Scottish Crime and Justice Survey: consultation analysis

4. Citizen Space Consultation and Discussion Events

To investigate the needs and views of survey users, a formal consultation ran on Citizen Space for 11 weeks, from the 23^rd September to the 9^th December 2021. A paper was prepared for the consultation which provided background information and outlined 8 'themes for feedback'. These themes aimed to capture a range of feedback on different aspects of the survey's design and content. The themes are: the survey aims, its function as a crime survey, the sample & frequency, new question topics, the definition of 'SCJS crime', comparisons with the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), the SCJS & further research, and future proofing. The consultation received 21 written responses.

In addition to the written consultation, the SCJS team facilitated a series of discussion events during the consultation period. Due to restrictions on social interaction as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, all discussion events took place online over MS Teams. Two events were advertised on the consultation webpage and via ScotStat, open to all individuals or organisations who had an interest in this topic area. 12 people attended the two open discussion events. An additional two events were organised for Scottish Government analytical and policy colleagues. Over 60 Scottish Government colleagues attended these events. All four events began with a short introduction from the SCJS team, followed by an open discussion structured according to the 'themes for feedback'. The views reported throughout this document are the combined feedback of all written responses and all discussion events.

To note, a further three user workshops took place in January 2022. These workshops are not discussed in this document. A summary of these events is available on the Scottish Government website.