Hansard

I have been warned.

My passion lies in the firm belief that education is the solution to health and welfare issues. By education, I mean not only academia but coaching in sport, the arts, drama, music and any activity that can engage, enthuse and engender a passion in our youngsters.

I will quote from my first speech in the Parliament, which I made 10 years ago:

“If we choose to open up choices to our children and allow them opportunities to find their passion … stoke their enthusiasm and engender self-belief, self-motivation, self awareness and a drive towards achievement, whatever they decide that achievement will be … they will seek to make better lifestyle choices”,

and I believe that we can teach them to do so. I also said:

“The importance of self-awareness cannot be overstated. If we help them to achieve that, no matter what discipline they are involved in, it will have a profound effect across all … aspects of their lives … However, if we choose to ignore the issue”—

or if we decide that the task is too difficult to tackle, it is guaranteed that, in five years, not only will the issue remain but—

“the situation will continue to deteriorate, with the result that health inequality will increase and the attainment gap that we want to eliminate will widen.”—[Official Report, 7 June 2016; c 25.]

When I said that, I was youngish, had 20:20 vision and had no grey hair. I was also 10kg lighter, optimistic and enthusiastic.

However, on health—whether physical or mental—and on education, we have made very little progress since then. In fact, many health indicators have got markedly worse. Obesity levels, type 2 diabetes, drug and alcohol deaths and the need for treatment for poor mental health, to name but a few of those indicators, have continued to deteriorate. We are the unhealthiest country in Europe and one of the unhealthiest in the world. Our healthy life expectancy is reducing—it has dipped below 60 years of age, with a huge differentiation between areas 1 and 5 on the Scottish index of multiple deprivation.

That worries me greatly, not just because I am well beyond that age milestone. The decline in children’s physical literacy over the past few decades is directly linked to the decline in the health of the nation. The decline in investment in real-time sports and activities, from an already low level, the increasingly difficult access to sport and activity and a lack of understanding of the potential impact of sport on society have exacerbated our already poor health outcomes.

My daughters have always played sport. The eldest two competed internationally. The youngest is in sixth year and shows real promise. Her chances of becoming an Olympian are 0.0003 per cent. Nevertheless, if she stays in sport, the chances of her staying in a leadership position increase by 70 per cent, her risk of disease lowers by 40 per cent and her risk of developing mental health issues decreases by 40 per cent. Sport not only benefits our physical and mental health but gives us the tools and foundations that we need in life.

My two eldest grandsons—one plays for Ayr United Football Club and the other is on a Scottish Rugby Union pathway—are taking advantage of opportunities that are afforded to them that too many of our children do not have. In many cases, that is because there is no network to support funding of the travel, the kit, the clubs, the availability to participate and all the associated costs. The children of my tribe are lucky, because their parents and grandparents are able to support their aspirations in that way.

“Nature or nurture?” is the perennial question. The truth is that the answer is, “A bit of both.” One of my favourite quotes is from Henry Ford, who said:

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you're right.”

However, before you can believe that you can, you have to be aware of—and have access to—opportunity in the first place. We should all want to have access to sport and activity, no matter what the personal circumstances. I have had the pleasure of meeting many participants across sport who have been offered that opportunity.

I give a big shout-out to the Ayrshire Tigers powerchair football team, to whom I am eternally grateful for giving me the opportunity to put a parliamentary team against them—a team that included Alexander Stewart, who thought that he had found his sport because he could do it sitting down. He is still traumatised by his experience because, as he quickly learned, if you do not train for a sport, those who do will quickly demonstrate your frailties. If we want to witness a sport that has changed and enhanced the lives of those who take part, we need look no further than the powerchair football community.

The education environment is the key battleground in laying the foundations for an active and healthy long life. If we are to create an active community and reverse the declining health of the nation, we must develop a cohesive policy that connects from birth to old age. Much of the blueprint for later life, including for the cardiovascular system, bone density and the neuromuscular system, develops pre-school. There is an opportunity to use the 1,140 hours of free nursery care to embed active play and a better relationship with food while we are at it. I would like training modules in childcare to include the development of active play and a healthy diet. Incidentally, that would also allow for continuing professional development in the sector.

That would lay the foundation for primary school, where that already embedded activity and physical literacy could be further developed, still with play and fun at the forefront, through the school curriculum and the active schools network. That would ensure that all have access. As pupils develop through school activities, that should be reflected and connected through opportunities that are available in communities, and linked in with sports governing bodies. There must be participation pathways that make participation easy. By the time that secondary school is reached, more formal sport should be an option, and that should again be linked to community opportunities.

One issue that I am currently working on is how we deliver sport and activity in a way that includes those who are becoming serious about the sport as well as those who participate just for fun, camaraderie, health and inclusion. The competition structure is not what it used to be, and we need to recreate that opportunity. I believe that that can be done within the resource that we currently have. University sports and clubs await those who are keen to keep their competitive sport going, and many of Scotland’s great achievements have come through that route.

I want to speak briefly about volunteers. We need to give more people the opportunity to volunteer, and I will offer an idea to increase the sector. How about, as part of an employment package, we develop a system whereby, as employees reach retirement, they get the opportunity to sit coaching qualifications in an activity of their choice? That would be paid for jointly by the employer and the Government, and both sport and the volunteer sector would benefit.

We have a fantastic summer of sport to look forward to, and those events will create national pride and emotion—all positive, of course. If we are to realise and optimise the opportunities that that legacy offers, we must consider how all our community can benefit and how we can ensure that all our people have access. That will require a consistent, joined-up and inclusive generational plan over a period of time. We must make it easier to take part.

It has been 10 years since I first spoke in the chamber on sport and activity. As I reflect on what has changed since I raised those issues, it is hard to say anything other than that, overall, Scotland is unhealthier, which is in part the result of sport becoming ever more difficult to access. Sport and activity are supposed to be for all. I urge the Parliament in the next session to take more seriously the role of sport and activity and their positive impact on health, community cohesion and national pride.