Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group minutes: September 2022

Attendees and apologies

Workshop held on 1 September 2022

• Equality Network
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
• Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Organisations (CEMVO)
• Interfaith Scotland
• Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA)
• Respectme
• Glasgow Disability Alliance

Workshop held on 15 September 2022

• Age Scotland
• Youthlink Scotland
• Police Scotland
• Black and Ethnic Minority Infrastructure Scotland (BEMIS)

• Scottish Government officials

Items and actions

Welcome

The Chair welcomed members to the workshop session to begin discussions on how we could collectively achieve our agreed vision and outcomes.

Themed discussions

The discussions from both sessions (1 and 15 September) have been grouped under the themes outlined below.

Raising awareness

• members discussed the need to clearly explain what hate crime is, the law, and the impact it can have on victims and communities and the importance of national campaigns in doing this
• previous awareness raising campaigns had been relatively helpful though future campaigns should consider a range of audiences and locations

Education and prevention

• members discussed the importance of formal and informal educational activity in tackling hatred and prejudice including: curriculum content and international human rights-based approaches; tackling bullying and supporting schools in dealing with potential hate incidents; and the role of youth work
• members noted the need to consider how we talk about social media and online hate with children and young people
• members also noted the benefit of celebrating cultural heritage in fostering good relations between communities

Data

• members noted that while there are useful statistics published annually on hate crime in Scotland by COPFS, and a recent deep dive exercise on police recorded crime, there is limited disaggregated data available
• members noted the importance of the provisions in the new Act requiring information about police recorded hate crime and convictions data to be published annually, and the need for partners to work together to ensure data is captured correctly

Reporting

• members noted that some communities are reluctant to report incidences of hate crime and that confidence in current reporting systems is low
• the groups noted a range of barriers to reporting, such as not knowing when or how to report an incident, concern that a report will not be taken seriously and language or accessibility, which the strategy should seek to address 
• members considered that exposure to and training for Police officers could offer consistency of approach and increase confidence in reporting amongst communities
• members also noted that their communities value third-party reporting but that it is not currently operating as effectively as it could be

Support for victims and witnesses

• members noted the importance of ensuring appropriate support was available to victims at the right time, recognising the significant impact experiencing a hate crime can have on an individual
• it was also noted that not everyone needs the same type of support
• clear information about what to expect throughout the justice system (from reporting to conviction and everything in between) would we welcome

Next steps

The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group will meet in November to consider a set of commitments for the new strategy.