Chamber and committees

I refer the member to the answer to question S7W-01245 on 9 July 2026. 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 condemns all forms of religiously motivated violence and is clear that communities affected by reported attacks targeting Muslims should feel safe, supported and resilient.

We have established strong working relationships with Muslim communities across Scotland, and we continue to engage with communities to ensure appropriate support and reassurance is in place.

We recognise the importance of ensuring that engagement reflects the diversity within affected communities. We continue to strengthen and build on these relationships and our networks to ensure these voices are heard.

Work is progressing on the next phase of Scotland’s Hate Crime Strategy, and we are taking steps to ensure that this is informed by these stakeholders. Alongside this, we will continue to consider how our engagement and resilience work can best support communities and respond to emerging issues.

We will continue to work closely with partners at both local and national level to ensure that our approach remains cohesive.

The Scottish Government is clear that racism, Islamophobia and all forms of hatred and prejudice have no place in Scotland, including when expressed online. Social media companies have a fundamental responsibility to enforce their own rules, prevent harmful content from being amplified and protect users from harm. That responsibility must be backed by robust regulation.

It is essential that Ofcom is able to use its full regulatory powers to hold platforms to account when they fail in their responsibilities. We recognise concerns about the role that algorithmic systems can play in promoting and amplifying harmful content, and support effective regulatory oversight that ensures platforms are transparent about risks and take appropriate mitigating action. The Scottish Government recently attended the Ofcom Scotland Advisory Council meeting in Aberdeen where officials presented on the work of our Online Safety Taskforce and Action Plan, our main mechanism to coordinate work in this area.

We welcome that Ofcom has taken up the issue of regulation of spikes in illegal content during periods of public disorder by strengthening their codes of practice on Illegal Content and the Protection of Children. The amendments ask service providers to prepare and apply a crisis protocol to mitigate and manage the risks arising from a significant increase in relevant illegal content and/or content harmful to children on their services. This is a priority for the Scottish Government and we are keen to remain informed on the effectiveness of these measures.

While regulation of the internet remains reserved, we have consistent and robust engagement with UK Ministers and Ofcom to strengthen a range of online protections, including as part of the Online Safety Act 2023.

The Scottish Government unequivocally condemns all forms of hatred and prejudice, including hate speech and the incitement of racial or religious hatred online. We are clear that behaviour which targets individuals or communities on the basis of their protected characteristics is unacceptable, whether it takes place offline or online. We would encourage the reporting of such behaviour to Police Scotland.

There are already a range of offences that can be used to prosecute threatening behaviour online. These include the offence of ‘threatening or abusive behaviour’ which has been in force since 2010 and criminalises behaving in a threatening or abusive manner that would be likely to cause a reasonable person to suffer fear or alarm. Other offences include breach of the peace, the common law offence of threats and the offence of ‘improper use of a public electronic communications network’ at section 127 of the Communications Act 2003. Additionally, the offences of stirring up racial or religious hatred and racially aggravated harassment in the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 are enforceable.

Scottish Ministers are committed to reforming our public sector to ensure the delivery of excellent public services in a fiscally sustainable manner. Delivering such services is core to the government’s mission. The role of Public Service Reform is to deliver that mission, building confidence that the government is on Scotland’s side and can be trusted to take the next step in our constitutional journey.

Any reform of ferry services will be taken forward as part of this and will involve engagement with stakeholders. Parliament will be updated on any decisions in the normal fashion.

The Community Needs Assessments (CNAs) for the Cowal and Rosneath were published on 11 September 2024. Further CNAs are currently in progress and are expected to be completed by the end of this year. These cover the following:

1.Coll, Colonsay, Iona, Kerrera, Lismore, Mull and Tiree

2.Outer Hebrides, Small Isles, Skye and Raasay

The intention is to commence work on the remaining CNAs in the Clyde and Hebrides during 2026 subject to agreed staff and budget resource.

The Scottish Government is clear that we must not allow recent attacks to stoke fear or division. We recognise the distress these events have caused, and that everyone in Scotland should be able to go about their daily lives without fear.

Ministers and senior officials have met with Police Scotland following the reported attacks in Edinburgh on 19 June 2026. The Scottish Government engages regularly with Police Scotland on issues of community safety and the policing of public events, and recognises the importance of communication that supports safety and provides reassurance across communities.

The European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) articles apply to marches, parades and static demonstrations and organisers of static demonstrations or protests do not need to notify a local authority or Police Scotland of their intentions to hold an event. Police Scotland regularly communicates information about events and potential disruption through public communications, local engagement, and partnership working, including outreach to affected communities where appropriate but they will often not have advanced information to communicate ahead of a static demonstration taking place.

The Scottish Government condemns all forms of racially and religiously motivated violence. We recognise that incidents of this nature can cause fear well beyond those directly affected, and are committed to working alongside communities and partners to provide reassurance.

Following the reported incidents on 19 June, the First Minister met with faith leaders at Broomhouse and Annandale mosques on 22 June to hear directly from those affected and to understand how best to support communities.

Our work on ensuring inclusive, safe and cohesive societies is continually informed by faith communities and other stakeholders, including through established groups such as the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership and the Faith and Belief Representatives Group, and the wide range of partners we work with.

Strong industry led clusters are a proven means of delivering economic growth. The Scottish Government commissioned a report in 2025 to take views from industry and other stakeholders and inform the design of a cluster development function to augment and support existing engagement. (a) We will shortly be procuring the cluster development organisation. (b) Given that Life Sciences in Scotland is a mature landscape, with a number of existing sub-cluster entities, the structures and scale of the cluster development organisation can be expected to evolve over time. Its initial role and remit will be to provide a focal point to support sectoral growth and integration across the Life Sciences cluster; deliver the actions assigned to it within the first year delivery plan; and work with all stakeholders to develop a year 2/3 delivery plan. (c) We are working with the Life Sciences Scotland Industry Leadership Group to develop appropriate governance and oversight.

The Scottish Government has not made an assessment of the impact of a ferry service between Rosyth and Dunkirk. The decision to introduce an international ferry service is a commercial consideration for the ferry operator and relevant port authorities.

The Scottish Government and its agencies continue to support the wider development of our ports and the potential for new direct freight and passenger ferry services linking Scotland to Europe. We are happy to work with any ferry operator to explore opportunities to promote a new service.