Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6F-01604

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 05 December 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 8 December 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01579

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 28 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 1 December 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6F-01552

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 21 November 2022
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 24 November 2022

Question to be taken in Chamber.

Question reference: S6W-11942

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendations of the report of the public inquiry into Islamophobia in Scotland, what steps it is taking to consider hate crimes experienced by Sikhs, Hindus and other South Asians.

The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns any form of hatred or prejudice, it is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Cross-Party Report on Tackling Islamophobia shines a light on the impact of anti-Muslim hatred in Scotland and we are considering its findings as we develop a new hate crime strategy for Scotland.

I established the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group to provide collective cross-sectoral strategic leadership in the development of a new strategy. It will set out our priorities for tackling hatred and prejudice in Scotland and support implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021. Members of the group include justice and public sector agencies, as well as Age Scotland, Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure in Scotland (BEMIS), Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO), Equality and Human Rights Commission (Observer), Equality Network, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Interfaith Scotland, RespectMe, Scottish Human Rights Commission (Observer) and YouthLink Scotland.

Importantly, the strategy will be informed by communities with lived experience of hate crime – including religious and racially motivated hate crime – and members of our Strategic Partnership Group are actively engaging with communities, to understand their experiences.

We are absolutely committed to tackling all forms of hate crime, including those experienced by Sikhs, Hindus and other South Asians.

Question reference: S6W-11943

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Monday, 07 November 2022
Current Status: Answered by Christina McKelvie on 16 November 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03291 by Shona Robison on 8 October 2021, what steps it has taken to address the reported shortfall in data about Islamophobic hate crimes and hate crimes against non-Muslim groups such as Sikhs and Hindus in Scotland.

We are committed to tackling hatred and prejudice in all its forms and recognise the value of having robust data and evidence on hate crime in Scotland. We want to see disaggregated data published on a regular and sustainable basis – including data about hate crimes against Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 makes provision requiring disaggregated information about police recorded hate crime and convictions data to be published annually. We are working with justice partners to ensure these provisions can be implemented effectively.

In the meantime, a further Scottish Government study into the characteristics of hate crimes recorded by police in 2020-21 will be published later this winter. This report will include the nature of hate crimes recorded by the police, including characteristics of both victims and perpetrators.

We encourage anyone who has experienced or witnessed a hate crime to report it to Police Scotland by dialling 101 in non-emergencies, or 999 in emergencies.