Chamber
Plenary, 14 Mar 2007
14 Mar 2007 · S2 · Plenary
Item of business
Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill: Stage 3
Part 1 of the bill explains that various bodies, including the Scottish ministers and education authorities, will have duties to ensure that all schools become health promoting, or at least to try to ensure that. It then goes on to explain what a health-promoting school is. Amendment 21 qualifies that definition by stating that advertising and sponsorship by companies that promote or produce food that would not qualify to be sold and eaten in school should not be allowed and that if it is, the school would not be defined as a health-promoting school.
There are probably some of us who think that schools should be ad-free zones and that it is simply not appropriate for marketing to take place in schools. There might be a range of views about that, but we should make it clear that the promotion, advertising or sponsorship of brands and products that do not meet the requirements for food and drink that are sold in school should not be allowed.
Research by Which?, which I believe has been circulated to members, shows that a number of large multinationals and conglomerates that produce food and drink for sale throughout society—and which therefore do not need the school market to make a profit—are using increasingly underhand and manipulative methods to get their messages across and to get their brands promoted in schools. We should be worried if the mixed messages that are put across in schools associate those brands with major sporting events or with the idea of health and fitness, for example. Health-promoting schools should provide clear information to schoolchildren about what is in the interests of their health. That applies not just to the dining environment and the food and drink that they consume, but to the messages that they receive in school. If those messages are mixed, we have a problem.
Amendment 21 is useful. It would not prohibit advertising and sponsorship—I am not sure that the bill could do that—but it would make it clear that we do not consider such activity to be appropriate in what we call health-promoting schools and it would give ministers and local authorities the impetus to ensure that it does not take place in schools.
I move amendment 21.
There are probably some of us who think that schools should be ad-free zones and that it is simply not appropriate for marketing to take place in schools. There might be a range of views about that, but we should make it clear that the promotion, advertising or sponsorship of brands and products that do not meet the requirements for food and drink that are sold in school should not be allowed.
Research by Which?, which I believe has been circulated to members, shows that a number of large multinationals and conglomerates that produce food and drink for sale throughout society—and which therefore do not need the school market to make a profit—are using increasingly underhand and manipulative methods to get their messages across and to get their brands promoted in schools. We should be worried if the mixed messages that are put across in schools associate those brands with major sporting events or with the idea of health and fitness, for example. Health-promoting schools should provide clear information to schoolchildren about what is in the interests of their health. That applies not just to the dining environment and the food and drink that they consume, but to the messages that they receive in school. If those messages are mixed, we have a problem.
Amendment 21 is useful. It would not prohibit advertising and sponsorship—I am not sure that the bill could do that—but it would make it clear that we do not consider such activity to be appropriate in what we call health-promoting schools and it would give ministers and local authorities the impetus to ensure that it does not take place in schools.
I move amendment 21.
In the same item of business
The Presiding Officer (Mr George Reid):
NPA
The next item of business is stage 3 proceedings on the Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition) (Scotland) Bill. Members should have with them SP Bill 68A a...
Section 1—Duties in relation to promotion of health
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
Group 1 is on duties in relation to the promotion of health. Amendment 21 is the only amendment in the group.
Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green):
Green
Part 1 of the bill explains that various bodies, including the Scottish ministers and education authorities, will have duties to ensure that all schools beco...
Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP):
SNP
I pay tribute to my colleague Shona Robison, whose proposal for a member's bill to remove junk food and fizzy drinks from schools was a precursor to the driv...
The Minister for Education and Young People (Hugh Henry):
Lab
Fiona Hyslop's point that teachers need the time to teach and cannot spend all their time compensating for some of the problems that come from the home and f...
Patrick Harvie:
Green
It would be helpful if the minister could explain whether the restrictions on the advertising of products that do not meet the requirements on nutrition exte...
Hugh Henry:
Lab
I will come to that point in a moment.Regardless of whether a school would advertise a product that it could not provide, a health-promoting school should pr...
Patrick Harvie:
Green
I welcome and agree with much of what the minister said about the promotion and advertising of products that do not meet the requirements on nutrition, but I...
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
The question is, that amendment 21 be agreed to. Are we agreed?
Members:
No.
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
There will be a division. Since this is the first division in these proceedings, there will be a five-minute suspension.
Meeting suspended.
On resuming—
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
We will proceed with the division, which will be a 30-second division.
ForAdam, Brian (Aberdeen North) (SNP) Baird, Shiona (North East Scotland) (Green) Ballance, Chris (South of Scotland) (Green) Byrne, Ms Rosemary (South of Sc...
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
The result of the division is: For 29, Against 70, Abstentions 0.
Amendment 21 disagreed to.
Section 6—School meals and snacks
The Presiding Officer:
NPA
Group 2 is on free school meals and snacks. Amendment 1, in the name of Tricia Marwick, is grouped with amendments 6, 22 to 24, 3, 4, 14 to 20, 25, 7, 26 and...
Tricia Marwick (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP):
SNP
Members of the Communities Committee will know that similar amendments were discussed during stage 2, but I make no apology for bringing amendments 1, 22, 3 ...
Iain Smith (North East Fife) (LD):
LD
The member said that the Liberal Democrat administration in Hull stopped the experiment, but that is not the case. The administration continued the experimen...
Tricia Marwick:
SNP
That is not my understanding. I accept what the member says, but it is clear that the experiment was to go no further and that the council was going to stop ...
Ms Rosemary Byrne (South of Scotland) (Sol):
Sol
My amendment 6 proposes universal provision of free, nutritious school meals. We support universal provision because, if we are to give children the chance t...
Frances Curran (West of Scotland) (SSP):
SSP
When we ask parents what they want for their children, one or two will say, "I want wee Kenny to play for Scotland", or, "I'd like Kylie to win ‘The X Factor...
Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP):
SNP
I refer to the comments that I made on my amendments at stage 2.During stage 1, Barnardo's Scotland referred to the"difference between the percentage of chil...
Fiona Hyslop:
SNP
There are three arguments for free school meals: the need to tackle poverty; the need to tackle obesity, which is a health issue; and the need to address nut...
Jeremy Purvis (Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale) (LD):
LD
Will the member give way?
Fiona Hyslop:
SNP
No, I will not.Let us take a bold step now and say that we want universal provision of school meals in this country. However, let us take a pragmatic approac...
Elaine Smith (Coatbridge and Chryston) (Lab):
Lab
We are discussing a progressive piece of legislation that could be made much better if we supported amendments that would enable the universal provision of f...