This afternoon, the Justice Committee will convene for a roundtable evidence session to discuss four draft amendments to the Hate Crime and Public Order Bill on freedom of expression. These amendments were drafted by the Scottish Government, in collaboration with opposition MSPs.
The Cabinet Secretary for Justice and three opposition MSPs had tabled amendments on FoE ahead of Stage 2 proceedings commencing. However, the night before the first Stage 2 session, all four MSPs withdrew their amendments in favour of this 'collaborative' approach.
This afternoon's session will commence at 2.30pm and last for 90 minutes. Usually the roundtable format sees MSPs and witnesses engaging in free-flowing conversation rather than the usual question and answer format for panel discussions. parliament.scot/S5_JusticeComm…
The session will be broadcast live on the Scottish Parliament TV channel. Link here: scottishparliament.tv/channel/virtua…
The Justice Committee invited submissions over the weekend. We submitted ours on Saturday. You can read it here: murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/2021/02/20/res…
It is not clear whether the submissions will be published on the Parliament's website before the roundtable session begins at 2.30pm. However, some individuals and organisations have already published their submissions elsewhere.
The Network of Sikh Organisations, whose representative participated in a Stage 1 oral evidence session, has published its submission. nsouk.co.uk/supplementary-… 
University of Edinburgh law lecturer and expert in statutory interpretation Scott Wortley has also submitted evidence: scott-wortley.medium.com/submission-to-…
Grassroots feminist campaign group Woman's Place UK has submitted evidence, highlighting in particular recent events in Spain and the targeting of prominent feminist politicians Lidia Falcon and Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo. womansplaceuk.org/2021/02/22/wom…
We assume that all submissions received will be published on the Justice Committee's webpages on the Parliament website in due course: parliament.scot/parliamentaryb…
The Justice Committee has now published the submissions. Submissions from those who are participating to today's evidence session can be found here: parliament.scot/S5_JusticeComm…
Submissions from those who are *not* participating in today's evidence session can be found here: parliament.scot/S5_JusticeComm…
The Committee received in excess of 600 written submissions from organisations not attending the Committee meeting on 22 February 2021 and individuals.
Submission from the Edinburgh Secular Society: "These provisions for free speech were already less robust than equivalent legislation in England and Wales."
Submission from Association of Police Superintendents: "Whilst it may be discomfiting for some politicians..fundamental ideological differences go to the heart of the issues at stake and..need to be faced head on and be clearly, unambiguously and firmly addressed by legislators."
Submission from the Catholic Parliamentary Office of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland:
To recap: around 175 of the 600+ submissions received by the Committee have yet to be processed and published. Those that have been published in the last hour have been collated in two documents which run to a total of 274 pages. The Committee session commences in two hours.
At Stage 1, the Committee received around 2,000 submissions on the bill - believed to be the highest number received for a piece of draft legislation in the history of the Scottish Parliament. heraldscotland.com/news/18696402.…
And now the Scottish Police Federation has published its submission to the Committee: "If ever a piece of legislation has demonstrated that opposing views are met with intolerance and all too readily branded as hate, then the HCB has done precisely that." spf.org.uk/spf-response-h…
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