Glas-goals
The next item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S3M-6906, in the name of Bill Butler, on Glas-goals aiming high. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament supports the Evening Times’ Glas-goals campaign and its three targets of encouraging Glaswegians to walk or run a million miles, stub out a million cigarettes and shed half a million pounds in weight between them over the next year; notes that the paper will work with partners including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow 2014 and Glasgow Housing Association to deliver a year-long series of events aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles; is alarmed that Glasgow, as it heads towards the 2014 Commonwealth Games, has one of the worst public health records in Europe with men in Glasgow having the lowest life expectancy in the United Kingdom, and with nearly a third of the city’s population suffering from obesity and over 190,000 of its citizens still smoking; believes Glas-goals has the potential to make a significant contribution in addressing these deep-seated problems; encourages Glaswegians to join the campaign by participating in the Glas-goals events, which so far have included fun runs, cycle races, bunny hops and the World’s largest tea dance, and encourages other local authorities and health bodies to consider using Glas-goals as a blueprint for campaigns across Scotland.
17:02
Please allow me to begin by thanking the 40 MSPs from across the chamber who have signed my motion and, in effect, lent their support to the Glas-goals campaign. Before I go into detail about the undoubted benefits of Glas-goals, I will present a few hard and unpleasant facts about my city, which I love.
The city of Glasgow has one of the worst public health records in Europe. Men in Glasgow have the lowest life expectancy in the United Kingdom. Nearly one third of the city’s population suffers from obesity and almost 200,000 of its citizens smoke, which contributes to high levels of lung cancer and associated conditions. The life expectancy of a person in Drumchapel, in my Glasgow Anniesland constituency, is 11 years less than that of someone who lives in neighbouring Bearsden. That fact prompted my illustrious predecessor, Donald Dewar, to observe memorably that the imbalance in “the social arithmetic” needed to be corrected. In plain language, that means campaigning for a society that has greater equality and fairness.
Against that stark background, Glasgow’s newspaper, the Evening Times, launched the Glas-goals campaign. The campaign aims to change the grim statistics. It has set ambitious but achievable targets to create a vibrant and healthy Glasgow. The paper has joined several key partners, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Housing Association, to set a series of health goals for the city. The goals include improving basic fitness, challenging obesity, improving diets and helping as many Glaswegians as possible to stop smoking.
Glas-goals has set itself the bold target of helping Glaswegians to stub out 1 million cigarettes, run or walk 1 million miles and lose hundreds of thousands of excess pounds in a year. Campaigners will work with key groups that include Marie Curie Cancer Care and sport relief to help to improve the city’s health record, and to raise the profile of the many impressive projects—large and small—that are already tackling the deep-seated health issues throughout the city.
Throughout the year, the campaign will stage fun and informative health and fitness events. Those that have already been held have proved to be a huge success. In June, it was revealed that Glas-goals had smashed through its initial target of stubbing out 1 million cigarettes by reaching a staggering 2.5 million. That is to be welcomed. It also celebrated passing the 300,000 miles barrier in terms of participants walking, running, cycling or swimming.
Members will be glad to hear that more success came last Sunday, when Glas-goals managed to make it into the Guinness book of records, because of the phenomenal success of its world’s largest tea dance attempt in George Square. There were 306 couples—including, I am glad to say, members of the Sequin dance club at Peterson Park tenants hall in my Glasgow Anniesland constituency—who strutted their stuff and replaced London in the record books. I hope that colleagues from across the chamber will join me in congratulating all those who took part.
In August, more than 13,000 people joined Sir Chris Hoy and Lorraine Kelly to take part in a Sky Ride cycle around Glasgow city centre. The 5 mile route allowed cyclists to take advantage of traffic-free city centre streets and to take in sights such as the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, Glasgow Science Centre and Glasgow Green. I believe that cyclists of all ages and abilities thoroughly enjoyed the event, which was hosted in partnership with British Cycling and Glasgow Life.
Those flagship events have been hugely successful, but of equal importance are the many smaller projects that are taking place day in and day out across the city in workplaces, schools and communities. Often, those events help people to take their first steps towards improving their health and can encourage them to make the often quite small changes in their lifestyle that can lead to significant improvements in their quality of life. An example is the lunch time health walks that are co-ordinated by Glasgow Life and which are held every week at a number of locations throughout the city. I have taken part in several of them in my constituency, so I know that they provide an excellent way of taking light exercise at a convenient time. I have thoroughly enjoyed taking part in those walks.
Recently, in a moment of weakness, I was convinced by my staff to take a pedometer challenge, which requires me to walk the equivalent of the west Highland way—some 96 miles—in less than six weeks. I can exclusively reveal to members that, a full 48 hours into the challenge, I have managed about 27,000 steps and I have even been able to coax several of my colleagues to don pedometers and take up similar challenges.
Today’s papal visit puts Scotland on the world stage, which is a good thing. Four years from now, the eyes of the world will again be fixed on Scotland as we play host to the Commonwealth games in Glasgow. We all want to ensure that those games provide not just a grand spectacle, but a real and lasting legacy for every citizen in our country. The games will provide us with state-of-the-art sporting facilities and new housing, and will make a massive contribution to the regeneration of Glasgow’s east end. However, the success of the Commonwealth games will not be measured in bricks and mortar alone; it will also be measured by the contribution that the games make to building a healthier, fitter and more active nation whose citizens enjoy a better quality of life.
Glas-goals presents us with a real opportunity to begin to develop that legacy. By bringing partner agencies together and coming up with imaginative ways of promoting healthy living and encouraging people to take their fitness seriously, the Evening Times deserves Parliament’s thanks. Glas-goals presents communities throughout Scotland with a model that I hope will be imitated. Such initiatives will help people walk more, participate more, feel fitter and—most important—to live longer, more active and more fulfilled lives. Glas-goals is a campaign for everyone—not only in my home town of Glasgow, but across our nation. The campaign has already met many of its targets. Let us all do what we can to encourage local authorities and health boards throughout the country to use Glas-goals as a blueprint for a better Scotland.
17:10
I thank Bill Butler and I congratulate him on securing the debate, and I thank the Evening Times for working in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, the GHA and Glasgow City Council to improve the health of every Glaswegian.
It is a real worry and a blot on our record that for many decades Glasgow has had the worst health record of any city in Scotland. Each and every one of us, regardless of our political parties or thoughts, should think about that. A lot has been done in Glasgow not just in recent years but even under the previous Government, and we still have the reputation for being the most unhealthy city and people in Scotland.
We are trying to change that, and along with the Evening Times and the Glas-goals campaign I hope that everyone will join in. I have certainly tried to join in. Last Sunday, I joined in the family race around Glasgow Green. It was a good day not just because I had my granddaughter and others with me on bikes, but because everyone enjoyed themselves. It was very much a community and social event—I think that it was sponsored by milk companies, too. Bill Butler mentioned the tea dance, which lots of people took part in, particularly from areas such as Partick. It was a great success, too.
The key to the success of such campaigns is that they do not push people to run miles or become really fit in a couple of weeks; they make things enjoyable. Last Sunday, the Singing Kettle put on a show on a stage, and all the young kids thoroughly enjoyed it. Things like that bring people out to enjoy not just the keep-fit part of events but the atmosphere. That is something that we have to consider.
I do not want to be controversial on this point, but I ask Bill Butler and others to speak to Gordon Matheson of Glasgow City Council to ask him not to stop the free fruit for children in schools in Glasgow. We have just had a debate on fruit and other Scottish produce, so it is fitting that we now have a debate on keeping fit. However, I plead with everyone, particularly Labour colleagues, to tell Gordon Matheson not to stop the free fruit. It would be the most vulnerable people and the ones who need it most who would be affected by that aspect of Gordon Matheson’s policies in Glasgow City Council.
I was going to ask Bill Butler how many miles he has managed to run. I know that he told us how many steps he has taken, so perhaps Patricia Ferguson or somebody else will be able to say how many miles that is. The challenge is to do a lot of miles. I think he said 96 miles, so it is a lot—I would not like to do it in one day.
I have tried to do my best through the healthy living centres, and Bill Butler mentioned the fact that we have healthy living centres and health walks. A lot of voluntary groups organise health walks—I know that some do an hour’s walk every week in the Maryhill and Woodside areas around the sights in their areas. Indeed, the Annexe healthy living centre in Partick organises walks that go into the communities in Anderston, Partick and Townhead. The last walk I did with that group took us up to the necropolis, which was wonderful; lots of people in Glasgow have not seen the necropolis. There were people from all walks of life.
We have to ensure that people in Glasgow are fit and healthy, but we cannot force people to take part, so the Glas-goals campaign, because it is different and people will join in, must be welcomed. As Bill Butler said, perhaps other areas will take it on board and use it as a blueprint to get their citizens fit, too.
I thank Bill Butler once again for securing the debate, and I look forward to the day when Glasgow is not at the bottom of the league in health.
17:14
I offer my congratulations to Bill Butler on securing the debate, and to the Evening Times on its initiative. Perhaps more important is that I also praise the efforts of the many thousands of Glaswegians who have taken up the challenge and are trying to increase their activity levels for the sake of their health and that of their families and communities.
As others have said, Glasgow and her citizens have languished at the bottom of health league tables for too long. As a result of many Scottish Parliament policies under successive Governments, more Glaswegians live in warm, affordable houses and have access to good health facilities, as Sandra White said. However, the health problems of the city will take perhaps another generation or two to wipe out.
Campaigns such as Glas-goals provide the encouragement that the city needs, and help to bolster a feeling of pride as the city participates in a collective workout. At the weekend, as we heard, 612 people waltzed, jived and salsaed into the record books. There are also many examples of individuals and small groups getting involved and having fun.
In my constituency, northern sole mates offers walks and jogging several times a week and is popular with all ages. When healthy north Glasgow announced its first 5k event in 2006, people wondered how many would turn up. Five years later, the event is a fixture for the communities in the north of the city, with 2,900 people participating this year. It is a pleasure to see mums and dads with buggies, people in fancy dress and even the occasional MP and MSP, not to mention a certain Evening Times reporter, taking part. I have to admit that the reporter finished somewhat ahead of the politicians.
For many years I campaigned for sports facilities in my constituency, along with my colleague Ann McKechin. I am delighted that Glasgow City Council has responded by providing new pitches and a gym at John Paul academy, followed by a gym and dance facility in the new St Monica’s primary school campus in Milton. In April, a new sports complex opened in Maryhill, at a cost of some £9 million. That is a lot of money, but the complex is an investment and within four months of opening it had been used and enjoyed by 30,000 people.
Not everyone wants to go to a gym or a pool, so it is good to see the Forth and Clyde canal’s banks being increasingly used for fishing, cycling and walking. Just today, an application was made for permission to develop a paddle sports centre with a white-water course and canoe polo pitches at one of the canal basins. I might be an enthusiast for the canal, but I am not sure that I will take advantage of those facilities.
If anyone is in doubt about the vibrancy of the communities of Maryhill, they need look no further than the online and aptly named Maryhill activity directory, which is the brainchild of Jim Hamilton and is an invaluable local resource. Pages and pages are devoted to sport and other physical activity. The directory is a mine of helpful information.
Glas-goals is helping to build the legacy of the Commonwealth games, which will be a games for all of Glasgow and all of Scotland. The campaign is imaginative and positive in outlook. It acknowledges that sport is not for everyone, but that activity should be. The minister will be aware that the activity levels of young women and girls present a particular problem. Girls are as active as their male peers when they are 10, but by the time they are 11 or 12 their activity levels have often dropped to a level that men do not reach until they are 40. It is vital that we recognise, as the campaign does, the power of dance and drama for young women who would not otherwise be involved.
The Commonwealth games will offer a host of opportunities to everyone in the city. I very much hope that we take advantage of those opportunities, because if we do we will reap the kind of benefits that Barcelona got from the Olympic games that it hosted so successfully.
I congratulate the Evening Times and everyone who has taken part in the campaign. Given the cross-party consensus in the debate, I wonder whether we need a cross-party group on Glas-goals.
17:18
I congratulate Bill Butler on bringing the debate to the Parliament and I commend him for leading by example and taking his first 27,000 steps.
I apologise for the absence of my colleague Bill Aitken. He was extremely keen to speak in the debate but he had another engagement and had to return to Glasgow, which is unfortunate. He asked me to convey his apologies to members.
The final part of the motion asks that the Parliament
“encourages other local authorities and health bodies to consider using Glas-goals as a blueprint for campaigns across Scotland.”
As a Highlands and Islands MSP, I am much less familiar with Glas-goals than the other speakers are, so I welcomed that part of the motion and I hope that it helps to justify my presence in the debate. The campaign is excellent—if it can work in Glasgow, surely it can also work elsewhere in Scotland, with consensus and working together.
It is unfortunate that Glasgow, which is a city of vibrant people, with many attractions, has become synonymous with ill health, as Bill Butler said. We should note that much that applies to Glasgow also applies to areas elsewhere in Scotland. Drug abuse, smoking, alcoholism and the growing problem of obesity take an enormous toll on Glaswegians’ health; as we all know, in many cases it can cost them their lives. Accordingly, initiatives such as the Glas-goals campaign are to be warmly welcomed.
Not many of us are destined to be Olympic runners, nor is it necessary to take strenuous exercise to achieve a level of fitness—a point that the Minister for Public Health has made constantly in the past few years. Any clinician will say that the beneficial effect of a brisk walk, done regularly, is enormous.
From time to time, many people find it challenging to shed weight. We need look only at the queue every Thursday in the Parliament for WeightWatchers to see that not all of us are shining successes. In Glasgow, in particular, the problem of obesity has been exacerbated by poor diet. The traditional fish supper, sugary drinks and too much junk food generally have contributed to the problem. That is why it is so vital that all agencies, health boards, housing associations and local authorities work together to do everything that they can to promote better diets.
As Bill Butler says in his motion, it is depressing that 190,000 Glaswegians still smoke. The message is stark: smoking kills. It is disappointing that that message has still not got through to everyone. All agencies must continue in their efforts to persuade Glaswegians to kick that potentially fatal habit.
The Glas-goals campaign deserves to succeed. It recognises that being healthy and taking measures to improve one’s fitness can be fun. Although my colleague Bill Aitken was unable to attend the debate, I trust that in future he, along with other MSPs, will be persuaded to join in a tea dance, a run, a walk or some other activities.
17:22
I, too, congratulate Bill Butler on bringing the motion to the chamber. He explored some of the statistics and situations in Glasgow’s health record that are familiar to all of us and which have been debated on numerous occasions. Some of the issues are historic, of long standing and culturally rooted in aspects of Glasgow’s behaviour that all of us can identify.
The statistics for physical and mental health are stark. I would also like to mention sexual health, which is significantly worrying in Glasgow and the west of Scotland compared with other parts of the United Kingdom and Europe. On this day of all days, I can barely resist the suggestion that we add another target to Glas-goals—for Glaswegians to use a million condoms over the next year. I cannot think of anyone who could object to such a target for Glasgow. Perhaps those Glasgow members who are not here with us tonight can raise the issue wherever they happen to be.
Some of Glasgow’s ill health—some of it less serious, but much of it chronic—can be attributed to individual behaviour around smoking, drinking, eating and exercise. Some can be associated with the environment; environmental inequality has a clear impact on public health. Some is attributable to economic factors. The complex relationships between health inequalities and economic inequality are still a growing area of work; much research is happening, and there are lessons that we have not yet fully understood.
Another issue is the way in which messages proliferate in our society. A public health campaign or a health promotion budget is relatively small compared with the vast marketing budgets of organisations that promote unhealthy activity, whether those be burger bars, drinks companies, tobacco companies or promoters of processed food. The scale of the marketing budget that goes on telling us all to eat unhealthily, to drive everywhere instead of walking and to pursue such unhealthy activities is astonishing, and it is extremely difficult for people who work in public health to get over that.
Information needs to be provided as part of any public health campaign but, increasingly, information is available in bucketfuls—many people are bombarded left, right and centre with messages about what to do, what to eat, where to exercise and so on. Another aspect of such campaigns is access and opportunity. As well as access to fresh and nutritious food, people need access to places that feel safe and pleasant to walk, cycle or run in. The third element is motivation—people have to want the thing that is being suggested to them. Public health campaigns must not be seen as finger-wagging exercises that tell people how they should live their life, whether they like it or not; they must be motivating. In that regard, I think that the Glas-goals campaign is extremely positive because it has an upbeat, “Yes we can” spirit to it. It is aspirational; it is about seeing what more we can do for ourselves.
My final point is about what more our public bodies—local authorities and health boards—could do with their land. One of the impacts of devolution has been a land reform agenda that has sought to capture the idea that land is part of the common good. In Glasgow, there is an eight-year waiting list for allotments. In Glasgow, most tenement back courts have in no way been designed to be pleasant, enjoyable spaces for playing in, enjoying the open air or growing food.
A huge amount could be done by exploring concepts such as landshare, which involves linking up people who want to grow with people or organisations that have some land. Local food production has environmental benefits, and people acting together and taking part in a collective enterprise results in better community links. On top of that, people can save some money on their weekly shopping bill.
The production of fresh, healthy, nutritious, home-grown fruit and veg gives people great-quality exercise with other people and is brilliant for physical and mental health. I would love to see Glasgow City Council, the health board and other public bodies that have wee bits of land here, there and everywhere opening them up to allow members of the public to turn them into productive land. That would help with our food supply, which the previous debate dealt with, and it would help the public health situation in Glasgow.
17:27
I congratulate Bill Butler on securing the debate and on his excellent speech, every word of which I totally agree with. I also congratulate the Evening Times on its Glas-goals campaign, which has the potential to motivate the paper’s wide readership to adopt some realistic goals to help them lose weight, quit smoking or become active.
The fact that the Evening Times has managed to capture the imagination of the community is quite an achievement, because it is sometimes hard for public health campaigns to capture people’s imagination and make them want to take part. It strikes me that the Evening Times has managed to get people to want to play their part and to be almost competitive in achieving their goals. As Mary Scanlon said, other local authorities and communities might be able to learn lessons from Glasgow, and to come together and emulate what it is doing.
We know that just giving people information about behaviour change is insufficient to improve health. Glas-goals is imaginative and cost effective in that it involves a partnership of the public bodies that Patrick Harvie alluded to, and it ensures high community awareness of key health improvement and social change messages, while helping people to make small, achievable changes in their lives that will make a big difference.
One aspect of the campaign is the aim to achieve a healthy weight. Unfortunately, more than a quarter of all adults in Scotland are obese and almost two thirds are overweight. We know that those problems are particularly difficult in the greater Glasgow and Clyde area. Our response to that challenge has been to make a 20-year commitment, jointly with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities, to tackle overweight and obesity problems through the obesity route map. Problems such as obesity cannot be solved overnight; the aims are long term. The obesity route map contains around 80 actions covering all areas of government to ensure that it is achieved. It also includes the use of land that Patrick Harvie mentioned. I have certainly challenged health boards to look at their estates and the contribution that they can make, particularly in the run-up to the Commonwealth games. They need to show how they can make their estates more accessible to patients and staff, whether in hospital or out in the community, so that they can use them for a lunch time walk, for example. People need to get out and about and put that land to good use.
Our eight healthy weight communities across Scotland, including one in the Priesthill and Househillwood area of south-west Glasgow, are examples of obesity plan actions. Those projects embrace a vast range of activities and initiatives, from breastfeeding support groups to walking clubs for young people and healthy local gala days. They are about finding out what can be achieved in a community if we do all the good things that we know about. That action is based on the French model, which has been very successful, and some interesting evidence will come out of those healthy weight communities to inform our way forward.
The smoking cessation aspect of Glas-goals is obviously very important. Members have already spoken about the importance of turning the smoking figures around if we are to tackle our poor health record. We have made great progress in shifting cultural attitudes to smoking. When people said that it would never happen in Scotland or in Glasgow, the smoking ban was brought in, and it has made a big difference. We can take particular pride in the national network of high-quality national health service smoking cessation services that can help people who are motivated by the campaign to sustain their smoking cessation. Those services are excellent examples of preventive and anticipatory approaches. However, although smoking rates in Glasgow are coming down because of the great efforts of a number of people, they are still the highest in Scotland and they cause a significant amount of preventable ill-health, so the Glas-goals focus on smoking cessation is welcome. Smoking prevention, cessation and wider tobacco control measures are important, and we need to maintain momentum towards what I hope will be a smoke-free country.
The Glas-goals aim to encourage Glaswegians to walk or run a million miles is fantastic. I am impressed with the number of steps that Bill Butler has taken; no doubt we will get a weekly update on how he is getting on with that. His point is that we should all be doing a bit more. For my part, I did the cyclathon in Dundee at the weekend, and I have the bruises to show for it. It does not matter what the activity is; the point is that maintaining a consistent level of activity throughout life can make a big difference. The activity can be walking, running, dancing or even gardening; it does not matter. I was pleased to see that some of the Delhi handover ceremony events, for example, are dance-based events that are taking place the length and breadth of Scotland. That is an attractive proposition for girls. Patricia Ferguson mentioned the challenge that we face with teenage girls and young women. We need to be creative in what we offer to them.
The goal of 2014 is a big opportunity for Glasgow and the rest of Scotland. The community sports hubs should make it easy for people to get access to clubs and other facilities. That is a practical part of the 2014 legacy.
Glas-goals is, without doubt, acting as a powerful catalyst in giving a high public profile to other initiatives, such as healthy working lives, that impact on every sector of the population in the west of Scotland. Schools, workplaces, communities and individuals have signed up for walking and running events, dance classes and swimming galas, and through the active nation website and the Evening Times online they have also committed to taking more physical exercise, which is all fantastic.
Glas-goals is also making widely available information on how to get more support to change, such as how to join a walking group and where to get advice and support on weight loss or stopping smoking. That makes it easy for people, and that is important when someone is at the point of making those lifestyle changes.
I have been pleased to see the focus on parenting support in the campaign. I am aware that the council and the health board have adopted the triple P positive parenting programme, part of which is a media and information campaign to ensure that parenting support is seen as being as normal as attending antenatal classes or school parents nights. The campaign’s actions will also make an important contribution to tackling health inequalities, which is a major concern for Glasgow, in particular. I am also pleased that Glasgow is taking part in the equally well programme.
I again thank Bill Butler for bringing a timely debate to Parliament, and I thank the Evening Times for providing a bit of a beacon to other areas. Perhaps other newspapers may follow the lead that has been taken by the Evening Times. The last thank you goes to all the thousands of people who have seized the moment, have taken up the challenge and are playing their part in making Glas-goals into a reality. It is something very special that we can all support and take forward together.
Meeting closed at 17:36.