Health and Sport Committee

Meeting date: Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Official Report 306KB pdf

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Petitions

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Out-of-hours GP Services (Remote and Rural Areas) (PE1272)

We have before us a paper from the clerks setting out details of petitions that have been directed to our committee.

Petition 1272 concerns out-of-hours general practitioners cover. I invite members to consider whether we wish to close PE1272 on the basis that the committee considered the issues that it raises as part of our inquiry into out-of-hours health care provision in rural areas, or whether we wish to propose and agree an alternative approach.

I do not think that it is appropriate to close a petition when we are still waiting for the Government’s response. I know that the petitioners and others were happy with our report, but I do not think that we should even be asked to close a petition before we have seen the Government’s response, which is due on 18 June. Given the time that we have taken over this petition and our inquiry, it is only reasonable to wait until we have seen the Government’s response, and the response to it of the petitioners, before we close the petition.

I was not asking you to close it; that was just one of the suggested courses of action. I thank you for your alternative suggestion, which is reasonable.

Do we agree to keep the petition open until we receive responses from the Government and the petitioners?

Members indicated agreement.

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Sleep Apnoea (PE953)

Petition 953 concerns obstructive sleep apnoea. The committee is invited to consider whether it wishes to write to the United Kingdom Department for Transport and the UK Medical Research Council seeking more detailed information about the various research studies that are due to report in 2010, and inform the petitioner of the result of these studies, or whether it wants to propose an alternative approach.

I declare an interest in the petition, as I have been involved in it since the outset, on behalf of a constituent. My preference would be to write to the bodies that I mentioned.

What is the purpose of writing to them, when the studies are to be completed in 2010?

I understand that they will be ready in the summer, and I think that we should see what comes out of the reports.

I do not disagree with that, but we will be able to read those reports when they come out; we do not need to write to anyone to ask about the research. What is the purpose of writing to them? The reports will be published. We should just continue the petition until then.

It would simply be a reminder to those bodies not to let the issue slip off the agenda, now that there has been a change of Government. A courteous letter—

It is not the Government; it is the UK Medical Research Council.

And the UK Department for Transport.

Oh, I see.

We just want to ensure that the issue does not slip off the agenda, due to any change of priorities on the part of the new Government.

I do not see what harm it would do.

A courteous letter.

Yes, but someone has to do some work at the other end. I do not mind writing to the Department for Transport, but if its report is to be published in the first half of 2010, let us just get a copy of it. If we want to ask the Medical Research Council for the date on which its report will be published so that we can watch out for it, that is fine, but we do not want to ask for things unnecessarily. That would not be in keeping with our efficiency drive.

I am impressed by the 1p stamp efficiency drive here, but I actually—

It is not just that; it is the time that is involved for our clerks and the people at the other end. If the information will be made publicly available, somebody here could look for it.

I will not go to the wire about this, but can we please just write, Richard? Just as a gesture to keep the convener happy?

Okay, go ahead and write, if you want. It will be in the Official Report that I think that it is a waste of time.

Thank you. I am not a waste of time, I trust.

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Swimming Pools (Investment) (PE966)

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Leisure Facilities (PE990)

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Community Sports Facilities (PE1041)

Petitions 966, 990 and 1041 concern the provision of swimming pools and other community sports facilities. I invite members to consider whether they wish to close the petitions on the basis that the committee considered these issues as part of its inquiry into pathways into sport, or, in the spirit of alternative approaches, whether they wish to propose and agree an alternative approach.

I read PE966 from Robert Lambert and PE1041 from Leslie James Trotter. I appreciate that, given our financial constraints, we cannot provide everything to everyone, but asking for community-based sports clubs of a standard befitting a leading European nation is not unreasonable. Given the strength of feeling in the petitions, if I were the petitioners, I might be a bit disappointed with the Government’s response, which says merely that

“sportscotland is committed to the provision of outdoor sports”

and

“strives to negotiate high quality replacement provision for pitches”,

and that the Government

“will encourage Local Authorities to consider the importance of the availability of playing and training surfaces”.

I do not know what more we can do; I just wanted to express that point.

Are you suggesting that we should find some way of opening up all the private finance initiative playgrounds to which communities are denied access in the evenings and at the weekends?

In fairness to the Government—[Interruption.]

Excuse me. I do not know what has got into you today, children, but we are all talking amongst ourselves and teacher is not happy.

Earlier, we were trying to cut back on one letter being sent for the sake of efficiencies. In fairness to the Government, I do not know where the money will come from to make improvements to swimming facilities in the coming few years. Everyone around the table is aware of the difficulties. Whoever is in Government in Edinburgh or London will have to deal with the fact of the current financial situation. Because of that, it might be realistic simply to close the petitions.

It is fair to say that sportscotland’s “Ticking Time Bomb” report says that the problems are the result of a 30-year legacy of neglect—

It was more than that.

I am talking about the report; that is what it says. Around 80 or 90 per cent of the facilities are provided by local authorities, and it is difficult to understand how local authorities will find the resources to plough into them, given that there has been a lack of adequate investment in the facilities for three decades, as the “Ticking Time Bomb” report highlights.

We should maybe close the petitions.

We can look back or we can look forward, but we can also look to our report, “Pathways into sport and physical activity”, which said:

“The Committee reiterates its earlier recommendation that each community planning partnership should have a sports strategy, which includes an implementation plan.”

I would have hoped that, at the very least, the Government would be working with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities to ensure that there is some sort of commitment among local authorities to a sports strategy and an implementation plan, rather than what we have got.

We can look back over the past 30 years, but that will gain us nothing. It would be much more positive and constructive to look forward.

Your comments are on the record. The Scottish Government’s response to the committee says:

“The Scottish Government supports the committee’s conclusion and in working with Local Authorities and sportscotland in the development of sports strategies will encourage that these take cognisance of the availability of quality playing and training surfaces.”

That means that the Government is doing what you suggest that it should do, Mary.

I would like to move on. Members’ comments and dissatisfactions with some matters are on the record. Can we close these petitions?

I do not want anyone to go away thinking that the Parliament does not recognise the importance of these facilities. As Mary Scanlon says, irrespective of what has happened in the past and how challenging the future might be, we all need to do what we can in the interests of swimming pools and so on. We must keep in mind the massive number of people who are disabled and need hydrotherapy and all the rest of it.

I was making the point that, in the current economic climate, we cannot raise false hopes. However, I am sure that every member around this table has campaigned and will continue to campaign for sports and swimming facilities, particularly for disabled people, in their constituencies.

Given that the views that have been expressed are on the record, do we agree to close the petitions?

Members indicated agreement.

We will move into private session to deal with the next item.

10:39 Meeting continued in private until 11:14.