Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee

Meeting date: Thursday, December 15, 2016

Official Report 427KB pdf

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Cross-party Groups

Agenda item 2 is an evidence-taking session on proposed cross-party groups. I warmly welcome Miles Briggs, from whom we will take evidence on a proposed cross-party group on Scottish horse racing and bloodstock industries. I invite the member to make an opening statement.

Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to address the committee. In 2015, the horse racing industry in Scotland continued to make a considerable contribution to the Scottish economy. Direct annual expenditure has been estimated at £55 million, with a wider economic benefit of approximately £173 million. The sport helps to maintain a total of 870 full-time equivalent employees in Scotland, both directly and indirectly, and plays a vital part in Scotland’s buoyant leisure industry.

The popularity of horse racing at Scotland’s five racecourses—Musselburgh here in my region, Perth, Kelso, Ayr and Hamilton—continues to grow, with more than 308,000 attendees last year. With spectator numbers in Scotland increasing by 13 per cent since 2012, which reflects the on-going promotional activities of the racecourses, horse racing is now Scotland’s second most attended spectator sport.

The purpose of a cross-party group on Scottish horse racing and bloodstock industries would be to promote a better understanding among members of the Scottish Parliament of the role that horse racing and the breeding of horses, including for export, play in relation to the Scottish economy, the jobs market, tourism industries, sports events and festivals. The group also aims to help members realise the future economic opportunities that horse racing and the bloodstock industries present for Scotland.

I welcome the opportunity to address the committee and I hope that it will consider positively my proposal for a cross-party group. I am happy to take questions.

Thank you. I invite questions from members.

I was surprised to find that horse racing is the second-largest spectator sport. The registration form says that you plan to deal with legislation and possibly introduce it or amend any negative impact that it could have. What examples do you have of that in reality?

The group is looking to have oversight of legislation that is coming on horse racing and bloodstock industries in Scotland and at United Kingdom level. I hope that the cross-party group will present an opportunity to link with the all-party parliamentary group on racing and bloodstock industries at Westminster, so that we have the sort of communications that to date have not really existed. That will focus on, for example, areas to do with the movement of horses—which, with Britain leaving the European Union, is an issue that is already generating discussion in the industry. I hope that the cross-party group will be a forum to allow MSPs to understand the issues better.

From it, we will all be more informed about the process. The group will bring issues to the Parliament and other bodies to ensure that we get the full information on the process.

Yes—I hope so.

What sort of meetings do you expect to hold and what subjects do you expect to discuss at them? I should declare an interest as I intend to be part of the group, given that I represent Ayr.

Ayr racecourse in your constituency is a key aspect of the local economy. The group will focus on the economic benefits of racing in Scotland, which are perhaps not widely known, and we will also focus on the opportunities for horse racing that we are not realising in Scotland. I hope that that will be a key aspect. We will particularly focus on how to promote the industry in Scotland. We have a great offer but, unlike Ireland, we are perhaps not capitalising on it. I think that, early on, the group will want to consider how Scotland’s tourism bodies work with Scottish horse racing to promote that.

There are lots of wide-ranging areas around the sport itself and around tourism. Once the cross-party group gets approval, we can look at putting together a strong agenda to take all those issues into account.

Looking through your submission, I see no mention of animal welfare. Is that not something of an omission?

Not really. The Scottish Parliament already has a cross-party group on animal welfare, of which I am a member. I would be inclined to say that, although there will always be crossovers between the cross-party group on sport and the cross-party group on animal welfare, those issues will be separate. A similar situation applies with the cross-party group on tourism. The horse racing industry and the bloodstock industry have no specific voice on the animal welfare group, and there is an opportunity for the cross-party group that I am proposing to give them that voice in our Parliament.

I accept that, and I also accept what your submission says about the impact of horse racing on the economy. However, given that this activity is reliant on animals, there should at least be some acknowledgement of the importance of the welfare of those animals in your considerations, even if it is not one of your primary considerations.

There could be such an acknowledgement, but I think that the issue probably fits more within the remit of the cross-party group on animal welfare. As a member of that group, I know that the issue is already on its agenda for future consideration. That is perhaps where we can ensure that horse welfare in Scotland is considered by MSPs.

I was going to touch on the issue of animal welfare, too. Clearly there are certain aspects of the discussions around the industry—for example, issues such as animal welfare and other ethical issues, including tax avoidance in the gambling industry more widely, about which concerns have been raised—that would not necessarily be voiced by the industry itself. How do you intend to cast the net as widely as possible in terms of external members of the group? Only one such member—Scottish Racing Marketing Ltd—is listed at the moment.

It is reasonable to suggest that cross-party groups are not intended to be voices of commercial interests; they are supposed to bring together a group of people who want to discuss a topic from a range of perspectives, not just from the perspective of those who represent the industry. How do you intend to ensure the widest membership of external organisations that have an interest in the subject but which do not necessarily approach the issue from the perspective of the industry?

Following committee approval, I would want all interested parties to be invited. I know that the five racecourses in Scotland already have a network of people with whom they work who are keen to see the group established. As with all cross-party groups, it is important that the group be fully accessible to anyone who wants to come along to it. I hope that the group will be able to take that approach forward.

As there are no further questions, I thank Miles Briggs for his attendance this morning. We will consider the issue further under agenda item 4 and will inform him of our decision as soon as possible.

I suspend the meeting for a few minutes to let the witnesses change over.

09:53 Meeting suspended.  

09:54 On resuming—  

I now give a warm welcome to Emma Harper, who is proposing a cross-party group on lung health. I invite her to make an opening statement to the committee.

Good morning. I thank the committee for allowing me to come and speak today.

It has been said that breathing

“is something we all do, day in, day out, every day of our lives. It is so innate that most of us rarely stop to think about it.”

However, for

“millions of people across the UK, breathing is something they have had to think about. These are people for whom the beautiful but delicate organs”

we use to breathe—our lungs—

“do not work as they should. One in five of us in the UK has been diagnosed with a lung disease. Every year, over half a million more people are told they have a lung disease”,

which

“continues to be a major factor in health inequalities. Someone from the most deprived section of society is two-and-a-half times more likely to have COPD”—

or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease—

“and nearly twice as likely to develop lung cancer, as someone from the least deprived section of society. Overall, the burden that lung disease places on our nation’s health and health services is immense – on a par with non-respiratory cancer and heart disease. Yet the amount of resources and attention invested in tackling lung disease trails behind these other ... areas.”

For me, the creation of a new cross-party group in the Scottish Parliament on lung health would allow for the discussion of prevention, care and treatment with regard to respiratory health between members of the Scottish Parliament, people affected by lung conditions, third sector organisations and healthcare professionals. Rather than have one cross-party group for asthma, one for COPD and one for mesothelioma or interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, I propose the creation of one cross-party group to look at lung health in general across Scotland as a matter of concern.

Thank you. I invite questions from members.

First, I thank Emma Harper for submitting her proposal. I use an inhaler occasionally, but there are people with more acute conditions than mine that have a significant impact on their daily lives. I wonder whether your proposed group would consider looking at the issue of the impact of urban pollution. I am thinking in particular of recent European Environment Agency reports and proposals by various cities to ban diesel cars, which is a growing issue. Have you thought about looking at urban pollution such as that caused by particulates and nitrous oxide?

Absolutely. Rather than look at individual disease processes, the group would look at themes, and one theme that we have identified is that of air pollution and air quality. I am a member of a sub-group of the Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee that is looking at the issue of air quality. It is a way of considering the issue through the parliamentary committee structure, but it is also a theme that the proposed cross-party group would seek to address.

As there are no further questions, I thank Emma Harper for her statement. We will consider the proposal for the cross-party group later in our agenda and inform her of our decision as quickly as possible.

Thank you.

I suspend briefly again for a changeover of witnesses.

09:58 Meeting suspended.  

10:00 On resuming—