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Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2012

17 May 2012 · S4 · Meeting of the Parliament

Item of business

Physical Activity

Johnstone, Alison Green Lothian Watch on SPTV

I really welcome this debate. It is essential that we understand the challenges that obesity currently poses to our national health and the devastating impact that it will have in future if we do not do all that we can do.

We have shared—and I am sure that we will continue to share—many facts and figures during the debate, many of which cause great concern. We need to hear them, because they will act as a catalyst and a strong call to action. That is important, because obesity limits the lives and life chances of too many Scots and is costing us a fortune—socially and economically.

There are many consequences of having an obese population, including human suffering and an increase in the demand for and cost of healthcare services. The British Medical Association said in its briefing for the debate that obesity-related illnesses cost the NHS in Scotland in the region of £171 million in 2003. Given the increase just in the numbers of people who have type 2 diabetes, the cost has increased markedly, as the minister noted.

Scotland has one of the highest levels of obesity in the OECD countries, with more than a million obese adults and more than 150,000 obese children. Six in 10 adults and three in 10 children are obese. The increase in the obese population did not happen overnight. Earlier this week, a programme on television documented life in the 1970s. I was struck by the scenes of jubilant Scottish fans celebrating a good result in a home international football match in 1977; I was also struck by the generally trim body shape of the people who were celebrating. What has changed, and what can we do about it?

Professor Philip James, the chair of the international obesity task force, thinks that we have created an obesogenic environment, which has made it difficult not to become overweight, and that factors outwith individuals’ control are having an impact. For example, designing towns and cities around the car has had an impact on the number of people who walk to and from work and to shops—Patricia Ferguson touched on that. Our lifestyles are increasingly sedentary, with the increase in desk jobs and the attraction of couch-potato recreation choices such as TV, surfing the web and video gaming. Our best intentions are constantly challenged by a marketing-savvy food industry that encourages consumption of unhealthy food items, with children being particularly manipulated.

Dr Dennis Bramble and Dr Carrier of the University of Utah, and Dr Daniel Lieberman of Harvard University, have studied the impact of running on the human body and, indeed, on human evolution. Their studies investigate the impact of the fact that we no longer need to use our bodies in the way that our hunter-gatherer ancestors did, and how successful we have been in developing technology and equipment that turn lazing around into a way of life. Let us be honest: how many of us do not use the remote control to turn the TV channel?

Dr Bramble notes that humans have a mind/body conflict. He says that

“we have a body built for performance, but a brain that’s always looking for efficiency.”

We conserve energy as a survival mechanism, so encouraging physical activity, among many Scots, is hugely challenging. However, an active life must become our way of life—physical activity is a habit that Scotland must cultivate. The western diseases that shorten so many lives were largely unknown to our ancestors, as were plasma TVs, bath-size tubs of popcorn, and super-size junk food offerings.

As the Ramblers Association points out, six out of 10 adults and 28 per cent of children do not meet minimum recommended physical activity levels of moderate physical activity. Walking is free—it does not need any equipment. Living Streets notes that 22 per cent of households on less than £10,000 use walking as their main mode of transport, compared with only 8 per cent of those with income more than £40,000. On the school run every morning, I walk or cycle along the Union canal. Those 15 minutes are some of the best-quality time that I can spend in the week. I welcome the fact that 80 per cent of people joining the Paths for All Partnership’s walking groups are women, because women are disproportionately uninvolved in sport and physical activity.

What is to be done? We have a national plan and we have to implement it. We can reduce obesity by investing 10 per cent of our transport budget on active travel, as recommended by the Association of Directors of Public Health. We need to ensure that the Government target of 10 per cent of trips being taken by bike in 2020 is achieved. We need to ensure that all our pupils receive a minimum of two hours per week of PE. Some schools go way beyond that, but schools such as South Morningside primary school, in Edinburgh, have space constraints and high pupil numbers, which make that very difficult.

It is essential that national and local government continue to work together to provide solutions if we are to achieve that target. Active schools is doing a great job, letting school pupils try a wide variety of sports and physical activities, such as street dance. Active schools’ charges are low, but if someone has two or three children and is on a tight budget, those charges for extra-curricular activity might be off-putting, or simply unaffordable.

Concern around costs in local authority provision exists, too. Squeezed family budgets and reduced incomes affect the ability of people to take part in formal organised sport and fitness activity. I want the Government and local authorities to work together to ensure that such facilities are affordable.

Despite many opportunities to use brownfield sites, open green space continues to be under pressure from development. Young and old alike need access to informal green space if they are to benefit from important unstructured activities—from rounders, to just pottering around, to goalie-when.

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Meeting of the Parliament 17 May 2012

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