Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group minutes: January 2026

Attendees and apologies

• Siobhian Brown MSP – Minister for Victims and Community Safety (Chair)
• Interfaith Scotland
• Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS)
• respectme
• Police Scotland
• Education Scotland
• YouthLink Scotland
• BEMIS
• CEMVO
• Age Scotland

Scottish Government officials

• Hate Crime Policy Team
• Equality and Inclusion Deputy Director
• Justice Analyst Services

Apologies

• Equality Network
• Glasgow Disability Alliance
• Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) (observer)
• Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) (observer)
• CoSLA

Items and actions

Welcome

The Minister welcomed all attendees to the meeting of the Hate Crime Strategic Partnership Group and thanked members for their ongoing support and contributions, particularly during the challenging context of recent times.

The Minister acknowledged that this would be the final meeting of the Strategic Partnership Group for this phase of the delivery plan, which reaches the end of its lifecycle in April 2026.

Hate crime strategy – reflections on activity since June 2025

A discussion paper, shared with members ahead of the meeting, outlined a range of activity that has been undertaken since June 2025, including:

• Scottish Government, Police Scotland, and Victim Support Scotland’s review of third-party reporting
• awareness-raising sessions for the Hate Crime and Prejudice-based Bullying resource, led by Education Scotland, YouthLink Scotland and respectme

These sessions have also been embedded within cross-cutting Scottish Government strategies, such as the Anti-Racism in Education Programme.

• CoSLA published a toolkit for Local Authorities in November 2025
• go-live dates announced for research findings on the barriers to reporting hate crime and Section 15 data
• publication of an impact evaluation of the ‘Hate Hurts’ campaign, which ran in March 2024

Hate crime strategy delivery – delivery plan evaluation

A draft version of the Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan Implementation Review, which will be published in due course, was shared with the group prior to the meeting. The Implementation Review was informed by the contributions of partners, who shared insights in relation to their delivery activity.

The Minister acknowledged the range of challenges and changing contexts since this work began in 2023, as well as the substantive efforts of the group during this delivery period.

The group reflected on the collective leadership and collaborative approach to the delivery of actions, including:

• members of the group representing public bodies appreciated the access to external stakeholders the group gave them; this opportunity for collaboration helped them shape their approach to their work
• the group noted that the release of Section 15 data will help them understand where hate crime is happening in society and in turn, allowing them to utilise their resources to tackle it

Members of the group noted the need for government to build effective narratives to support community reassurance and address misinformation and disinformation in a proactive and transparent manner.

Hate crime strategy delivery: next steps

The Hate Crime Strategy is due for review in March 2028. Officials will commence engagement with stakeholders and communities in the coming months to identify any new priorities and to build an understanding of the impact of delivery activity within communities.

The Scottish Government will publish the Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan Implementation Review in March 2026.

The Minister thanks all partners for their hard work during this phase of delivery.

Justice Analyst Services Section 15 data publication presentation

Scottish Government Analysts share the methodology and proposed approach to publication of the 2024 Section 15 report with partners:

• the group were supportive of the hybrid approach the Scottish Government and Police Scotland have undertaken for the 2024-25 report
• the group were keen to explore opportunities for further engagement within the group post-publication – to build their understanding of the findings and how they can communicate this data to the communities they represent and other organisations working with those communities
• the group reflected on annual data reports published by Scottish Government, COPFS and Police Scotland, and potential opportunities to build understanding and clarify what these statistics represent to ensure a cohesive narrative on hate crime datasets

Actions:

• officials will commence engagement with stakeholders and communities in the coming months to identify new priorities and to build an understanding of the impact of delivery activity on communities
• the Scottish Government will publish the Hate Crime Strategy Delivery Plan Implementation Review in March 2026