Chamber and committees

Information on cases of Anglophobia is not held centrally. Data is published on the number of police recorded hate crimes that include an aggravation for race. The characteristic of race in the hate crime legislative framework includes race, colour, nationality (including citizenship) or ethnic or national origins. If an offence was motivated by prejudice based on Anglophobia (i.e. anti-English prejudice) it would therefore be recorded by the police as an offence aggravated by race.

The Scottish Government published a study on the characteristics of police recorded Hate Crime in February 2021. This included: (i) information on the number of racially aggravated hate crimes recorded by Police Scotland from 2014-15 to 2019-20 (shown in the following table), and (ii) a more detailed study of the characteristics of these cases in 2018-19 (based on a large scale review of crime records). Based on the findings of that more detailed study, Table 17 of the publication provides a breakdown of what prejudices were shown by the perpetrators. This suggested that 6% of racially aggravated hate crimes in 2018-19 included an anti-English prejudice. This would equate to an estimated 210 crimes. Please note, some of these crimes may include multiple racial (or other aggravation) prejudices.

A second study into the characteristics of police recorded hate crime is due to be published later this year. This will provide the same type of detailed disaggregated data and information on police recorded hate crimes for the year 2020-21.

Table: The number 1 of racially aggravated hate crimes recorded by police in Scotland, 2014-15 to 2019-20

We currently have no plans to issue revised guidance for the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013. Application of the legislation and associated guidance is the responsibility of local authorities and my officials will continue to engage with them to ensure that the legislation (supported by the guidance) is being applied in the manner intended by Parliament when the law was passed whilst identifying current best practice. Lady Carmichael in her judgement endorsed the 2016 guidance (since fine-tuned in 2019) and application of the legislation.

In order to support older and disabled people in meeting this new legislation, we have provided a total of £1.1 million in 2021-22 to Care and Repair Scotland.

We also provided £1 million to SFRS for their Home Fire Safety visits to help those most vulnerable to the risk of fire to meet the new standard. The general principle is that owners are responsible for the cost of looking after private property. Our targeted funding is reaching those most at risk and least able to do the work themselves. There are no currently plans to provide further funding.

The Scottish Government published a statement in partnership with COSLA on 21 January 2022 confirming that local authorities will take a proportionate and measured approach to compliance and individual circumstances will be taken into account.

Whilst we encourage homeowners to install these alarms at their earliest opportunity to protect lives and possessions, we have emphasised consistently that there will be no penalties for non-compliance.

In line with JCVI advice, adults aged 75 years and over, and residents in a care home for older adults, as well as individuals aged 12 years and over who are immunosuppressed, will be offered an additional booster dose in spring 2022, at least 24 weeks after their last dose.

As per clinical guidance in the Green Book, health boards have the flexibility to offer spring boosters sooner than this (at least 12 weeks since last dose) where appropriate, to help provide additional protection during the spring and summer months. Those eligible will receive a scheduled appointment letter and should wait to be contacted.

We published our NHS Recovery Plan last August and continue to work with Public Health Scotland on updating guidance for Primary Care settings, covering key issues such as the removal of mandatory physical distancing requirements, access for patients and infection prevention and control.

We increased the Primary Care Improvement Fund to recruit multi-disciplinary teams from £110m in 2020-21 to £155 million in 2021-22, and this will increase again to £170m in 2022-23.

Schemes proposed in the flood risk management strategies (now referred to as plans) published by SEPA in December 2015 were prioritised according to their cost benefit ratio and taking into account a series of additional criteria, encompassing the environmental and social impacts of flooding.

This list was agreed by the National Prioritisation Advisory Group which was chaired by the Scottish Government. A list of the prioritised (Cycle 1) schemes can be found on the SEPA website.

Discussions are taking place with SEPA and the local authorities on the prioritisation arrangements for the Cycle 2 schemes that will cover the period 2022 to 2028.

42 Flood Protection Schemes (sepa.org.uk) .

The Vaccination Transformation Programme covers all routine immunisations that are delivered in Scotland. From the 1 st of April, NHS territorial Health Boards have responsibility for the delivery of vaccination programmes, with models varying across Scotland to align with local requirements. This allows Health Boards the flexibility to arrange vaccination centres at community venues, delivering through existing health teams (such as Midwives or Community Pharmacies), or establish new clinics to meet local needs. Some Health Boards may continue to utilise GP practices to provide vaccination services by local arrangement.

Licensing authorities will recover the costs of establishing and running the licensing scheme in their area through licence fees.

Licensing authorities must determine their own fees and fee structures to recover establishment and running costs specific to their area. Licensing authorities must review their fees from time to time to ensure that revenue from fees remains in line with the running costs of the licensing scheme.

The Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2022 came into force on 1 March 2022. Licensing authorities have until 1 October to open schemes in their areas to receive applications from new and existing hosts. We published updated guidance for licensing authorities on 18 March, and we will continue to work closely with them in the run up to schemes opening.