8. To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recent international events, what data it keeps on the injuries incurred by BAME people in police custody. (S5O-04411)

I thank Daniel Johnson for raising an important issue.

The Scottish Government does not collect or hold any data regarding injuries incurred by BAME people in police custody in Scotland. Data collection regarding people who are injured while in police custody is an operational matter for the chief constable. However, I can confirm that Police Scotland has indicated that its national custody system records the ethnicity and details of any injuries of those presenting at a police custody centre. Injuries are referred to and assessed by national health service staff either on site or at a local hospital and a suitable care plan is put in place.

Daniel Johnson will know that the functions of the Scottish Police Authority include maintaining the Police Service of Scotland, promoting and supporting continuous improvement in the policing of Scotland, keeping the policing of Scotland under review, and holding the chief constable to account. In that vein, I will raise the issue with David Crichton and the chief constable during our next trilateral discussion.

I say to Daniel Johnson that, notwithstanding possible challenges in identifying that data—for example, numerous records may have to be manually sifted—he has raised an important issue and I will endeavour to raise it with my colleagues.

Clearly, in the light of George Floyd’s tragic death in the United States, we must redouble our efforts in this regard. Does the Cabinet secretary agree that we should have regular reporting of that data? Can he also elaborate on the answer that he gave in yesterday’s anti-racism debate about disaggregated data on hate crimes?

In the interests of time, I will write to Daniel Johnson about the disaggregated hate crimes data.

On the first part of Daniel Johnson’s question, I could not agree with him more. I have to personally redouble my efforts in these matters, and as a Government we have to redouble our efforts. There is nothing to be lost from having as much transparency as possible on the data. It is not my data, so I cannot give an absolute assurance around publication, but I will raise the issue with the chief constable and the SPA. In principle, I broadly support what Daniel Johnson says.

The Deputy Presiding Officer:

That concludes portfolio questions on justice and the law officers.