Question reference: S6W-21328
- Asked by: Jamie Greene, MSP for West Scotland, Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
- Date lodged: 19 September 2023
-
Current status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 27 September 2023
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in relation to the offences under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022, how many people have been (a) arrested, (b) charged, (c) prosecuted and (d) convicted, also broken down by the (i) offence and (ii) court disposal.
Answer
Information is not presented in the way requested due to the information being received from numerous stakeholder systems.
From August 2022, when the new legislation came into effect:
Management information received from Police Scotland internal systems on 26 September 2023.
Offences recorded under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnics Articles (Scotland) Act 2022 by Police Scotland.
- Legislation went live 6 October 2022:
Section 21 - Proxy Purchase - 2 Crime Reports raised – enquiries ongoing.
- Legislation went live 6 June 2023:
Section 35 – Pyrotechnic in a public place – 4 Crime Reports raised – 2 arrested and report submitted to COPFS, 2 reported to COPFS.
o Section 36 – Pyrotechnic designated sporting/music event. 9 Crime reports raised – 6 reported to COPFS (2 disposed through Early and Effective Intervention), 3 undetected (incidents captured on CCTV – no suspect identified).
Management information received from Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) on 14 September 23.
- A total of seven charges, across five cases, have been reported to COPFS under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022.
- Of those seven charges, four (across two cases) are currently pending and awaiting a decision on how to proceed. All of those four charges are for contraventions of S.21(1) (the proxy purchasing charge).
- The remaining three charges, across three cases, were prosecuted in court, with two (both contraventions of S.35(1) – possession of a pyrotechnic article in a public place) still ongoing.
- The third one (a contravention of article 36(1) – possession of a pyrotechnic article in a designated venue or at a designated event) plead guilty to the common law charge of culpably and recklessly igniting a pyrotechnic article within a football stadium, and the accused’s plea of not guilty was accepted to the statutory charge under S.36(1) on that basis.
- Sixty one charges have been reported to COPFS with the statutory aggravation under S.44 for emergency workers.
Management information received from Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) administrative database (COPII).
- The management information received from SCTS (and published by the Scottish Government quarterly being the latest update January 2023-March 2023) indicates that there are no convictions recorded for accused prosecuted for charges under the Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles (Scotland) Act 2022.
Source: Police Scotland, Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) administrative database (COPII).