Seòmar agus comataidhean

The information requested is accessible in the public domain at www.gov.scot/publications. This link provides a search facility for all Scottish Government publications and can be filtered by subject area and publication year.

We are clear that there is absolutely no place for prejudice in Scotland, and that includes anti-Muslim prejudice and Islamophobia. Any form of hate crime is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.

The Scottish Government is committed to building strong, resilient and supportive communities for all and, as set out in our response to the Report of the Independent Advisory Group, we will now take forward an ambitious programme of work in response to their recommendations.

Focusing on building community cohesion for all will have a significant impact in addressing such prejudice and inequalities – not only for religious groups but for all minority communities in Scotland. This is absolutely essential in ensuring that we are truly ‘One Scotland’ where people live in peace and everyone has the opportunity to flourish.

I would also like to refer the member to question S5W-08278 answered on 13 April 2017 which outlines some of the action we have taken to tackle Islamophibia in Scotland. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx

The content of publication summaries can and does change between each release following review of what the key messages are.

NHS ISD is always happy to receive feedback on the content of the information released.

The full information continues to be published by NHS ISD in excel tables on their website:http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/index.asp.

The full data on pain psychology services continues to be published by NHS ISD in excel tables on their website: http://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/index.asp.

The content of publication summaries can and does change between each release following review of what the key messages are.

NHS ISD is always happy to receive feedback on the content of the information released.

Botulinum toxin is a prescription medicine and can therefore only be administered by an appropriate practitioner or by anyone acting in accordance with the directions of an appropriate practitioner. The same does not apply to dermal fillers.

However, independent clinics where cosmetic intervention services are provided by a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife or dental technician are subject to inspection and must register with Healthcare Improvement Scotland before they can provide such services. Failure to do so will result in a referral to the Procurator Fiscal’s Office.

In April 2015, the Scottish Cosmetic Interventions Expert Group (SCEIG) published a report on regulation of independent healthcare and its recommendations were accepted by Ministers. Since implementation of Phase 1 of regulation on 1 April 2016, independent clinics run by a doctor, dentist, nurse, midwife and dental technician, who administer dermal fillers, are required to be registered with Healthcare Improvement Scotland.

Work on Phase 2 of the regulation has commenced and is focused on cosmetic procedures provided by non-healthcare regulated practitioners (beauty/cosmetic salons).

Dermal fillers are neither a prescription medicine nor are they classed as a medical device unless submitted for a CE mark as a product with an intended medical purpose.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), an executive agency of the Department of Health, is responsible for ensuring that medicines and medical devices work and are acceptably safe and the Scottish Government has no input in this decision making process.

I expect to receive the Board’s formal submission shortly and will take the time necessary to properly consider it alongside other information and representations.

It is not possible to gather information on all racist offending from the recorded crime database. Information is available on the offences of racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated conduct, however this does not include cases where racism was considered an aggravator to the main crime or offence. Statistics for racially aggravated offences (racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated conduct) from 2006-07 to 2015-16 are shown in the following table.

We are currently working with Police Scotland as they develop the data they hold on their Vulnerable Persons Database with a view to producing new analysis on police recorded Hate Incidents (which would include incidents with a race element). We anticipate a further update for users on the development of this work later in the year.

Number of racially aggravated offences recorded by the police in Scotland, 2006-07 to 2015-16:

Year	Racially aggravated offences
2006-07	4,474
2007-08	4,543
2008-09	4,564
2009-10	4,513
2010-11	4,173
2011-12	3,486
2012-13	2,903
2013-14	2,712
2014-15	2,456
2015-16	2,132

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) and Scottish Government’s statistics on court proceedings are derived from IT systems designed to facilitate operational needs of reporting crime and prosecuting individuals. These systems were not primarily designed for the reporting of the characteristics of victims of hate crime.

Dr Morrow’s independent advisory group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion reported in September 2016 and recommended that the SG works with partners to improve the monitoring and data collection in relation to hate crime, and to develop methods to include qualitative indices of improvement in community cohesion for minorities.

We are currently working with Police Scotland as they develop the data they hold on their Vulnerable Persons Database with a view to producing new analysis on police recorded Hate Incidents (which would include incidents with a race or religious element). We anticipate a further update for users on the development of this work later in the year.

The Scottish Government report “Religiously Aggravated Offending in Scotland 2016-2017” includes information on the gender of the accused for religious aggravation charges reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal (COPFS). This information is derived from the COPFS database with the report available here: http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2017/06/6107/0

For race crime, as recorded on the COPFS database, 77% of the charges reported to them in 2016-17 related to a male accused.

Statistics on other characteristics of the perpetrator are not available centrally.

Dr Morrow’s independent advisory group on Hate Crime, Prejudice and Community Cohesion reported in September 2016 and recommended that the SG works with partners to improve the monitoring and data collection in relation to hate crime, and to develop methods to include qualitative indices of improvement in community cohesion for minorities.

We are currently working with Police Scotland as they develop the data they hold on their Vulnerable Persons Database with a view to producing new analysis on police recorded Hate Incidents (which would include incidents with a race or religious element). We anticipate a further update for users on the development of this work later in the year.