Bluelight
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S3M-6233, in the name of Jim Tolson, on the bluelight initiative. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates the highly successful and well regarded youth engagement initiative, Bluelight, which aims to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour and build positive police, youth and community partnerships through a range of alcohol and drug-free youth events and programmes; notes that the Bluelight concept was first introduced into Scotland in Dunfermline in 2004, having been modelled on the successful youth programmes in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, and that projects have now been established in all Scottish police force areas; congratulates the partners involved in the delivery of Bluelight in Fife, including Fife Constabulary, Fife Council, NHS Fife, Community Volunteers, Fife Fire and Rescue Service, Carnegie College and many members from voluntary sector agencies, on the success of the initiative, and believes that Bluelight is a valuable and effective initiative that should be developed further in communities across Scotland.
12:31
Bluelight is a youth initiative that originated in Australia in 1975. It was a response to growing problems associated with drunkenness at youth discos and the impact of antisocial behaviour on the surrounding communities. The initiative spread throughout Australia, New Zealand and the United States, and it has a significant impact on youth-related crime in the areas in which it operates.
In 2004, a delegation from the Fife boozebusters group was invited to make a presentation to a World Health Organization conference in Melbourne in Australia. Three of its biggest champions from Scotland—Allan Stewart, Fraser Laird and Bill Young—join us in the public gallery today.
The delegates, including a health promotions officer, a community constable and a locality manager from Fife Council, were made aware of the bluelight concept after making contact with Victoria Police. They decided that bluelight would begin to address some of the issues that are faced in Fife and that it could be easily replicated, given the degree of partnership working that was already in place among the key agencies.
A steering group was set up in Dunfermline, including representatives from the police, NHS Fife, local licence holders, Fife Council, elected members, local community groups, Fife Fire and Rescue Service and local voluntary groups. A commitment was given to pilot the initiative over a six-month period to gauge its effectiveness.
The problem of youth disorder and alcohol abuse has been around for many years. In addition to alcohol sales to minors, many of the problems were due to the lack of an attractive alternative to drinking, to the fact that young people were afraid to be alone and therefore felt more comfortable gathering in groups, and to a lack of trust between young people and many of the public agencies. Through a variety of consultative events, the idea of bluelight was put to young people, who were very receptive to it.
Bluelight events are held on a Friday night and target the secondary 1 to 4 age group. Venues tend to be neutral—a local college or community centre, for example. The ticket price is just £1 to keep the event affordable to all, and it includes free travel to and from the event on Stagecoach buses.
On the night of the event, all young people who enter the venue are searched and breathalysed. That gives assurances to both the youngsters and their parents that there will be no drunken behaviour on the premises. The events generally run between 7 pm and 11 pm, and when bluelight finishes at 11 pm the vast majority of attendees go directly home.
A major aspect of bluelight is the chill-out room, which serves two functions. First, it allows the young people to spend time with their friends in a quieter and more comfortable area. Secondly, it provides partners with precious opportunities to consult, interact and generally build up relationships with the young people.
However, it is not all discos. Fife Constabulary’s youth diversion initiative, operation lifeline, takes place at the Army’s Barry Buddon training area near Dundee. Run in partnership with Her Majesty’s forces Army youth training team, it runs outdoor activities for young volunteers that provide them with the resilience and maturity that enable them to carry out the tasks that they are set with a sense of responsibility and pride. I will visit the initiative later this year.
A range of community and voluntary partners run the bluelight scheme. All partners and volunteers are required to undergo a full enhanced disclosure check.
Since 2004, more than 30,000 young people have attended events in Fife—15,000 in Dunfermline alone—and only two have failed the breath test. Bluelight events in Dunfermline have shown a 13 per cent reduction in vandalism and nuisance calls on the nights of the events, compared with other nights. Similar trends are evident in relation to other events in Fife, and police report that hot spots within the areas are noticeably quieter on the nights of the events.
Bluelight has won Fife Constabulary’s problem-oriented policing—POP—award and the prestigious Radio Forth contribution to communities award, and was a runner up in Fife’s excellence awards and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities’ excellence awards.
It is clear that bluelight is in an embryonic stage in Scotland. To achieve any meaningful development for our communities, it will require governmental recognition, which will help to create non-governmental support. The police, through the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, should be the lead party in the initiative, with a group of senior officers representing all forces in Scotland. They should be dedicated to establishing a unified strategy for bluelight. All serving police officers and new recruits should be given training and encouragement to be involved in bluelight activities.
On a gradual basis, which can be based upon a feasibility study for each stage, bluelight in Scotland can grow to be an initiative of a similar size to the scheme in New Zealand.
I urge the minister to attend a bluelight event in Dunfermline with me and to see for himself how this highly effective youth diversion activity operates.
12:37
I congratulate Jim Tolson on securing this debate. One wise colleague suggested that a Liberal Democrat lunchtime debate bearing the name “bluelight” might be misinterpreted in the spirit of the new Conservative-Liberal consensus, but that is not the case as far as I am concerned, and I want to put firmly on the record the worth of the bluelight initiative. There can be no better example of good-quality communication at community level than that which exists between the partners who are involved in the delivery of bluelight in Fife, including Fife Constabulary, Fife Council, NHS Fife, community volunteers, Fife Fire and Rescue Service, Carnegie College and many members from voluntary sector agencies.
As all parties have asserted many times in this chamber, volunteers and voluntary organisations play a vital role in ensuring that we all live in a stronger and more cohesive society. They do an outstanding job. However, to enhance that support, we believe that more can be done to promote the interaction between public and social services and the voluntary sector, with each taking advantage of each other’s strengths.
The bluelight initiative has already established itself as a well-regarded youth engagement initiative in Fife and across other Scottish police force areas, working to reduce crime and antisocial behaviour through a range of alcohol and drug-free youth events and programmes, as Jim Tolson said.
Drug abuse threatens the very fabric of our society. It destroys lives, tears families apart, leads to widespread and recurring crime and to the disintegration of entire communities. It is therefore essential that we must harness not only all the resources of the state but the goodwill and determination of communities not only to discourage drug abuse but to do everything possible to eliminate it. Financial resources can do only so much. What we really need is a change of attitudes, and positive youth and community partnerships such as bluelight can only help to achieve this aim.
The Parliament firmly believes that we can often learn from best practice in other countries; the bluelight initiative is an example of such an approach, having been modelled on successful youth programmes in Australia, New Zealand and the south Pacific. I hope such positive approaches can be developed in other policy areas too.
I have long advocated the need to engage more with our young people and to develop positive youth engagement initiatives throughout Scotland in order to address what is often seen as the problem of our disengaged youth. It is easy for politicians to stand here and in other places and talk, but it is the hard work of the many thousands of youth workers and volunteers that day in and day out provides positive support for young people throughout Scotland, often in difficult circumstances. I welcome the steering group that has been set up by the Scottish Government to provide strategic direction and to ensure collaboration between the many partners that are needed to make leadership activity effective. The voluntary sector will be free to come up with innovative solutions to the social problems that face our society only if it is truly independent and autonomous of Government, albeit with crucial Government support.
In my area, many smaller groups already provide additional youth and community opportunities. The youth group @spire has proved to be hugely successful and gives young people in the communities in places such as Milnathort, Kinnesswood and Scotlandwell something to do every Tuesday, in the Milnathort church hall. Youth worker Hannah Pickles provides a youth drop-in service to give support and advice for young people, especially those from the rural community.
The bluelight initiative has established itself as a fine example of partnership working in the voluntary sector. I hope that we will be able to go further in the future and develop strong partnerships. The Scottish Conservatives have repeatedly called for a longer-term strategic review of social work services and how those services can utilise the expertise of the voluntary sector in dealing with some of the most profound issues in our communities. I firmly agree with Jim Tolson that bluelight is a valuable and effective initiative that should be developed further in communities throughout Scotland. Nationally, there is variability in funding for such youth services, and there is a real need to improve efficiency and effectiveness. I hope that the minister will comment further on that at the end of the debate.
12:41
I congratulate Jim Tolson on bringing the debate to Parliament and I welcome the opportunity to highlight the initiative that has been shown by Fife’s hard-working police officers—it is often the dedication and enthusiasm of one officer that drives such projects forward—and by their partners in taking forward the bluelight project. We in Fife are proud of our forward-thinking police force, which is committed to finding community-based solutions to the many challenges that communities face. The problem of youth disorder is not new, but Fife police and their partners have recognised the need for new solutions. Fife Constabulary is often at the forefront of progressive policing aimed at tackling underage drinking and antisocial behaviour. It has a track record of taking the lead, having been at the forefront of test purchasing in Scotland. It is also prepared to give new solutions, such as bottle marking, a trial. However, it is making an especially positive contribution with the effort that it is putting into the bluelight initiative, which is having great success. The initiative was imported from Australia and New Zealand, where it has been successful for more than 25 years. Fife officers saw its potential and successfully adapted it for Fife.
As Jim Tolson has outlined, in 2004, local police and partners began a six-month pilot, with the first bluelight disco in Dunfermline. Since then, more than 30,000 young people have attended a range of bluelight events throughout Fife. The events are targeted at high-school pupils, and tickets, which are sold in advance, include the cost of safe travel to the event.
Too many communities in Fife struggle with varying levels of youth disorder, particularly at the weekends. Bluelight has been successful because it provides young people with what they want—an opportunity to socialise, relax in a safe environment and engage in age-appropriate activities—their idea of that and ours are sometimes different. Bluelight goes a long way in providing the kind of activities that young people are looking for. It encourages independence and good decision making among young people. The growth of the bluelight projects in Fife has allowed an expansion in the services that can be provided. In Levenmouth, the street:live project has grown out of the bluelight initiative and has an excellent reputation.
When I was first elected, I was impressed by the commitment that was being shown by Fife police to bluelight and I inquired about the correlation between bluelight events and community safety. The figures are impressive: in some areas, there has been a drop of up to 80 per cent in calls to the police when a bluelight event is on. It is about much more than simply putting on a disco for under-18s. Following the success of bluelight, some commercially run clubs have tried to offer an evening for under-18s, but those tend to finish at about 9 o’clock when, for most young people, the night is still young, and they might go on to get hold of alcohol, get drunk, become involved in antisocial behaviour and create disturbances—and sometimes worse—in their communities.
Bluelight discos, however, are much more sophisticated. They go on until 11 pm and young people are encouraged to go home afterwards; entry is controlled and those who have been drinking are unable to get in; and the police will often call on the support of an agency such as the Drug & Alcohol Project Ltd to address the young person’s relationship with alcohol. Each event is staffed by police officers, youth workers, health workers and volunteers and opportunities are provided to build relationships with young people.
We will all agree that the bluelight project is a good thing and should be properly supported. Unlike in Australia, however, the Scottish project does not have significant sponsorship and there is a high reliance on volunteers. I certainly hope that the minister will consider Fife Constabulary’s recommendations. It would be good if this successful project could be developed throughout Scotland and I hope that ACPOS can be encouraged to play a full role in that respect.
As we will all agree, this type of cohesive approach to tackling underage drinking and resultant antisocial behaviour should be welcomed and supported. I am very pleased to acknowledge the remarkably positive results in Fife thanks to the dedication of local police officers and their many partners.
12:46
I, too, congratulate Jim Tolson on publicising the bluelight initiative.
The debate has made me reflect on my own experiences of teaching kids as a further education lecturer way back in the 1960s. I used to be confronted with Post Office messenger boys, who ran around on little red motorbikes, delivering telegrams, and who were said to be the most intractable pupils in Edinburgh. In fact, I found that seemingly tough lot to be brilliant, because the work was based around the mechanical thing they worked with—in other words, their bikes. They also had to interact in complex social situations. After all, in Scottish working-class households, telegrams meant no good, and these 16 and 17-year-olds had to be prepared to deal with moving situations involving illness and death and to empathise with people who could become distracted as such news approached.
Youngsters and teenagers have the capability to overcome the situations in which they are placed, and bluelight is the sort of initiative that can stimulate in teenagers the liveliness and interest in the world that are shown, as Jim Tolson and I will recall, by primary school kids. Those tend to lapse in the early teen years, when young people become driven much more by the pressure of seeing their lives expand and not being able to cope with that, partly because of their time of life and partly because of peer-group pressure. The bluelight movement’s emphasis on ensuring that teenagers see authority as something that not only disciplines but provides further opportunities is surely important. It casts back to the 1880s and the curious movement that led to the explorer Henry Drummond helping to set up the Boys Brigade, the two propellant areas behind which were the gospel according to Moody and Sankey, and association football. In the BB, if one was not a good football organiser, one was sunk.
That type of initiative still makes an impact—for instance, the Scout Association is very strong in Kirkcaldy—and is founded on people simply not giving way to what might be described as a combination of girning and trying to find quick and easy ways out of a situation. All too often, such quick and easy ways involve the product of one of Fife’s major industries—the alcopops that are churned out of the Diageo works near Leven—but that kind of reaction can be overcome not only by discipline but by the opportunity for real enjoyment that bluelight provides.
I would certainly like to see supermarkets and alcohol producers being made to balance their profit making with social responsibility and ensuring that people have the chance truly to mature.
Another development that I would like is to get people who are going into higher education to do a year’s part-time work with organisations that work with young people. That would give them leadership and organisational skills and the ability to generate interest among kids. Kids have many chances and the potential to use much technology; they just require access to people who have a notion of being teachers and mentors. The bluelight initiative is an important first step in that direction. I hope that all means of developing it can be pursued.
12:50
I welcome the opportunity to take part in the debate. As other members have done, I congratulate Jim Tolson on bringing the motion to the chamber and on highlighting the effectiveness of the bluelight initiative and the way in which it has negated the impact of antisocial behaviour in Fife. That has come across clearly in the experiences of the various Fife members who have spoken.
In general, members are well aware of the negative effects that antisocial behaviour can have on their communities. Recently, there was a 31 per cent rise in the number of antisocial behaviour penalties issued in the Strathclyde area. Added to that, the 2009 social attitudes survey demonstrated that 70 per cent of people in Scotland have witnessed some form of antisocial behaviour and that 87 per cent reckon that it is a major or serious problem. However, we need to do more than quote statistics on antisocial behaviour; we need to consider the human impact on communities. Pensioners are afraid to leave their homes because they have a feeling of fear and are worried about what might be visited upon them by people who perpetrate antisocial behaviour. Obviously, such behaviour is unacceptable and there is a need to combat it.
From that point of view, the bluelight initiative is welcome. As Jim Tolson said, although it was pioneered internationally and has been set up in Dunfermline, it is starting to have an impact throughout Scotland. A successful bluelight event, which was praised by local police and stakeholders, has been held in Larkhall in Lanarkshire.
The initiative has several key advantages. First, it tackles crime and antisocial behaviour. As Jim Tolson said, on the nights when the discos take place, activity in the hot spots decreases significantly. As Claire Baker pointed out, because the events continue until 11 o’clock, there is a greater chance that those attending will go home when they leave, rather than participate in unsavoury activities. The initiative also does a lot to involve young people and reinforces the strong education message that we want them to be model citizens who respect others in society.
Because the events are alcohol and drug free, they reinforce a message that we are trying to get across in schools. Recent drug statistics have indicated the alarming fact that youngsters under the age of 15 are starting to be admitted to hospital as a result of taking drugs. At a recent meeting of the Public Audit Committee, health board chiefs said that the same trend is starting to appear in relation to alcohol. It is good to see multi-agency working, with people from various agencies participating in the events and talking to young people.
The format is excellent and should be rolled out throughout Scotland. However, that should be linked to general Government support and strong action on antisocial behaviour. We need to assess the effectiveness of the current legislation and be proactive in tackling the negative impacts of antisocial behaviour.
I again congratulate Jim Tolson on the motion and on highlighting the initiative, which I hope is successfully rolled out throughout Scotland.
12:54
I congratulate Jim Tolson on bringing forward this excellent debate. The contributions from all members illustrate well the value of effective programmes to divert young people from problematic behaviour of various types.
I took the opportunity to read the document by Mr Young—who I believe is here to listen to the debate—entitled “Bluelight—A Comprehensive Programme for Youth and Community Partnership”. It was interesting to read the history of the development of the scheme and the approach taken by other countries over the 35 years since it was first devised in Australia. I say to Jim Tolson that I have noted the recommendations and will consider them. We are of course carrying out a great deal of work in this area. I will specifically consider the general issue with ACPOS, because the principal recommendation, as I understand it, is that the police should be in charge of developing the schemes.
The debate has been excellent. Jim Tolson and Claire Baker have given some detail about how the programme operates in Fife, its benefits and one or two pointers on how it could be further developed.
The Scottish Government is wholly committed to offering young people more choices and chances. Of the minority of young people who get into trouble, four fifths do not get into trouble again after a visit from the police to them or their parents. That is enough—I suspect that parental discipline kicks in. An appreciation by youngsters that they have perhaps done something daft is also important. We are simply talking about a minority of a minority who are a serious problem in Scotland. It is very important to say that and not to portray the false picture that all young people are somehow a problem. The opposite is the case: most young people in Scotland are a credit to their families, their schools and themselves.
However, we need to focus on the minority, and we have done so. That is why, working with people such as Harry McGuigan and Barbara Grant in the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, we have produced “Promoting Positive Outcomes: Working Together to Prevent Antisocial Behaviour in Scotland”, the framework for tackling antisocial behaviour, which recognises the key role of diversion. Someone more scholarly might correct me, but I believe that the word “divert” comes from the Latin word for to turn aside. That is what we hope to do with diversion schemes of all types—to turn aside youngsters from the wrong path to the right one.
Members have described a number of particular problems. Elizabeth Smith and James Kelly both mentioned drugs, which is one of the most serious problems facing our society today. How much better it is to prevent young people from trying drugs in the first place and to give them the information that they need in order to know that that is a very dangerous path to take. Our new drugs strategy, “The Road to Recovery: A New Approach to Tackling Scotland’s Drug Problem”, fully recognises that that is important.
As far as I can recollect, the most recent available information of young people’s behaviour, which comes from the Scottish schools adolescent lifestyle and substance use survey, indicates that although there is a serious problem, which I by no means belittle, the figures show that there is perhaps a 10 per cent reduction in the number of teenagers who are trying drugs and using them regularly. That is by no means good enough. There is much more work to be done and I am delighted that all parties are united behind that.
The abuse of alcohol affects more youngsters and causes more types of problematic behaviour, which can cause extreme misery to many vulnerable people, such as elderly people, who tend to be on the receiving end of such behaviour, as we all know from helping constituents. That is why the Government is wholly committed to providing more choices and chances for young people. It is why we have invested £14 million through cashback for communities in a range of projects through, for example, the Scottish Football Association, which is providing football opportunities; the Scottish Rugby Union, which is providing rugby opportunities; basketballscotland; and YouthLink Scotland. This week, I was very pleased indeed to announce the junction project, which will provide intensive personal development skills for those who are on the cusp of offending. It is perhaps one of the few schemes—if not the only scheme—on which I have advocated that additional taxpayers’ money should be spent. I therefore have a personal interest in ensuring that it is successful.
I know from work with people such as Elizabeth Smith that members across the chamber share my views about the importance of taking youngsters whom the police identify as likely to cause serious trouble—who might end up in Barlinnie or die early through addiction—and giving them a chance in life to see that a better way exists. That is why the word “junction” is used—the aim is to choose a better path.
Several speakers have acknowledged that many different approaches to diversionary work exist. Not all youngsters will participate voluntarily in such activities, no matter how well organised and entertaining they are. A huge variety of activities is offered, from discothèques and parties to fishing expeditions, fun-park trips, father-and-son camps, triathlons and orienteering—I could go on. What about those who do not and will not turn up? We need to reach out to them, and we do so in projects such as street base in Hamilton, whereby youngsters go out to engage and chat with boys of roughly the same age group as them who are drinking Buckfast, saying, “Look—do you know that you can do this or that activity?”
The police and the fire service do a huge amount of work. Just yesterday evening, at Fettes police headquarters, I spoke to a special constable who does such work in Craigmillar and who sees many young lives turned around. Just this morning, I spoke to Brian Allaway, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service’s chief fire officer, who pointed to the cool-down crew work that firefighters do.
Throughout Scotland, our police, our fire service, our community workers, our voluntary groups, our scouts, our guides and our other groups do huge amounts of voluntary work, as many members have said. That work is rarely reported or heralded and—perhaps because of that—is not sufficiently widely appreciated, but I am sure that it helps youngsters to choose the right path in life. For all that work, we should be truly grateful.
At this time of somewhat controversial issues in politics, I am delighted that here in the Scottish Parliament at least, we have had a debate in which every party agrees on the right approach and the right way forward. I thank Jim Tolson for giving us this valuable opportunity to express cross-party, non-political and non-partisan unity in supporting the aims and objectives of such work.
13:02
Meeting suspended until 14:15.
14:15
On resuming—