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Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2012

17 May 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Physical Activity

McDonald, Mark SNP North East Scotland Watch on SPTV

I thoroughly enjoyed Alison Johnstone’s speech and I am happy that we will back her amendment at decision time. She speaks with great authority on the issue. I have had many discussions with her about sport, on Twitter and in private.

Patricia Ferguson made the interesting point that we walked 63 miles a year less in 2003 than we did in 1975. I did a quick calculation and I am pretty sure that I made that difference up during the recent local election campaign but, leaving that aside, it is a worrying statistic that, as a nation, we are walking a great deal less.

I am aware that I am probably in no position to lecture people on physical activity, although I made my long-awaited five-a-side football comeback at the weekend—we shall speak no more of that.

I speak as somebody who, as a teenager and as a young person, was very active. I competed for my local athletics club and have district and national medals at home. However, like many, I stopped exercising in my late teens and that, combined with both a poor diet and what we shall euphemistically refer to as the student lifestyle, sent my weight spiralling upwards. It has been a struggle to reverse that ever since. Those who follow me on Twitter will know that I have chronicled that as Mark versus the flab. Nonetheless, my experience emphasises that although physical activity in our younger years is good, it has to be sustained, because stopping at any point can send someone into a period of reversal, which undoes all the good and can still lead to problems in later life.

I was also interested in Patricia Ferguson’s point about children queueing at fast food outlets and, in my intervention, I raised a point about the policy decisions that some local authorities have taken in relation to licensing applications for hot food stands, mobile hot food units or hot food establishments within a certain proximity of a secondary school. I absolutely take on board the point that Patricia Ferguson made in her response to me, which was about ensuring that we provide nutritious and appetising food in our schools to encourage pupils to stay and eat there.

There is one area where I have personal difficulties in that regard. My former school, Dyce Academy, which is in the area that I represented on the council and now represent as an MSP, is situated right next door to an Asda supermarket. For as long as I can remember, there have been queues of schoolchildren going into the store either to buy chips and pies from the hot food takeaway, or going into the store itself and buying less healthy products because they are available there. At the end of the day, the store probably has its profit margin in mind, and there is no doubt that the profits are heavily boosted by young people going in and purchasing such food, but when they can control what is being sold to young people, they should reflect on that and on the role that they can play in encouraging the young people who go into their stores for their lunch to make healthy choices.

Prior to entering the Parliament, I was involved in the coaching of youth football. We can all see the benefits of grassroots sporting activity and what it can deliver. It is important that our society does all that it can to nurture and develop grassroots sporting clubs across the range of sporting activities. As well as the two hours of PE that has been spoken about in today’s debate, we need to focus attention on extra-curricular sporting activity. In many schools, that very much depends on having a willing teacher who is able to give up their time to provide that activity. At my school, one teacher in particular gave up a huge amount of his time to run the school basketball team. He is still at the school and still running that team, to the best of my knowledge. Once that teacher retires, will someone else take on the running of the school basketball team? That is an issue that we need to reflect on.

The work that is being done to develop the Commonwealth games legacy and cashback for communities is having a positive impact on developing and nurturing grassroots sporting activity, and the Government is to be commended for its actions.

Nanette Milne spoke about the Aberdeen sports village. One of the things that I was most pleased to be able to do as part of Aberdeen City Council was to push through the new 50m pool that is being developed in Aberdeen. Again, that will massively benefit my and Nanette Milne’s constituents in the Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire areas by giving them access to such high-quality facilities in the north-east of Scotland.

I agree that we are talking about not just sport, but getting people to be more active in general. Walking instead of using the car is something that we can all do that can have a big impact. We should all aspire to a more active nation, and as members of the Parliament we should do all that we can to lead by example. Society will, undoubtedly, reap the benefits as a result.

15:58

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Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2012

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