I echo what the member said about the national walking strategy, which is sometimes overlooked. However, walking is the easiest form of active travel and we do not need too much fancy equipment for it; we need only a good pair of trainers or, if we wish to be a bit more energetic, we can use hiking boots and so on.
I return to something that I said in the debate on active travel. Sir Alex Ferguson came to my constituency to open a walkway in Govan, where he was born, and he mentioned that when he was the Manchester United manager, the best exercise that he could recommend to his players was walking. As I said, Sir Alex Ferguson is probably the greatest football manager in modern history after Jock Stein, so it was good that he made that point.
That point was a bit gratuitous, but the emphasis from stakeholder groups is that the doubling of the active travel budget has been welcomed, but we have to ensure that we spend it in the right way and get the most bang for our buck. I had an early conversation with the stakeholders—the member will be aware of that, because she meets them regularly in the same way as I do—to start to tease out what some of the spending in the active travel budget will look like. It does not mean that we will have to chuck out everything that we have done previously, but a large part of the active travel money will be spent on cycling infrastructure. I am a big believer in segregated cycling infrastructure, because it is important for giving people the confidence to get on their bikes.
There is a lot of work for us to do on behavioural change and emphasising the many benefits that cycling can promote, not just the physical and mental health benefits. There is also work to do on behavioural change for drivers, many of whom are also cyclists, and for businesses. We can point out to businesses that if more of their employees engaged in active travel, they would have a more productive workforce, as the evidence bears out. There are many good examples of businesses doing that.
As the Liberal Democrat amendment to the motion for the active travel debate highlighted, there should also be a focus on cycling training for young people—I am a great believer in early intervention. As we discussed with cycling lobbying organisations, some of the active travel money should be used for some out-of-the-box thinking and trialling things in Scotland. We have always been a good test-bed in that regard and we should not be afraid to try new initiatives and incentives to get people to be active, whether through cycling or walking.
I have tasked my officials to work closely with those cycling organisations. There is no lack of ideas or enthusiasm from them. However, as I said, we must ensure that we get the most bang for our buck from the active travel budget to achieve our ambitious vision and the important health outcomes that we seek.