The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-13467, in the name of Neil Bibby, on fair trade is the goal for Gleniffer high school and Bala Sport. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates Gleniffer High School in Paisley on working with Bala Sport to become the social enterprise’s first member school in the UK; believes that the school is the first to invest in the community benefit society and to buy a small amount of shares, meaning that it will have a say in how Bala Sport is run; considers that the commitment by pupils and teachers to use Fairtrade footballs reflects a desire to promote fairness in the sports equipment industry and is a credit not only to the school but to the community; understands that, while currently less than a quarter of 1% of sports balls sold in the UK are Fairtrade certified, Bala Sport is a new co-operative organisation that was set up to expand the availability and use of ethically produced Fairtrade sports balls; notes support for raising awareness and encouraging the use of Fairtrade sports balls so that those who make them in Pakistan, which is the only country to produce Fairtrade certified balls, are paid a fair wage and work in safe conditions, and notes calls for other schools and organisations to follow what it considers the fantastic example set by Gleniffer High School and use Fairtrade sports balls.
17:04
I welcome the opportunity to introduce today’s motion for debate and I thank all members who have supported it.
Fair trade in football is a very important issue. Why? It is because about 40,000 people work in the ball-making industry in the town of Sialkot, in northern Pakistan, producing tens of millions of footballs every year for a multinational company. A staggering 70 per cent of the world’s sports balls are made there. However, less than 1 per cent of the sports balls that we play with around the world are made under fair trade conditions.
The Fairtrade football campaign aims to improve the pay and working conditions of the men and women who make those balls. Through Fairtrade certification, workers in factories and stitching centres benefit from decent conditions and the Fairtrade premium: an extra cash payment of 10 per cent that is invested in social and economic development projects that are chosen democratically by workers. Such projects typically involve healthcare and education for families, and schemes such as fair-price shops, which allow workers to obtain essential items at a fair cost.
Following a visit to Sialkot last year, Angus Coull, a co-founder of Bala Sport—which officially launched in February this year to expand awareness and availability of Fairtrade sports balls—talked about the vast differences he had found between factories. He said:
“We visited four factories producing balls under Fairtrade agreements. You could see that they had fire escapes, fire extinguishers, health and safety notices, proper ventilation and everything you’d expect to find in a UK factory. The workers had face masks and eye protection. But when we went to another factory there was nothing like that. It was underground in the basement of a building, and the only ventilation was from holes in the ceiling.”
So, the difference between Fairtrade factories and others could not be clearer. Buying Fairtrade footballs really does make a difference to people’s lives, and by purchasing Fairtrade balls we can demonstrate our commitment to fairness and our solidarity with others.
I am sure that members across the chamber will join me in congratulating the pupils and staff of Gleniffer high school in Paisley on their work with Bala Sport to become its first member school in the United Kingdom. Bala Sport has been a key driver of the Fairtrade football campaign, and by buying shares in the social enterprise Gleniffer high school will now have a say in how Bala Sport is run. That is crucial, because Bala Sport is a member organisation. The idea behind the share issue is to raise more cash for further investment. It will enable Bala Sport to order and sell more balls, so that more and more producers benefit in Pakistan. The shares will not be high value, but they are crucial to development of the organisation.
Gleniffer high school’s commitment to Bala Sport and to using Fairtrade footballs is a credit to not just pupils, staff and headteacher David Nicholls, but to the entire community. It would be remiss of me not to give special mention to physical education teacher Dominic Tollan, who has been instrumental in making Fairtrade footballs a priority for the school.
I was delighted to visit Gleniffer high school earlier this year and to donate some Fairtrade balls to the school team. I am very pleased to hear that the balls have attracted from pupils positive comments about their quality, and I know that the school will be selling Fairtrade footballs during Fairtrade fortnight.
Plans are also being made to organise a football tournament within the school, using the balls from Bala Sport. Dominic Tollan has been contacted by another fair trade organisation called Koolskools, which is based in England, to discuss developing additional Fairtrade initiatives at the school. Gleniffer high school has led the way on the Fairtrade football campaign, and it is clear that that has kicked off a wider interest in the fair trade movement, which is very welcome. We should do everything we can to encourage other schools to follow Gleniffer’s example.
There are other organisations that I want to acknowledge in the debate. The Five on 5 complex in Paisley has consistently supported the campaign and has given its pitches free of charge for Fairtrade tournaments that I have organised. The support of businesses and organisations is crucial in promoting the campaign—I should also mention Supporters Direct in that respect.
Bala Sport is key to the Fairtrade football campaign and it is currently working with the Fairtrade Foundation schools team on a video about the ball-production process and the workers in Pakistan, as well as on other resources for use in schools. Bala Sport staff will visit the factories again in late October and gather case-study information.
In July, Stirling Albion and Heart of Midlothian played with the Bala Pro ball in a Supporters Direct Scotland cup friendly. Bala Sport recently became the official match-ball sponsor of United Glasgow FC, the refugee team, and is sponsoring the spot-the-ball competition in The Big Issue, to continue raising awareness. The campaign is continuing apace; the key question for members today is what we can do to support it and to encourage more schools and clubs to get involved.
Millions of footballs are bought and sold in the UK every year. Football is the people’s game. Although its reputation has been tarnished by recent FIFA scandals, it is still a universal language that spans the globe. It is powerful, and we can harness that power to change the world around us. Football is used to raise awareness of all sorts of issues and to help to tackle a variety of challenges. Our hope must be that football can have a real impact in raising awareness of the fair trade movement, particularly among young people and people who perhaps do not normally buy fair trade products.
I have welcomed the opportunity to meet minister Humza Yousaf to discuss what more we can do. I know that he and Jamie Hepburn have a keen interest in the issue. Perhaps they will give further consideration to the possibility of the Scottish Government supporting a national Fairtrade football tournament, to raise the profile of the campaign. We have had a number of local tournaments—a national tournament would raise awareness to new heights and ensure that more Fairtrade balls were bought.
We should not forget that Fairtrade sports balls are not exclusive to football. Bala Sport will have rugby balls on sale shortly after this year’s rugby world cup. We should consider how we might extend the campaign to other sports. Our challenge is to support and expand on the excellent work that organisations such as Bala Sport are doing.
I want to mention the role of our professional football clubs and authorities. People have said that it is futile to lobby clubs that are tied into long-term contracts and sponsorships. However, given the amount of money that some of our professional clubs have, the least that they can do is purchase ethically produced balls. I am in the near future going to write to all our professional clubs and the football authorities to urge them to follow the example of schools such as Gleniffer high. I hope that the Scottish Government will consider joining me in that call.
I am sure that it will not be easy, but I hope that in time Fairtrade footballs will be the norm and not the exception. Fairtrade footballs can be a game changer for thousands of people, and we must do everything that we can to make that happen.
17:12
It is a long time since I spoke in Parliament about fair trade. I used to do so quite a lot, because many years ago my home town, Strathaven, and Aberfeldy became Scotland’s first Fairtrade towns. We were very proud of that at the time, and the tradition carries on, certainly in Strathaven—although I no longer represent the town, so I do not get to go to all the events there.
This Parliament has always been interested in the fair trade movement and its progress, which is why I welcome Neil Bibby’s motion. A lot of work has been done through schools. I am going to a meeting of the cross-party group on Malawi after this meeting, to talk about the links that our schools have with schools in Malawi. A lot of that work is centred on fair trade.
Fair trade is often talked about in the context of products such as coffee, sugar and tea. When we hear about producers who are getting a good deal, they are often in agriculture. As time has moved on, we have recognised that fair trade agricultural practice in countries that are less fortunate than ours contributes to climate justice, because the production of fair trade products promotes sustainable agricultural practices.
That brings me to some of the aspects of the motion that I really welcome. This Parliament is now talking about a different kind of fair trade, which relates to factories and intensive production. That is so important, because, as Neil Bibby said, it is about workers’ rights and their health and safety. We have seen terrible things happen in clothing factories, for example, so it is good that we are talking openly about such things. Some of the things that are still going on in parts of Latin America—in the fruit fields, for example—are very much against trade union rights and we should always be aware of that. That is all part of fair trade.
Procurement generally is really important. I have spoken about this before, but I would like to mention John McAllion, a former MSP who, when he left here—I think he went to work for Oxfam—pushed for fair trade in procurement. I am still of the opinion that we cannot call ourselves Scotland the fair trade nation unless we insist on fair trade in more than consumer goods. I would like to see fair trade cotton being used throughout the health service, for example, and all our public services eventually insisting on fair trade in their procurement. Fair trade can apply at home as well, of course—it does not have to be overseas trade—and we should always look to procure fairly, particularly in our public services.
Going back to football, I congratulate Gleniffer high school on a wonderful initiative. I had a look at what the Scottish Government is doing on football, which is not something that I generally know much about, and I found that one of the Commonwealth games legacies is funding for a project in Malawi for a joint football coaching programme between the Scottish Football Association and the Football Association of Malawi. It is about sustainable infrastructure, equipment and sharing knowledge and skills over there. I would like to think that the equipment is fair trade and that the footballs and strips that are used are fair trade. For me, that fair trade would also be about production in Malawi, not about gathering shed loads of stuff and sending it over from here.
That brings me back to the point that all these things—fair trade, localism, sustainability and climate justice—are important. Only when we start to look at them all in the round can we say that we are really making progress.
17:17
I congratulate Neil Bibby on securing the debate. I also congratulate Gleniffer high school on its excellent decision to invest in and promote Bala Sport. I will say more about Gleniffer high school later.
Bala Sport is based in Glasgow. It is a co-operative that was launched in February this year with a start-up grant of £19,500 from the co-operative Glasgow business development fund—a fund that was established as part of Glasgow City Council’s drive to become a co-operative council. The aim of Bala Sport is to promote the use of Fairtrade-certified sports balls. Bala balls are made by skilled people to the same specification as balls that are accredited by FIFA and they undergo the same rigorous testing. The only difference between a Bala ball and a FIFA ball is the logo, and I am with Bala when it says:
“we don’t want to pay the fees imposed by FIFA for use of their logo—-we’d rather pay the makers of our balls more”.
Every FIFA-certified ball that is purchased has involved the manufacturer or distributor paying a test fee to FIFA on top of a royalty fee that is paid for every ball that is sold, and those fees will be reflected in the purchase price. Buying a Bala ball ensures that the workers in Sialkot, Pakistan, who make the balls are paid fairly, have good working conditions and have made—as Neil Bibby rightly said—a democratic decision about how to invest their share of the profits. So far, they have invested in free eye tests and treatment for eye disease and defects, free school backpacks and scholarships for workers’ children and a water purification plant that the entire community can use. Surely, that is a better use of money than payments to FIFA. When I was thinking about this debate this afternoon, it occurred to me that, if FIFA were to adopt Fairtrade footballs, that might help its rather tattered and tarnished reputation.
I was delighted to hear not only that Gleniffer high school is using Bala balls in its sports, but that it has become a shareholder in Bala Sports. That seems to me to be an excellent decision by the students and their teachers. It is an example of their support for fair trade, and I am sure that their experience of ethical investment is one that they will take with them into their lives beyond school. They deserve our congratulations, as do the students at Greenwood academy, who have also invested in Bala Sport.
I am very proud that Scotland is a fair trade nation, but achieving that accolade should be only the beginning of our campaign to make trade fair—I agree entirely with Linda Fabiani’s comments on that issue—and the promotion of Bala balls should be part of that campaign. My colleague Neil Bibby has promoted the idea of a national football tournament utilising Fairtrade footballs. That is an excellent idea, which, as well as helping to promote fair trade and fairly traded footballs, could boost participation in football by girls and boys.
One in three of the bananas that are sold in UK supermarkets bears the Fairtrade mark, but the number of Fairtrade-certified sports balls that are sold in the UK is less than 0.25 per cent of the total number of balls sold. Bala Sport aims to increase that number significantly. Gleniffer high school is supporting it, and we should do so too.
17:21
In today’s edition of The Times, there is an interesting and what I think many people will regard as controversial article by Magnus Linklater in which he decries what he perceives to be the negativity that all too often surrounds Scottish football and contrasts it with the atmosphere that surrounds other sports in Scotland these days. However, I am sure that he would be the first to recognise that what has happened at Gleniffer is something to celebrate, because of the benefits that it brings not just to the local community, but to workers elsewhere.
I congratulate Neil Bibby on what I thought was a very moving and informative speech and on bringing his motion to Parliament. I also congratulate Gleniffer high school on being the first school to become an investor in Bala Sport. It is a tremendous accomplishment to be the first school to do that. I note that Patricia Ferguson said that Greenwood academy has also now invested in Bala, and I hope that it will not be long before other schools across Scotland are inspired to do the same. Such acts are extremely good for the spirit of local communities and for all those who are involved in the process of making the balls. I had not realised how impressive the statistics are until they were explained earlier in the debate.
Special mention must go to Dominic Tollan, who I understand was influential in encouraging Gleniffer high school’s membership of and investment in Bala Sport. It is only right that individuals such as Mr Tollan receive our congratulations.
It is important to understand the background to Bala Sport’s development. Patricia Ferguson provided some interesting information on how it came together as a co-operative to help workers in Pakistan by ensuring that those who make 70 per cent of the world’s footballs receive a fair wage for their work and fair working conditions. Linda Fabiani made an excellent point about the need to spread the benefits of fair trade. She was right to say that the impression in the minds of many members of the public is that fair trade is about food, but it is not all about food by any stretch of the imagination—far from it. The benefits that have been described in the debate show how diverse fair trade can be.
The value of sport in that context is often forgotten. I agree with one aspect of Magnus Linklater’s article—his homing in on the negativity that can surround sport. It is a great pity that we sometimes hear only about that. Many young people across Scotland are doing fantastic things, and it is good for us as MSPs to be able to highlight some of those activities, because they are very special and they bind together the school and people in far-off countries.
It is important to promote collaboration between consumers, producers, non-governmental organisations and Governments to further fair trade in Scotland and worldwide. The benefits that that can bring are becoming increasingly evident. That must give all of us encouragement as we work together not only to secure market access to low-income countries but to tackle many of the social and cultural issues as well as the border obstacles to trade that such countries face. It is important that this Parliament has a strong united voice on this matter and that we support and promote the open-rules-based, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system.
Once again, I congratulate Neil Bibby on securing this debate, and I also congratulate the schools in question and Bala for the excellent work that they have done. I am sure that they have a bright future, and I certainly support the idea of holding an international tournament in Scotland to demonstrate how seriously we take the issue.
17:25
First of all, I thank Neil Bibby for securing this debate and Gleniffer high school and Greenwood academy for their participation in the scheme. I have visited Sialkot and have seen at first hand these footballs being made, and I can assure members that the people who produce them are very highly and exceptionally skilled.
I am sure that many Partick Thistle fans will be happy to learn that this Glasgow football club sells these Pakistan-made footballs with the official Partick Thistle logo on them. That made my grandson, who is a Partick Thistle supporter, very proud.
Hear, hear.
Thank you.
Given that Pakistan is renowned throughout the world for manufacturing sporting equipment, including footballs and hockey and cricket balls—indeed, it is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of pipe bags—one will not be surprised to learn that many of these skills can be found in the country. However, Neil Bibby made the important point that a fair day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay, and I think that the Bala scheme will be very good not only for the workers in Pakistan but the Pakistan Government. At the end of the day, it is competing in a world theatre, and it is important not only that these products are seen to be valued but that workers are paid fairly. I saw footballs being produced in Sialkot with Coca-Cola logos and the logos of other very large companies, and they are used by world football tournaments and many other tournaments in the middle east and so on. These items from that part of the world are very popular and much in demand, and I am very thankful to people who want to ensure that the people involved are paid a fair wage for their work.
I also want to thank everyone who is involved in fair trade. I became aware of it when I first became a councillor; I was invited to one of the churches in my ward and saw for the first time various things that are manufactured around the world, including jam, tea, coffee and chocolate—which, I have to say, is a weakness of mine. When I understood the concept, I felt very proud that we in Scotland cared enough about people around the world to want to do something like this, and when I heard about this debate and the footballs made in Sialkot, I was really impressed and thought that it was an issue that I wanted to discuss and a debate that I wanted to take part in.
Finally, I want to send a message to the Government of Pakistan that its help and support in this matter will also be very important.
17:29
First, I say to Hanzala Malik that his grandson should always be very proud to be a Partick Thistle supporter. Of course, that is just my perspective, but I have no doubt that it is shared by Patricia Ferguson.
I am delighted to close the debate on behalf of the Government and I begin by thanking Neil Bibby for lodging the motion and other members for their contributions. I join Neil Bibby and other colleagues in congratulating the staff and especially the pupils at Gleniffer high school on their hard work in promoting fair trade generally and their interesting initiative with Bala Sport. It was very heartening to hear that Greenwood academy is following suit.
We are primarily focusing on Gleniffer high school’s work with Bala Sport, but that work builds on the existing initiatives at the school. It should be placed on record—I am sure that Mr Bibby would want that, as well—that Gleniffer high school has a long-standing interest in the area, which it should be congratulated on. I know that that has led to the school being heavily involved in fundraising for Malawi. Linda Fabiani made a point about the Scottish Government and the SFA’s partnership with Malawi for football coaching. That is an excellent initiative. I say to Linda Fabiani that I will undertake to look into her entirely reasonable point about the utilisation of fair trade equipment as part of that project, and I will get back to her on that point.
Since 2007, the Scottish Government has awarded more than £1.2 million core funding to the Scottish Fair Trade Forum to take forward our ambition for Scotland to become a fair trade nation. I think that we were all collectively in the Parliament delighted to see Scotland achieve that in 2013. Although our funding has, I hope, been felt to be important, fair trade nation status would not have been possible without the people in cities, towns, villages, universities, schools and colleges throughout the country who have been committed to supporting fair trade. They are the individuals who make the difference. They often do so in their own small individual way to make a big and positive change around the world.
We now know that 100 per cent of local authority areas have active groups that are working towards Fairtrade status. Some 56 per cent of local authority areas have achieved Fairtrade status, and all the cities have Fairtrade city status. Some 88 of Scotland’s 156 towns have either Fairtrade status or active groups that are working towards it. Linda Fabiani reminded us that Strathaven and Aberfeldy led the way on that. We have seen more and more people across the country buying fair trade products on a regular basis. Schools such as Gleniffer high school, whose teachers and pupils are leading the way by investing in Bala Sport and so have a direct impact on the lives of football stitchers in Pakistan, are the epitome of the effort across the country.
It is not just about footballs, of course. Over the past six years, the availability and range of Fairtrade products have continued to rise. More than 4,500 Fairtrade products are readily available, which means that consumers can buy everything from Fairtrade gold and clothes to wine and flowers. The list continues to grow.
As the number of Fairtrade products has risen, so has awareness of the Fairtrade mark. In the last poll that the Scottish Fair Trade Forum undertook, 81 per cent of the population recognised the Fairtrade mark. Some 63 per cent of people regularly buy Fairtrade products. That is positive, but it shows that there is still growth potential and more work still to be done.
It is very easy to assume that someone else is taking care of business and that we do not have to think about where the produce that we buy comes from or how the choices that we make affect the choices that someone else will have to make, such as having to choose which of their children will get an education, who needs medicine the most, or who will eat that day. We all know that that is the miserable and grinding reality that is faced by millions of people around the world each and every day. That knowledge should spur us on to spread the message that making small changes to the way we shop will make a massive difference to the lives of others. We all have a responsibility to do what we can, and we can all buy Fairtrade products, not just because that will ensure that small-scale farmers and other producers are paid a fair price and can provide for their families but because of the impact that it has on them as people. Leading a dignified life, making our own decisions and controlling our own futures are things that we all have a right to expect whatever our circumstances and wherever in the world we happen to have been born.
Fair trade work is, of course, just a small part of the work that we as a Government are involved in to help to promote fairness and equality not just here in Scotland but around the world. Our international development and climate justice funds are making a difference to the lives of vulnerable people in sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia, and our commitment to tackling climate change and promoting renewable energy shows that we are taking responsibility for our actions and the impact that they have on people around the world.
As a fair trade nation, we are leading the way in highlighting how support for fair trade means support for people in the developing world, just as Gleniffer high school is leading the way in highlighting how support for Bala Sport and Fairtrade sports balls means support for stitchers in Pakistan. I know that the school is working closely with Bala Sport’s managing director, Angus Coull, to promote the organisation and its community share issue. I hope that the publicity that they help to generate inspires other schools—we have heard that it is starting to do so—sports groups and sporting organisations to get involved.
Liz Smith spoke of the power of sport to leverage social change and Neil Bibby spoke about the power of football in particular to make a difference through its universality. We have heard about action by football clubs, such as the match between Stirling Albion and Heart of Midlothian, which Neil Bibby mentioned, and the work that Partick Thistle has done, which Hanzala Malik mentioned. We also know that the SFA has a contract for the provision of Fairtrade footballs at the grass-roots community level. Neil Bibby also spoke of the leadership role in other sports on fair trade, and I was delighted to hear that some work was undertaken previously with the Scottish Rugby Union to try to promote Fairtrade rugby balls.
When the minister mentioned leadership, it occurred to me that we heard in the past 24 hours of the appointment of Louise Martin—a very worthy woman and Scot—as president of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Given her new role, I wonder whether we might contact her to urge that the Commonwealth Games Federation take account of the availability of fairly traded sports equipment, particularly sports balls.
I am not sure that I welcome that intervention, because now I will be in trouble with Louise Martin for not being the person who mentioned her appointment. I of course offer my congratulations to her and will congratulate her in writing on her appointment. However, I am in regular contact with her and am happy to raise the fair trade issue with her.
Neil Bibby and Patricia Ferguson also raised the innovative idea of a national Fairtrade football tournament, and I am very happy to consider any serious proposal made on that; if one is forthcoming, I will give it my utmost consideration.
I thank Neil Bibby again for his motion and I thank all who have contributed to the debate for continuing to highlight our shared commitment to ensuring that we in Scotland all play our part in helping make the world a fairer place.
Meeting closed at 17:37.Previous
Decision Time