Meeting of the Parliament 13 June 2018
I thank Graeme Dey for securing time for the debate. The topic is hugely important and has ramifications for many other subjects that we debate in Parliament.
The issue first came to my attention when I was, funnily enough, standing outside a polling station in Darvel opposite a bus stop where kids were waiting to catch a bus to school. Being the anorak that I am in this particular arena, I noted what the kids were eating. One of them was drinking an energy drink from a can and eating from a huge bag of fizzy sweets. I wondered what state he would be in when he sat down for his first class at 9 o’clock. I can tell members that not many of the others were eating a fruit salad.
We need to discuss the issue. There is a tension between restricting what our children eat and allowing them the freedom to choose. That is probably what the debate should be about, because I think that we would all agree that energy drinks are inherently bad, especially for children in the younger age groups.
I highlight the need for us to consider the issue in the round and to think about how we impact on Scotland’s relationships with food and drink and physical activity. As Graham Dey noted, diet has an impact on people’s physical and mental health. Today’s debate on mental health was too short, so I did not have time to highlight a quotation by Professor David Kingdon, who is a professor of mental healthcare delivery at the University of Southampton. He has said:
“Can we prevent mental health problems? Of course ... the evidence is incontrovertible. So why don’t we? The problems often start in childhood but we spend most of our resources on dealing with the consequences—in hospitals and prisons.”
We should consider the issue as a general health issue. The Mental Health Foundation’s publication “Food for Thought: Mental health and nutrition briefing” said that
“One of the most obvious yet under recognised factors in the development of mental health is nutrition.”
The foundation also said that
“There is a growing body of evidence indicating that nutrition may play an important role in the prevention, development and management of diagnosed mental health problems including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and dementia.”
There is a growing recognition of the fact that there is something to tackle, but banning the products is not in and of itself the solution. I would like to see the matter being tackled as part of a much wider strategy. In the two short years for which I have been a member, I have seen the topic being focused on more and more. Our starting to change some things could lead us down a different pathway: the obesity strategy is coming out soon, there is the good food nation strategy and there is consideration of how we procure food, so many of the elements that can help us to deliver a healthier Scotland are already there. As you know, Presiding Officer, I could talk about this stuff forever. In fact, it is all I have to do.
We also need to be cognisant of planning and of the environment around our schools. One of the things that we should consider is the age at which we allow our children to leave their school at dinner time. I have never understood why, when I was teaching health in school, I had to open the gates and allow the children to walk across the road to buy energy drinks and other unhealthy things.
There are lots of moving parts in the debate. I thank Graeme Dey for bringing it to the chamber. Restriction of the sale of energy drinks is an element of a much wider strategy, and I support it.
17:31