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Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

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Question reference: S6W-06439

Asked by: Anas Sarwar, MSP for Glasgow, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 10 February 2022
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 10 March 2022

To ask the Scottish Government, further to the answer to question S6W-03292 by Shona Robison on 8 October 2021, what the current status is of its work on adopting a formal definition of Islamophobia; whether it will commit to adopting the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims' definition of Islamophobia, and, if so, within what timeframe.

On 23 December 2021 we published a report on implementation of the actions set out in the Tackling Prejudice and Building Connected Communities Action Plan (2017). The report shows encouraging progress made in a number of key areas including raising awareness of hate crime and encouraging reporting.

Building on this progress we will publish a new hate crime strategy later this year. Development of a strategy of this nature will engender consideration of and engagement on a number of relevant initiatives to tackle hate crime and prejudice – including Islamophobia – in Scotland. It will therefore also naturally allow for further consideration of the need for the Scottish Government to adopt a formal definition of Islamophobia, such as the definition advanced by the UK’s All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims.