Hansard

I thank all members from the Scottish National Party and the Conservative and Labour parties who supported the motion and therefore allowed me to bring this members' business debate to the chamber. It is a bit disappointing that no Liberal Democrat member felt the need to back an element of Scottish cultural heritage. Indeed, no Liberal Democrat member is in the chamber for the debate. Unfortunately, we will not hear what the Liberal Democrats think of Scottish culture.

The motion congratulates the pipe band of Simon Fraser University in Canada on winning this year's world pipe band championships. To win the top prize in any competition requires hard work and dedication. I am a piper, so I appreciate the band's achievements. It is good that a pipe band from another country can win the world championships, because that demonstrates the internationalism of piping, but I look forward to the title returning home in the near future.

The motion also mentions the Strathclyde Police pipe band and considers its future. I have the utmost respect and admiration for the pipers and drummers of the pipe band and for the band's history.

I stress that I fully support the hierarchy of Strathclyde Police and the force's initiative to get more officers on the streets and away from their desks. It is imperative that as many police officers as possible are on the streets and that the increased police presence should be visible to the public. Constituents have told me that they have noticed a higher police presence on the streets. I wanted to get that on the record.

The Strathclyde Police pipe band formed in 1883 as the burgh of Govan pipe band. It became the city of Glasgow pipe band in 1912 and then Strathclyde Police pipe band in 1975, after reorganisation. As the Strathclyde Police pipe band, the band has won 12 world championship titles—most recently in 1991—including six in a row from 1981 to 1986. When I was growing up and learning the chanter and the pipes, I remember that every year the question was who would come second in the championships, because the Strathclyde Police pipe band was so good and always won.

This summer, the band finished in fourth place at the world pipe band championships. Indeed, it finished in fourth place in all five majors: the Scottish pipe band championships, the British pipe band championships, the European pipe band championships, the Cowal pipe band championships at the Highland gathering and the world pipe band championships. After all the championships, the band was ranked as the fourth best band in the world—I repeat, the fourth best band in the world. That is a marvellous achievement by anyone's standards, but the band is also ranked as the best Scottish and British band. As members will easily understand, we are talking about a group of individuals who perform and compete on the world stage at the highest level.

The band's results in 2008 were slightly lower than its results this year and its achievements this year have been all the more remarkable given the internal pressures that have been placed on it as a result of reorganisation within the force. The band is based in A division in Glasgow. Band members are on different shifts, which means that they have less time to practise together. Numerous grievance procedures have been lodged against the divisional commander—of course I will not comment on those. The band has been forced to scale back its community activities and allegations have been levelled at it, such as that its members spend too much time practising together and not enough time out on the streets doing police work. As members can imagine, that has not been a barrel of laughs for the players in this world-class band. Their achievements this year are therefore even more admirable and astonishing.

I do not have time to go into much detail on all the points that I have mentioned, but I will delve into a couple of them. Of the 40 band members, only 13—less than a third—are serving police officers, so it is disingenuous of opponents of the band to claim that all 40 members should spend more time on the streets. Of the 13 serving police officers, three played in their own time 100 per cent of the time; the other 10 played when their police duties allowed. The serving officers operate at a ratio of 86 per cent of time spent on the street to 14 per cent spent on piping activities.

The pipe band is more than just its title. Its members are musical and cultural ambassadors. They have a community policing role when they are out on the streets. They also act as a recruiting tool. I have been informed that the band's existence has been the deciding factor for people who were considering which police force to join. There can be a greater return for Strathclyde Police on investment in the band than some people perceive to be the case.

Members might have noticed that there are very few people in the public gallery. I have been told that some band members wanted to come to hear the debate but were fearful that there would be recriminations if they supported the motion. I have spoken off the record to a number of police officers, and almost to an officer they whole-heartedly support the band and realise what it contributes.

Why is the future of a Scottish institution being threatened in the year of homecoming? How embarrassing is that for the police and for Scotland? What does it say to the rest of the world about how public bodies value Scottish culture and identity? The band can be compared to Chelsea Football Club. Chelsea is not the best club in the world—neither is Strathclyde Police—but it is not far from it. Nobody in their right mind would disband Chelsea, so why disband the Strathclyde Police pipe band? I have said that to a few people and they accept the point.

Papers released for this week's Strathclyde police authority meeting highlight the costs of the band. I have information to dispute some of the figures in those papers. It is stated that the band earned £5,000 last year, but I have been told that it earned £23,000. There is no denying that costs for the band have decreased dramatically. It is not possible to run any pipe band on a just-in-time inventory system—that is not feasible at all—so the senior management should just accept the point.

The College of Piping ran a campaign earlier this year and handed a petition with more than 3,000 signatures to the chief constable. The piping world is watching. I have written to Chief Constable House on a number of occasions asking to meet him to explain the importance of the resource that he has at his disposal. Unfortunately, to date, he has rejected every request. I make the offer once again.

I fully understand that the minister will say that he cannot intervene because the issue concerns operational matters. I respect that position and cannot disagree with it, but I hope that he will undertake to raise the matter with the chief constable from a cultural perspective, so that the Scottish Government is not embarrassed by the actions of a public body.

I look forward to hearing other members' speeches and the minister's response.