Chamber and committees

In line with the Ministerial Code, the Scottish Government does not routinely publish details of its legal advice. This applies to the work on the Building a New Scotland series, in the same way as it applies to other aspects of the government’s work.

The £28 million fund has been launched for England and Wales only. The Scottish Government is not expecting any new Barnett consequential funding. We remain committed to preventing and tackling hate crime, including religiously motivated hate crime. The Scottish Government’s recently published Hate Crime Strategy makes a number of commitments including continued investment in raising awareness, improved support for victims and increased efforts in prevention.

We continue to work with Police Scotland and others to safeguard all communities and potentially vulnerable people and sites. We would encourage organisations with concerns about their security or the safety of their members to contact Police Scotland.

The Hate Crime Security Fund was established as a one-off fund in response to the March 2019 Christchurch terror attacks. This met a government commitment to provide a £500,000 fund for security measures for Places of Worship in Scotland, announced on 27 January 2020.

The Scottish Government continues to invest in raising awareness, encouraging reporting and prevention in order to tackle hate crime in Scotland. There are no plans to launch another security funding scheme for places of worship in Scotland.

We continue to work with Police Scotland and others to safeguard all communities and potentially vulnerable people and sites. We would encourage organisations with concerns about their security or the safety of their members to contact Police Scotland.

Funded organisations reported that the grants enabled them to install measures that make their congregations feel safer, and to reduce hate crimes. The majority of projects focused on the installation of CCTV and alarm systems, which organisations felt provided a strong deterrent and security comfort for those using the buildings.

The total number of applications was 46. The total number of successful applications was 42, meaning 4 were unsuccessful. Applications were assessed by Police Scotland against the fund criteria, including their vulnerability to hate crime.

The Scottish Government condemns all incidents of religious persecution and the targeting of innocent people based on their beliefs.

The Scottish Government’s new Hate Crime Strategy was published on 24 March 2023. The strategy sets out a vision for a Scotland where everyone, including people of faith, live free from hatred and prejudice. The strategy was informed by those with lived experience of hate crime, including faith communities. A delivery plan, setting out immediate and longer term activity, will be published later this year.

In addition, the Scottish Government’s Faith and Belief Engagement Strategy for Scotland was published on 22 March 2023. It was developed in partnership with faith and belief organisations and makes a clear commitment to strengthen communication and collaboration with Scotland’s diverse faith and belief communities. It aims to enable fairer representation for minority groups and intersectional voices, and to further support community cohesion.

During the development of the Bill Scottish Government officials have been in regular contact with officials from the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to understand the UK Government’s plans for the legislation and the impact it will have on organisations in Scotland as well as with subject-specific officials in other Departments. There have also been exchanges between the various Ministers in both Governments throughout the process.

Of particular focus in these discussions has been: the need to balance the rights of individuals with reducing the burden on organisations using personal data; the potential for impact on EU data adequacy for Scotland as a result of the Bill, which the Scottish Government has sought assurances on; and the areas which require Legislative Consent from the Scottish Parliament.

The Scottish Government also issued a response to the UK Government’s 2021 consultation ‘Data: a new direction’ which informed the development of the legislation.

Transport Scotland and their operating company, BEAR Scotland, have taken a number of actions following the recent A86 landslide at Roybridge and further measures are in hand.

A series of landslips emanating from private land adjacent to the A86 trunk road occurred on Tuesday 13 June 2023. Six separate locations along the A86 were affected with an estimate 900 tonnes of material reaching the A86. An unoccupied private dwelling was also affected with material depositing close by. The property was secured and no further action was required. Records indicate that 100mm of rain fell in a localised area within a 3 hour-period. This led to the mobilisation of material from the land, leading to closures of both the trunk road and the parallel rail line

Geotechnical and operational response teams attended, leading to the road reopening under traffic lights by Wednesday 14 June 2023 and fully reopening on Monday 19 June 2023. The railway opened on the same day.

Additional heavy rainfall on 11 July led to an overnight closure with the A86 reopening at lunchtime 12 July under traffic lights, which were removed on 13 July.

As noted above, the immediate response by the geotechnical and operational teams enabled access to be returned as soon as it was safe to do so. This helped to reconnect communities and business access in the area. This work was undertaken in conjunction with both Network Rail and the private landowners from whose land the mobilised material emanated. These locations along the A86 continue to be monitored by BEAR Scotland.

For the medium to longer term, measures are currently being discussed with the adjacent landowners to help them develop remediation works, including inspections for any blocked culverts in their land, to prevent further incidents affecting the A86.

The Scottish Government has no plans to provide funding for additional air services from the mainland to Scottish islands. The only mechanism for the provision of subsidised air services is through the imposition of a Public Service Obligation (PSO). In line with legislative requirements, when considering the imposition of a PSO, the adequacy of other modes of transport and the ability of such modes to meet the transport needs under consideration is assessed.

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 (“the Act”) includes the duty to have regard to island communities. This means that a relevant authority as listed in the Schedule of the Act must consider island communities when carrying out its functions.

There are 71 relevant authorities listed in the Schedule of the Act including funding bodies such as Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

A relevant authority can demonstrate compliance with the duty to have regard to island communities by making such arrangements as it considers appropriate to review any policy, strategy or service (as the case may be) which it develops or delivers in carrying out its functions, and either, in the case where the authority must prepare an island communities impact assessment under section 8(1) of the Act, by preparing that assessment, or in any other case, by making such an assessment or taking such other steps as the authority considers appropriate.