Meeting of the Parliament 06 January 2026
The point that COSLA and others made to us is that, with so many different areas being—appropriately—ring fenced, the capacity for discretionary action by councils is limited, and the cuts are falling on swimming pools and other such facilities.
The core of the petition may appear to be just another matter of public finance. However, the waters run much deeper than that. The committee heard that pools are closing despite the on-going and continually growing demand for swimming. The 2023 Scottish household survey shows swimming to be the highest participation sport for women and for people with disabilities.
We also heard—this is shocking in many ways—that 40 per cent of children in Scotland leave primary school unable to swim. We heard that 75 per cent of P4 pupils who learn to swim are total beginners, with the figure reaching a staggering 90 to 100 per cent for pupils from deprived areas. Those statistics become striking given that, as I have said, the committee also heard that Scotland’s accidental drowning rate is the highest of the United Kingdom nations. Pool closures therefore have a significant impact on people in Scotland and on their chances to not just thrive but, literally, survive.