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Chamber

Meeting of the Parliament 09 January 2024

09 Jan 2024 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Changing Places Toilets

I thank Stephen Kerr for his intervention. I will ask the minister for some reassurances further on in my speech.

The Tyndrum community has done an amazing amount of work. It has found a site and carried out a feasibility study, and it is making the necessary preparations. All that it needs now, to make the proposal a reality, is the funding.

Like many, I was delighted when the Government announced the much-needed £10 million funding that Jeremy Balfour alluded to in his opening speech. I am keen to see those funds put into action, and I have sought regular updates from the minister. The public spending environment is challenging—I completely understand that—but the facilities are vital. Delivering funds for changing places toilets in strategic locations such as Tyndrum will make a huge impact. I call on the Government to provide information on when those funds will be available.

Changing places toilets make a dramatic difference to access to places such as Blair Drummond Safari and Adventure Park, which is also in my constituency. A facility was put in place there in 2017. Equal access has been made a reality there. It has removed barriers for many disabled people and their families, so that they feel included and can enjoy a day out without concern. Expanding provision in that way allows access and inclusion. I look forward to further progress being made in my constituency and beyond.

17:16  

In the same item of business

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur) LD
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-10378, in the name of Jeremy Balfour, on addressing the availability of changing place...
Jeremy Balfour (Lothian) (Con) Con
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I wish a happy new year to you and everyone in Parliament. I am delighted to have secured this members’ business debate...
The Deputy Presiding Officer LD
I gently remind members who are looking to participate and who have not yet done so that they need to press their request-to-speak buttons. 17:11
Evelyn Tweed (Stirling) (SNP) SNP
I thank Jeremy Balfour for bringing this important debate to the chamber. In this Parliament, we aspire to a Scotland that is fair and that has dignity and r...
Stephen Kerr (Central Scotland) (Con) Con
I am grateful to Evelyn Tweed for giving way because she is making a very impassioned and convincing speech. Will she join Jeremy Balfour in calling on the m...
Evelyn Tweed SNP
I thank Stephen Kerr for his intervention. I will ask the minister for some reassurances further on in my speech. The Tyndrum community has done an amazing ...
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con) Con
I am delighted to contribute to the debate, and I congratulate my colleague Jeremy Balfour on having raised this crucial subject. As a former member of the ...
Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab) Lab
As convener of the cross-party group on changing places toilets, I am delighted to participate in this evening’s debate. I thank Jeremy Balfour not just for ...
Tess White (North East Scotland) (Con) Con
I, too, am delighted to speak in the debate. As a member of the changing places toilets cross-party group, I, too, pay tribute to Jeremy Balfour for securing...
The Deputy Presiding Officer LD
I call Stephen Kerr, who will be the final speaker in the open debate. 17:31
Stephen Kerr (Central Scotland) (Con) Con
I congratulate Jeremy Balfour on bringing the motion to the chamber. I recognise his tireless efforts on behalf of disabled people in Scotland and the passio...
Maree Todd SNP
To be absolutely clear, for the record, this Government has not reneged on the commitment. The commitment in our SNP manifesto and in the 2021 programme for ...
Stephen Kerr Con
The minister says that she is delivering on her commitment, but the Government has not spent a penny of the £10 million. It is not delivering on anything whe...
The Deputy Presiding Officer LD
I call the minister, Maree Todd, to respond to the debate. 17:36
The Minister for Social Care, Mental Wellbeing and Sport (Maree Todd) SNP
I thank Mr Balfour for his on-going work to promote the importance of changing places toilets, which has allowed us time in the chamber to discuss those toil...
Paul O’Kane Lab
I met the minister’s predecessor to discuss the issue in the early days of the parliamentary session, when we began the cross-party group. On the issues that...
The Deputy Presiding Officer LD
Minister, I can give you the time back.
Maree Todd SNP
I assure Paul O’Kane that the groundwork is being done. Our £10 million investment is three and a half times bigger than that of England on a population basi...
Stephen Kerr Con
Will the minister give way?
Maree Todd SNP
I would like to complete this point, if Stephen Kerr will give me a moment. He had his time—he had more than four minutes.
Stephen Kerr Con
That is not for the minister to say.
Maree Todd SNP
I would like to use my time to put across the Government’s point of view, if that is okay with Stephen Kerr. I am lucky enough to have the Ullapool harbou...
Stephen Kerr Con
It is almost more important that Jeremy Balfour, who has tried three times to intervene, is allowed to make an intervention, because it is his debate. I simp...
Maree Todd SNP
I have made it absolutely clear that the fund will open at the start of next year. We have some groundwork to do between now and then. I look forward to meet...
Douglas Lumsden (North East Scotland) (Con) Con
Can the minister confirm whether the £10 million of funding will be entirely within the 2025-26 budget? Is that what she is saying?
Maree Todd SNP
No, that is not what I am saying. If Douglas Lumsden had been listening carefully, he would know that I have said several times in the chamber, today and on ...
Evelyn Tweed SNP
The minister mentioned rurality. Will the Government consider the need to provide a good spread of changing places toilets? In my contribution, I mentioned t...
Maree Todd SNP
Absolutely. It is crucial that we consider the entirety of Scotland. One of the challenges that we face in Scotland is that we have a much more rural hinterl...