Thank you.

That concludes general questions.

The next item of business is First Minister's questions.

At question number one, I call Douglas Ross.

Thank you, Mr.

And I remind the Chamber that my wife is a serving officer with Police Scotland.

My colleague, Murdo Fraser, was the subject of a spurious complaint about a social media post which was critical of

the SMP government. He discovered that Police Scotland had recorded the complaint against

him as a non-crime hate incident. No crime was committed, but he is now on the police record as a perceived offender in a

supposed hate incident, despite never being charged, tried, convicted or even informed the

police had a file on him.

Hamza Yusuf, how can it be right that innocent people are put on the police record when they have done nothing wrong?

First Minister.

Mr. President, let me try to provide some context on the issue that Douglas Ross raises.

I think it is important that when we are talking about hate, hatred, hate crime

or indeed the Hate Crime Public Order Act, that we do so in a way that is not just considered,

but also ensures that we stick to the facts. Let me try to provide some context on the issue

that Douglas Ross references. First, let us remember that the recording

of non-crime hate incidents has come as a direct result of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. It was

contained within recommendations, 12 to 17, of the McPherson report. So they have been around,

the recording of non-crime hate incidents for many, many years.

Secondly, as well as being around for many years, non-crime incidents are recorded,

...