Information relating to the implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021: FOI release

Information requested

1. Copies of any training materials, guidance notes, or implementation guidance produced or commissioned by the Scottish Government for public bodies in relation to the Act.

2. The total expenditure incurred by the Scottish Government to date on:

• training;
• guidance production;
• implementation support;

relating to the Act.

3. Please confirm whether any reviews, evaluations, or internal assessments of the Act’s implementation have been completed or commissioned.

Response

Most of the information you have requested is publicly available on The Scottish Government - gov.scot

1. Copies of any training materials, guidance notes, or implementation guidance produced or commissioned by the Scottish Government for public bodies in relation to the Act.

As the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 is criminal law stature, it would be the responsibility of individual public bodies to develop their own training materials and guidance in accordance with the legislation.

Any general guidance produced by the Scottish Government regarding the Act always exists within the public domain, such as this factsheet, which provides guidance regarding the implementation of the Act: Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act: factsheet - gov.scot

Due diligence was given to this FOI request and all relevant documents found in internal searches have already been released to the public domain. These FOI requests detail discussions surrounding training and guidance planning between Scottish Government and Police Scotland in relation to the implementation of the Hate Crime Act:

Hate Crime Bill: FOI release - gov.scot
Guidance document for Police Scotland recording hate crime: FOI release - gov.scot
Implementation of the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021: FOI release - gov.scot

2. The total expenditure incurred by the Scottish Government to date on:

• training;
• guidance production;
• implementation support;

relating to the Act.

The information you have requested has previously been published as part of Scottish Government spent overall on the hate crime bill: FOI release - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Additionally, the Financial Memorandum Hate Crime and Public Order Scotland) Bill details all costs tied to the Act including implementation of the Act: Financial Memorandum

3. Please confirm whether any reviews, evaluations, or internal assessments of the Act’s implementation have been completed or commissioned.

The Act is still relatively new legislation, having only come into effect on 1 April 2024 and only recently reached the end of its first year of reporting. At present, there are no plans for review, evaluation or assessment.

For information, the Scottish Government will publish the first annual report on police recorded hate crime as soon as reasonably practicable following receipt of the necessary data for 2024-25, which will improve the level and availability of disaggregated hate crime data. We will also work with our Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group members in the coming months to publish an implementation report of the Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide the information you have requested because an exemption under section 25(1) – otherwise accessible.

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.

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.