Hansard

I welcome the opportunity to open on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives and thank the Scottish Government for the opportunity to debate this important topic. The fact that we have physical activity and nutrition on the parliamentary agenda is very welcome. The Parliament is, at last, beginning to recognise that there is a major health issue in Scotland that we can affect.

We will support the Government’s motion, but in doing so we recognise that this should be the start of a conversation and that much more action could and should be taken to make the impact that we all know is necessary. That is the thrust of the Scottish Conservatives’ amendment.

The preventative agenda is rooted in good nutrition, physical activity and inclusivity. Over a year ago, the Scottish Conservatives called for any moneys that are raised from the sugar tax to be allocated to a programme to keep schools open during the school holidays to offer activity hubs with healthy meals included, because we know that health inequalities and food bank usage spike during the school holidays. The Labour amendment is too restrictive, as it would prevent other possibilities such as whole days of activities. We recognise the direction of travel, but we cannot support the amendment.

Given that I am the convener of the cross-party group on arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions, members will not be surprised to hear that I support the Lib Dem amendment.

Although we are hugely sympathetic to the Green amendment and certainly want to pursue such a policy, we are reticent about putting a figure on it at this time, so we cannot support the amendment.

The conversation has to change. We must stop focusing so intently on the symptoms and conditions that arise as a result of poor lifestyle choices and focus on Scotland’s need for a better relationship with food, drink and physical activity. That argument leads us to issues such as ease of access and the need for an understanding of good nutrition, physical activity and the environment in which it takes place. If we begin to break down the barriers to inclusion, we will be able to have a much more positive conversation.

There are many levers available to the Scottish Government that would not require huge budgetary commitments but could have significant and long-lasting impacts. The educational environment should be a key battleground in delivering a healthier future for Scotland, from nursery education right through to higher education.

When we consider physical and nutritional education, we need to look not only at the learning environment but at how we ensure that that learning can be applied. Physical education is about how to be physically active and about why we should be physically active. We then need to ensure that that learning can be applied outside the school day. Connecting physical education with extracurricular activity and a community offer is, therefore, paramount.

Similarly, it is not enough to learn about nutrition in theory; pupils must be given the opportunity to apply that learning in practice. Increasing the home economics offer would be a good start, along with improving the quality of school meals. If pupils are allowed input into their school meal menu, that affords their buy-in. Pupils might even be allowed access to the school kitchen, as happens in Japan and Copenhagen among other places.

Will the minister explain to me why we export so much high-quality Scottish produce and import lower-grade, cheaper produce through the Scotland Excel public procurement contract? That does not make sense to me.

We also need to look at the environment that is adjacent to schools. The planning departments need to be cognisant of where we give licences for fast food restaurants. We must prevent food vans from parking close to schools, and we should consider the age at which we allow our children to leave the school premises. I have no problem with fast food, but I have a huge issue with its becoming the staple diet. On Monday, I drove past a school in Kilmarnock at lunch time and noticed three food vans parked at the school gates, with pupils queuing at all of them.

East Ayrshire is the gold standard when it comes to locally procured food and the quality of the food that is served, so we need to understand what drives pupils’ behaviour. The food vans simply being there is a big factor. Surely, a simple solution is obvious—we must change the environment and involve our school pupils in the development of school menus.

The approach should apply from pre-school—or pre-birth as the minister said—all the way through life. It can start with an active play framework in nursery schools, perhaps including a vegetable patch in the grounds that is tended by the children. Such an active, inclusive and educational approach would speak directly to attainment. Early intervention directly tackles the situation in which some children are, on reaching primary school age, already two years behind in their learning.

If we are to achieve our aim, we must consider how we can deliver such step changes, because if there is no delivery mechanism, we are nothing more than a talking shop. I have always said that we must first look after the health of our healthcare professionals. How can we expect them to deliver the message when their own working environment is a barrier to their adopting a healthy, active lifestyle? We must also free up our teachers’ time, to allow them to deliver education as they are trained and able to. It is through teachers that a paradigm shift in culture can be achieved.

The third sector has a huge part to play in this agenda. We are all aware of the value that the sector delivers to our communities. How third sector bodies are funded and aligned must be reviewed to ensure that they deliver what they are capable of delivering.

We must also consider how we would cater for an increase in physical activity nationally. Dr Frank Dick, the former director of coaching at UK Athletics and chair of the European Athletics Coaches Association, wrote a paper on offering upskilling to people who are approaching retirement, to enable them to continue to use their lifetime of experience and skills in the third sector should they wish to do so. I agree with him that those people are a largely untapped resource that we should be promoting both for their continued health and for the wellbeing of those with whom they would be working.

There is also the possibility of developing people in younger age groups who are interested in being involved, but perhaps not as sportspeople. Pupils in the later years of school who are afforded the opportunity to gain a coaching qualification can find that activity both empowering and engaging.

I have always believed in education as the solution to health and welfare. We have to create an environment in which all of us, irrespective of background or personal circumstance, have access to education in its wider context, be that in or outside the classroom. I believe that the school estate must be utilised much more effectively. It makes no sense for pupils to have to go home and then somewhere else to participate in sporting activity when the easiest place for them to access quality opportunities is where they are at the end of the school day. We must fish where the fish are.

We support the Government’s motion and thank it for bringing the debate to the chamber, but we recognise that the motion tackles only one element of a more complicated system. Now that we are in the starting blocks, let us have no false starts. The Scottish Conservatives look forward to working with the Government to develop a strategy to tackle what I believe is the most important issue that Scotland faces today.

I move amendment S5M-14749.1, to insert at end:

“, and calls on the Scottish Government to recognise that the three pillars of basic health are physical activity, nutrition and inclusivity and for it to provide the methodology required to achieve more ambitious targets.”