Being an ex-councillor, and knowing what a topical issue this is locally, I think that there will be further take-up from local authorities.

I have not discussed what happened on Sunday with Police Scotland. I saw what was happening, and I think that you are 100 per cent correct that it was totally orchestrated. As I have mentioned, the issue seems to be escalating and it is dangerous. I believe that this SSI, which will enable to the police to search the general public before they enter the ground and to remove pyrotechnics from them, is different from waiting for someone to explode the device and then trying to arrest them safely in a large crowd.

They do, but there will also be a public awareness campaign. At the moment, I think that people think that they can get away with it, but they cannot. Bringing in the legislation and having a public awareness campaign will reiterate that to fans, especially if we have the football clubs on our side as well.

I appreciate that but, as a new minister, I am very keen on public awareness as we move forward. We know that implementation will happen over a period. It may be better for small bits of information to go out to the general public, because much of this will happen in five years’ time. I will be working with my officials to ensure that there is public awareness of the pyrotechnics legislation and, as we move towards bonfire night, I will be working with local authorities on what is expected, to ensure that the public are fully aware.

There is no reasonable excuse for using a pyrotechnic, but there could be a reasonable excuse for being in possession of one. For example, if a security guard in a football stadium confiscates one and is en route to putting it in a safe place, he has a reasonable excuse for having it in his possession.