Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill – Freedom of Expression Amendments
The Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee is issuing a short timescale call for views on the options proposed by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice for the inclusion of amendments into the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill at Stage 3 on freedom of expression. The amendments are set out in the Annex (215KB pdf).
How to submit your views
The Committee welcomes your views specifically on the draft amendments proposed by the Cabinet Secretary for Justice on the issue of freedom of expression. The Committee is not exploring any other issue associated with this Bill in this limited call for views.
How to make a submission
If you are interested in sending your views on the draft amendments, please send these in a Microsoft Word document to the Committee by 10.00am on Monday 22 February.
We welcome written views in English, Gaelic, Scots or any other language. Your submission should be a maximum of 4 to 6 sides of A4. Please send your submission by email to:
[email protected]
The Committee will not publish any submissions that do not relate to the amendments on freedom of expression. This is because the Committee has finished its consideration at Stage 1 and of the Stage 2 amendments. Due to the limited time available, your submission must comply in the first instance with our conditions for the acceptance of written evidence. The following privacy notice will assist you in this regard. The Committee clerks will not be able to assist you in the usual way with compliance due to the limited amount of time available for consideration of your views.
https://www.parliament.scot/Privacy-Notice/SubmittingYourViewsToA_Committee.pdf
Please also note that the Justice Committee does not involve itself in individual cases or complaints. While you may draw on any of your own personal experiences, your submission should focus on issues relating to the amendments proposed to the Bill. There are a few situations where we may not choose to publish your evidence or have to edit it before publication for legal reasons, including data protection and defamation.
The closing date for receipt of submissions is 10.00am, 22 February 2021. Due to the time required to process and analyse evidence, no late submissions will be accepted.
Contact
If you have any questions relating to this call for views, please email:
[email protected]