Chamber and committees

The Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group was established to ensure a multi-agency, strategic approach towards the development and delivery of Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy .

Members are drawn from the following organisations:

• Age Scotland
• BEMIS
• CEMVO
• COPFS
• COSLA
• Education Scotland
• Equality Network
• Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA)
• Interfaith Scotland
• Police Scotland
• Respectme
• YouthLink Scotland
• Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (observer)

Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) (observer)There is currently no expectation in the Terms of Reference for the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group that individual names of members from attending organisations will be published.

In appointing the membership of the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Bill Steering Group, we aimed to ensure that all key groups of partners, in public, private, community and third sectors were represented.

Membership of the CWB Bill Steering Group can be altered over time, as different expertise may be required as development of legislative proposals is progressed.

We are currently continuing to develop detailed proposals for the Anti-Racism Observatory for Scotland (AROS). We will include financial provision for this of up to £1.5m in the 2024-2025 budget.

Following the establishment of the Anti-Racism Observatory we are committed to ensuring its continued funding. The budget allocation for each financial year will be subject to work with those leading the Anti-Racism Observatory as to what is required and will be subject to confirmation in each annual budget.

The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs has three scheduled meetings per year with representatives from the Scottish Police Federation and met with them on 21 December 2022, 10 May 2023 and next scheduled for 21 September 2023. The Scottish Police Federation also meet regularly with senior Scottish Government officials.

Police pay is not discussed in these meetings as negotiations take place through the Police Negotiating Board for Scotland. I am delighted that an agreement has now been reached in police officer pay negotiations for 2023-24.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that workers whistleblowing rights are protected, as outlined in the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998. Employment powers are a matter reserved to the UK Parliament, however, the Scottish Government encourages all employers to provide fair and inclusive work, including an effective voice, to all workers.

All public sector organisations should have their own whistleblowing policy and procedures in place which should be consistent with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998, and with their own nominated officer and process for investigation. There is no one-size-fits-all approach to whistleblowing policy as policies will vary depending on the size and nature of the organisation. It is for each organisation to consider what training is required to support the effective implementation of their whistleblowing arrangements.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21068 on 14 September 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21068 on‎ 14 September 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-21068 on 14 September 2023. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers

The Scottish Government have purchased the following laptops since 1st March 2020 for use on the SCOTS network.

In mitigating the impacts of the cost of living crisis, the Scottish Government has taken action to reduce costs, including through our Emergency Budget Review (EBR) in autumn 2022. This responded to the new pressures arising from the crisis, and set out unprecedented reductions in planned spending totalling £1.2 billion, to ensure the Scottish Government was able to manage the annual budget prudently in the face of rising inflation and economic uncertainty.

The significant savings taken in the EBR were applied across government, the full list of which can be found here - Emergency Budget Review published - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Through this reprioritisation in the EBR, we were able to provide further help to those most impacted by the cost of living crisis. The Scottish Government recognises the pressure on household budgets which is why, both last year and this, we have allocated almost £3bn to support policies which tackle poverty and to protect people as far as possible during the ongoing cost of living crisis. This includes increasing the Scottish Child Payment to £25, emergency legislation to put in place a rent freeze, and a range of support for energy bills such as delivering energy efficiency and heating improvements.

The 2023-24 Budget built upon work in the EBR and involved taking difficult savings decisions to allocate around £700 million extra to fund enhanced pay deals.

The on-going cost of living crisis continues to present financial challenges to the Scottish Government. We are reviewing opportunities for more effective targeting of spend through the 2024-25 Budget, whilst prioritising programmes of work which have the greatest impact on the delivery of our core missions.