Consultation comments reported as hate crime incidents: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
Information requested
The following for consultations from 2021 onwards relating to the guiding principles for screening as given in Section 5.5 of the Consultation Good Practice Handbook.
1) The number of comments considered for reporting as hate crime incident.
2) The number of comments reported as hate crime incidents.
3) Which department(s) are responsible for handling these reports or whether these reports would be made directly to the police by the team running the consultation.
Response
1) The number of comments considered for reporting as hate crime incident.
2) The number of comments reported as hate crime incidents.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. The reasons why we don't have the information are explained in the Annex to this letter.
3) Which department(s) are responsible for handling these reports or whether these reports would be made directly to the police by the team running the consultation.
The handling, moderation and redaction of responses is the responsibility of the individual teams running the consultation prior to publishing.
A publication setting out our approach to consultation is available on gov.scot (which includes information on response redaction). We have also made our Good Practice Handbook available via a previous FOI, and provides guidance for SG staff on what to consider when redacting consultation responses prior to publishing.
It is important to note that these redactions only apply when publishing the response (if permission has been given to do so). The full unredacted response will always be considered during the analysis.
This information is available from the links provided above. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy.
I enclose a copy of some of the information you have requested, as set out in the attached Schedule of Documents. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because of FOISA exemptions. These exemptions are as follows:
The reasons why these exemptions apply are explained in Annex B of this letter.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG