Hansard

Colleagues across the chamber are well aware that I have been a very strong advocate for the aims outlined in the petition for a very long time. I very much welcome the work that has been undertaken by the convener, Jackson Carlaw, and his colleagues on the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee.

When the Scottish Government comes to sum up at the end of this afternoon’s debate, I hope that it will make specific reference to the committee’s call for a task force to combine all the relevant stakeholders that the cabinet secretary mentioned earlier. Implementing such a recommendation could be immensely helpful.

My colleagues in the Scottish Conservatives fully support this debate, and here is why. There are 295 public swimming pools in Scotland. Of those, 122 are more than 38 years old, which is the average lifespan of a pool. On current trends, that means the potential loss of more than 150 pools by 2040; we would have to replace them at the rate of four pools per year to maintain the current level of provision. It is very clear from that evidence that the future of community pools is in jeopardy, and that is why the public is desperate for parliamentarians to do something about it. It really matters to families and local communities.

Throughout the lifetime of the petition, in my role as convener of the cross-party group on sport, I have consulted extensively with Scottish Swimming. I have co-hosted two fringe events at party conferences, alongside former Olympic swimmer Hannah Miley MBE, on the issue of access to pools. In October 2025, I was invited to attend the excellent national learn to swim 10-year celebration event with Scottish Swimming, Scottish Water and the Olympian Duncan Scott OBE. Both those Olympians were in no doubt whatever about the challenge that we face. In September 2023, I held a members’ business debate on the save our pools campaign and, in March 2024, I formally submitted my support for the petition to the convener of the Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee.

Swimming remains incredibly popular: 13 per cent of adults swim regularly, making it the sport with highest participation levels after multigym and weight training—although I have to say to the cabinet secretary that pickleball is fast catching up, I think—and, most importantly, swimming is the most popular participation sport for those with disabilities, due to its suitability for those with reduced mobility. That is why nine out of 10 Scots believe that the closure of swimming pools is very bad for their local communities.

There is also the safety aspect, which other members have spoken about. Learning to swim is a key life skill, but it is in decline. There were 33 accidental drownings in 2024, which is a stark reminder of why those skills are so important. In a country with such an abundance of lochs, rivers, reservoirs and beaches, we must be ever more vigilant to the dangers of water and ensure that all children have the basic ability to swim. At this point, I issue a warning to some of the influencers on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok who are irresponsibly advertising some of those dangerous locations as beauty spots, at the same time as withholding key information about safety. That is unacceptable in this age of mass social media.

It is the issue of school swimming that concerns me most, because it is still a key target for some local authority cuts. Eight of our local authorities do not offer school swimming at all, and a further 10 have only a partial school swimming offer. That brings me to the point about the postcode lottery that exists with regard to who is able to access learn to swim programmes. Disadvantaged children in deprived communities are far less likely to be able to access swimming, given both the rising costs of lessons and the lack of provision at school.

My primary driver for introducing legislation on residential outdoor education was to address the inherent unfairness, in that so many children were not being offered the opportunity because of their circumstances. Studies have shown that, just as there are benefits from outdoor education, that is also true of swimming. If all young people are to learn to swim—as I believe they should—there must be adequate provision of pools around the country within reasonable distances.

There are also the health and wellbeing elements. Pools are social hubs and promote a healthy lifestyle for body and mind. They provide a centre for families and communities and, in many cases, for competitions at both elite and grass-roots levels. Many people have childhood memories of swimming, sharing fun experiences with friends, parents and grandparents, but that can happen only if pools are easily and readily accessible.

In my region, there are currently plans to replace the immensely popular Perth pool, with its fun elements including flumes, rapids and an outdoor area, with a new pool in Thimblerow, but that proposal will downgrade the existing pool to one that is much smaller and far more basic. It would not even include on-site parking in the middle of Perth, which suggests either a total absence from reality on the part of the planners involved or that they simply do not care whether the facility is actually used.

In order to keep the current level of swimming provision available, a sizeable financial effort and reallocation of resources will be required, but I believe that that will be an investment well made. I urge the Scottish Government to consider the potential preventative spend that facilities such as swimming pools provide, and to look at its own strategy on health, with which the current rate of pool closures is not compatible. The Scottish Government was persuaded to have a change of heart on outdoor education, and I hope that it will be persuaded in the same way on swimming.

Most importantly, the public overwhelmingly want pools to remain open, and we are all in the chamber today to represent their views. I continue whole-heartedly to support petition PE2018 and I call on the Scottish Government to act on Scottish Swimming’s calls for sustainable financial investment.