The final item of business today is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-08899, in the name of David Torrance, on Asda Kirkcaldy’s community life programme.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates Asda Kirkcaldy on its community life programme; considers that, since its inception in 2012, the initiative has had an impact in many different areas of the community that it serves; believes that the efforts and money raised through its schemes, such as Chosen by You Given by Us, makes a significant difference to many local good causes and organisations, including the Linton Lane Centre’s Grey Panthers, Frontline Fife Homelessness Services and Gingerbread; commends the community life champions, who lead the programme, and everyone who participates through fundraising and volunteering for what it sees as their interaction, involvement with and commitment to the community, and wishes the community life programme continued success.
17:05
I am delighted to welcome to the gallery Stephen Gallagher, who is store manager of Asda Kirkcaldy, and Jean Ritchie, who is Asda Kirkcaldy’s community life champion. It is my pleasure to have the opportunity today to speak about the Asda community life programme—especially the community life programme in my constituency, which is Kirkcaldy. I have had a particular interest in the project since its inception in 2012, as it offers support to a wide range of community-centred third sector organisations in my constituency.
Despite being part of a multinational corporation, Asda has shown great interest in actively contributing to local community life. For several years now, Asda has played a vital role in supporting the vast number of voluntary organisations that operate in Scotland—organisations that aim to enhance social cohesion among citizens—as well as strengthening local participation in local charities.
According to the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator, there are about 45,000 voluntary organisations in Scotland, half of which are registered charities. It is crucial that we understand that a vast number of those organisations are small community-based initiatives that often lack the necessary framework to promote their good cause.
Inspired to provide assistance for such local organisations, Asda established the community life programme. At the outset, the overarching goal of the programme was to combine several smaller support measures that were taking place in each store. To achieve that, a community life champion was introduced to every Asda supermarket. Their main task is to regulate all charitable work in their local store. Community life champions work in partnership with voluntary and charity groups to help them to develop fundraising strategies.
In addition, Asda provides the third sector organisations with access to meeting rooms, foyers, training rooms, cafes and car parks at their local stores. Not surprisingly, many voluntary groups welcome the opportunity to make use of Asda’s facilities to hold fundraising events and to inform the public about their work.
Fundraising events in Asda stores are dedicated to numerous good causes, ranging from renovating care homes and nurseries to helping local community groups to grow their own fruit and vegetables. More than 100,000 students from Scottish primary schools have visited Asda stores to learn about environmentally friendly living and healthy nutrition. Such generous help provides many organisations with access to facilities that they would otherwise lack.
The community life programme is a huge success. Statistics indicate that since 2012 stores across Scotland have raised about £2.6 million. Asda’s community life champions have participated in more than 36,000 hours of volunteering, and voluntary groups have used Asda stores 3,627 times as community centres.
In 2013, Asda’s efforts for the community were honoured when the company was awarded the large company of the year award, the building stronger communities local impact award and the volunteer of the year award at the Scottish Business in the Community awards.
The Asda superstore in my constituency of Kirkcaldy has certainly contributed to those remarkable achievements. The vigorous commitment of the store’s manager, Stephen Gallagher, and community life champion, Jean Ritchie, has made it possible to have raised more than £27,000 for local good causes last year. Therefore, I extend particular gratitude to both of them, as well as to their colleagues, for their strong dedication to Kirkcaldy’s community life.
The list of voluntary organisations and charities in Kirkcaldy that have benefited from the community life programme is long. I wish to highlight several projects with which I am particularly affiliated. One of them is the Linton Lane Centre. That organisation supports the needs of local residents of all age groups by offering activities for enjoyment and education, including children’s programmes, youth clubs, dance classes, family support groups, sports training courses and senior citizens clubs.
In 2012, Asda played a key role in fundraising £17,376 for the Linton Lane Centre, which enabled it to expand its service spectrum. Part of the Linton Lane Centre is the grey panthers club, which is a voluntary initiative that is dedicated to setting up events for active senior citizens. Grey panthers has been working in partnership with Asda’s community life programme in organising tea dances. Asda regularly donates a selection of cakes and scones for the dances, and has been extremely supportive in preparing the hall for the event.
Asda not only offers facilities to local non-profit organisations, but supports them financially through funds that are made available by the Asda Foundation. Each year £100,000 is reserved for voluntary organisations, which customers nominate and vote for. On a regular basis, customers choose three charitable organisations or local community groups that they think are worthy of a donation. The initiative—called “chosen by you, given by us”—has attracted significant attention from the public and is highly popular in my constituency. In January it was my pleasure to hand over cheques for the three winners of the “chosen by you, given by us” scheme in Kirkcaldy. The winning organisation—Cash for Kids—was selected by local customers in November and December and received a total of £202.55 from the Asda Foundation.
I want to draw members’ attention to Asda’s tickled pink campaign, which raises money for two breast cancer charities: Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Campaign. Tickled pink was launched 18 years ago and has collected about £38 million. It is an amazing initiative that I have been supporting for several years. In September, I assisted the 5th Fife scout group in bag packing at Asda in Kirkcaldy. It was wonderful to see how excited the scouts were about fundraising. In four hours of bag packing, £447.93 was collected for breast cancer prevention, treatment and research.
Later in the same month I joined Jean Ritchie, Asda Kirkcaldy’s community life champion, and Fiona Lockett, who is a health promotion officer at NHS Fife, to sell raffle tickets for a tombola to raise money for tickled pink. The day was a huge success and £339.33 was raised. Fiona Lockett said:
“Asda are always so community focused and enthusiastic that working in partnership with them is always fun. I was pleased to be given the opportunity to highlight this issue in the store on ‘Tickled Pink Day’ and to bring it to the attention of the members of the public.”
Ms Lockett’s comment provides an excellent summary of Asda Kirkcaldy’s dedication to strengthening and interacting with local community life. It is not a matter of course that such a big company cares about its customers in the way that Asda does, so Asda deserves our gratitude and support for offering its facilities to voluntary non-profit organisations.
I thank Stephen Gallagher and Jean Ritchie again. I wish them and their team the best of luck for a successful continuation of the community life programme.
17:12
I congratulate David Torrance on providing this opportunity to debate Asda’s community life programme. I take the opportunity to welcome Jean Ritchie and Stephen Gallagher to the gallery and commend the work that they and staff in the Kirkcaldy store have done to ensure the programme’s success in the area over the past two years—thank you very much.
MSPs sometimes feel as though there are not enough hours in a day, as we run from debate to meeting to event, so Jean Ritchie is certainly to be admired for spending 359 hours last year volunteering in her local community. It is the hard work and commitment of people such as Jean, as well as the backing and support that managers like Stephen Gallagher offer to enable community life champions to do the work that they do, that makes such initiatives a success.
Asda is a significant company in the United Kingdom and can demonstrate corporate social responsibility in many ways. Supermarkets are a part of modern life, and their influence and dominance in the retail sector is a feature of many policy debates. I have spoken recently about food poverty, labelling, healthy diets and supply chains.
Tonight’s debate is about the contribution that Asda makes to community volunteering and fundraising. When I meet community organisations in Fife, Asda often comes up as a supporter. Groups such as Fife Women’s Aid, Kirkcaldy Foodbank, Frontline Fife Homelessness Services and Cottage Family Centre often speak of Jean Ritchie’s warm welcome and support.
Across my region, Mid Scotland and Fife, there are eight community life champions, who together have volunteered for more than 2,000 hours, raised just under £200,000 and opened their stores to 616 local groups. Creating community space is a good thing and there should be diverse options in that regard.
Asda’s community activity is very local, and stores have the autonomy to choose the causes that they want to support. The “chosen by you, given by us” scheme offers customers the opportunity to nominate a good cause for fundraising and then vote for it. At Asda Kirkcaldy, the scheme has benefited local charities from Kirkcaldy, East Wemyss and Dysart—and £32,000 is a substantial sum to raise in a year and can go a long way towards boosting a local organisation’s income.
That bit of extra funding can help organisations such as Arden house in Leven improve the service that they offer. Arden house works with older people in particular, many of whom are at risk of social isolation due to complex health problems. The Asda Foundation was able to provide the centre with more than £8,000 to put towards a new kitchen, which allowed it to continue to offer its visitors hot meals.
It is easy to think that the community life programme is just about fundraising for local charities through bag packing or customer generosity, but the reality is that it goes beyond that. It is often the imagination and commitment of the community champion who makes that happen. Environmental causes are popular—there are litter pick-ups. I recently took part in a litter pick-up in Kirkcaldy with St Andrew’s high school and Asda. Such events can provide a positive initial experience for some young people who perhaps have never volunteered before.
I know that as a community life champion Jean Ritchie supports regular health events that are run with NHS Fife. I first met Jean at Templehall community gala on a healthy eating stall making up fruit kebabs. Supermarkets are often the focus of the debate around healthy or unhealthy eating. We can all do more to improve labelling, ingredients and promotions, but I recognise the commitment to the partnership with NHS Fife, which shows that supermarkets can play a positive role in this debate.
I was pleased to see that in the year ahead there is an arrangement with Citizens Advice Scotland to offer in-store advice sessions on welfare changes and money management in Kirkcaldy. The supermarket location makes it easy for some people to access the service; it can help to reduce the stigma attached to accessing some services; and it can make getting money advice seem more mainstream and perhaps less intimidating for some customers.
I recognise the hard work of the volunteers at Asda and the hard-working contribution of all the organisations in the Kirkcaldy area that they have been able to support over the past two years.
17:16
I start by congratulating David Torrance on securing the debate and on his motion.
The buying habits of shoppers have changed dramatically over the past 20 years. Large retailers such as Asda have become a one-stop shop for many domestic purchases. As a result, family and community life is increasingly centred around a trip to the supermarket. It is pleasing to see Asda embrace its role and give something back to the community, other than just good prices for groceries.
Such is the importance of Asda in some families that it is even usurping the role of mum and dad. A recent article on the Asda website featured a couple whose baby girl had said her very first word, which was “Asda”. That is an effective marketing tool if ever I have heard one.
In 2012, Asda created its community life initiative—a bold strategic plan aimed at directing profits back into the communities in which they are generated. Every year, community life spends £8 million making Scottish communities a better place in which to live, work and play.
Asda is even happy to open its doors to politicians. I frequently hold surgeries in the Asda store in Perth. From a personal perspective, that is a great opportunity to meet more of the people I serve, including people who are often disengaged from the political process.
Perhaps the most visible aspect of the community life initiative is the “chosen by you, given by us” programme, which David Torrance mentioned. The little green counters that customers get at the check-out have substantial implications for the local community. Asda lets customers choose which charities to support. That gives ordinary shoppers a stake in their community, which is invaluable for fostering community spirit.
As a Conservative, I believe in always devolving as much decision-making power to local people as possible. In no small way, Asda is doing that for communities across Scotland.
I join others who have spoken in congratulating Asda’s community champions on their hard work. Champions across the Mid Scotland and Fife region have volunteered an incredible 2,300 hours of community work and have raised nearly £200,000.
David Torrance and Claire Baker have both commended the great work done by community life in Kirkcaldy. I want to say a little bit about the similar work being done by Asda in Perth, where the community champion, Fi Penman, has volunteered a fantastic 328 hours of service to the community and every week donates her time to the active monkeys youth group. Last year the store held a community in the car park fun day, at which local charities, groups and organisations came together to meet customers. Such events help to raise awareness of community initiatives and show residents how to get more involved—a process that is very important.
David Torrance’s motion welcomes Asda’s work with the Fife Gingerbread charity. Fife Gingerbread has been the subject of previous members’ business debates, but it is worth mentioning again its invaluable service to single-parent families in the region. From the establishment of the Fife Federation of Gingerbread in 1987 to the organisation today, the guiding purpose has been not just to provide information to lone parents but to ensure that they have someone to turn to. That is a much needed and much valued service.
We must accept that many people need to seek the support of Fife Gingerbread services, whether due to difficult circumstances of poverty, a low income base or because of family breakdown or substance abuse. That is a very real situation, which needs to be addressed. I note from Fife Gingerbread’s website that there are about 10,500 lone parents in Fife alone, which demonstrates the clear need for the charity’s work. Thankfully, through the support of Asda, it will be able to continue to offer its vital services.
I join David Torrance in congratulating Asda in Kirkcaldy on its impressive community life programme and I also congratulate community life initiatives throughout the Mid Scotland and Fife region. Community champions are working hard to secure a better future for their areas and in doing so are giving up their valuable time. We should acknowledge their work and I am very happy to support the motion.
17:20
I congratulate David Torrance on bringing the debate to Parliament, and like other members I welcome Stephen Gallagher and Jean Ritchie to the public gallery.
The debate highlights the work undertaken by Asda’s community life champions. I am sure that we are all aware of Asda’s work to support local communities in Kirkcaldy and elsewhere—and if members were not aware before, they certainly will be now. The community life programme is an excellent example of how a company such as Asda should meaningfully engage with local communities and not take their custom for granted. It is giving back to communities such as Kirkcaldy that have offered loyal customer bases for years.
I am sure that anyone who has stepped into an Asda store is well aware of the community life champions and is also well aware of their “chosen by you, given by us” scheme, which donates more than £100,000 a year to local good causes that are selected by customers. Some of my constituents are increasingly choosing to shop out of town and use the Asda store in Glenrothes and would have been among the many who selected Age Concern in the most recent vote.
As we know, every Asda store and depot across the country has a community life champion who is dedicated to supporting their local communities through volunteering, fundraising, building relationships and, most importantly, giving their time. That can be seen in the amount of time its champions spent volunteering since the scheme launched in 2012. As David Torrance mentioned, collectively they have spent 36,000 hours volunteering and raised more than £2.6 million. In the last year alone, champions have spent nearly 17,000 hours volunteering in their community: from helping local schools to grow their own vegetables to working with the police to tackle anti-social behaviour.
The community life programme will be extended in 2014 as Asda works with Citizens Advice Scotland to host regular in-store advice sessions on welfare changes and money management. The partnership will benefit both local communities across Scotland and Citizens Advice Scotland, as it will help CAS reach out to those who need its help and advice.
It is not just time and money that Asda gives up. It has also opened up its stores, including the foyers, cafes and car parks, to local communities, which can use them to come together. In 2013, local groups used the stores more than 3,800 times—that shows the size of it—which allowed those groups to save money to invest in their vital services.
Asda does not just help charities and local organisations with space. It works in partnership with FareShare to provide around 770,000 meals to charities in Scotland each year, which allows charities to invest in essential services. Asda also works with local schools to help pupils learn about healthy eating, and it welcomed more than 12,000 primary school pupils to their stores in 2013 so that they could learn more about healthy eating and where their food comes from.
This year, Asda has launched a healthy eating toolkit for schools, which can be used to teach children about nutrition, healthy recipes and basic cooking skills. By investing in children, Asda will help to make a long-term difference to communities.
Some people listening today might be aware of the Asda Foundation, which provides grants to large-scale projects that make a real, long-term difference to communities across Scotland. Claire Baker mentioned one such project in Fife: Arden House, which was awarded more than £8,000 by the foundation, which will help build a new kitchen for the day centre for older people. That is a substantial, good use of money.
All across the country, Asda employees have been working at local levels for excellent causes to help people improve the way that they eat, work and live. Asda’s example of reinvestment in communities is one that I strongly believe should be followed by other organisations.
I wish the community life programme well. I hope that it continues to be a massive success and that it is able to build on past success. I look forward to attending the parliamentary reception on 1 April so that we can again celebrate community life champions.
17:25
I also congratulate David Torrance on bringing the debate to the chamber and highlighting for us the success of Asda Kirkcaldy’s community life programme, a relatively new initiative that has such a positive impact on the communities it serves.
I want to say how impressed I am by Asda’s national community life programme, which, as we heard earlier, was launched in 2012. Last year alone, champions raised more than £1.3 million for local charities in Scotland and spent nearly 17,000 hours volunteering.
We have heard from members about the range of causes that have been supported by Asda Kirkcaldy’s community life champions. Fife Gingerbread was mentioned, as were some others, and I understand that the champions have raised funds for the British Heart Foundation at the same time as providing information on heart disease to customers. The programme has supported Frontline Fife Homelessness Services. Through the “chosen by you, given by us” initiative, funds have been raised for local groups, swimming clubs and high school projects.
A number of members have mentioned the use of the facilities because that is every bit as important in many areas as raising money. Community groups need somewhere that they can use, and I was interested to hear about the citizens advice surgeries. Member will know about my penchant for the citizens advice bureaux services, and it is a great idea to have them in a supermarket as—as Murdo Fraser mentioned—they can reach people who we might not be able to reach otherwise. That is another very positive step to take.
We have talked a bit about volunteers, and we should never underestimate the tremendous amount of effort and motivation that goes into volunteering. The volunteer workforce in Scotland makes an enormous contribution and a real difference to people’s lives, and I am always impressed and immensely grateful for their hard work.
Scotland is a nation of helpers, as we will see this summer at the 20th Commonwealth games in Glasgow. There were more than 50,000 volunteer applications for the games, which is a record for the event, being higher than volunteer applications for the Melbourne and Manchester games.
Our local people are a great resource with the skills and knowledge that we should respect, nourish and unlock to help to deliver shared outcomes. The Government recognises that, to achieve the vision, we must empower our communities and give them the capacity to help to deliver change at the local level. That is why the proposed community empowerment bill is so important. It will provide the tools and break down barriers, empowering communities to work in partnership with local service providers, including the public, private and third sectors. Parliament will get the opportunity to scrutinise the bill when it is introduced in June this year.
The Scottish Government supports community action and community-led regeneration. We put people at the heart of the regeneration strategy. We recognise that, by empowering local people to respond to the needs and opportunities within their communities, real change can be delivered. Communities become more resilient and sustainable when people work collectively to deliver social, economic and environmental action that can make a direct difference to people’s lives.
We provide £7.9 million per year through our people in communities fund to deliver community-led regeneration. Through that fund, Government has funded 131 projects, committing around £15 million to deliver change at a local level by providing support to community anchor organisations to deliver employability and preventative action projects. When I visit those projects, I am always struck by the impact that they make within their communities.
Projects such as the ones we have heard about in Fife that are supported by Asda tackle deep-rooted issues and deliver offers such as youth diversionary activities, employment opportunities, health benefits or confidence-building in local areas. Those projects are often led by local people who work tirelessly to deliver change in their community. When I talk to volunteers, wherever they are I am always impressed by their enthusiasm for what they do. That deserves our recognition.
I commend Asda for its clear community ethos. The support that is provided by a national retailer to deliver local projects, volunteering and community activities is encouraging. Our town centre action plan calls on the private sector to work with national Government and the wider public sector to help revitalise our town centres and to make them vibrant places where local people want to live, work and do business. Asda’s community approach is an example of the good work that can be achieved when working with the private sector, and I will be encouraging other retailers to follow the example.
Like Rod Campbell and other members, next week I will attend an evening reception in the Parliament’s garden lobby that is to be hosted by Asda and Scottish Business in the Community to celebrate all of Asda’s community life champions. The programme’s volunteers have spent 36,000 hours volunteering and, as has been said, have raised £2 million for good causes across Scotland. I will be honoured to meet those volunteers and staff to hear more about their work.
All of those who visit Asda supermarkets will know that the scheme is not just about the work that Asda does locally and the groups that it supports; as members have mentioned, it is about how the community can come together and how we can involve everyone in it.
Murdo Fraser talked about the green tokens. I have watched a mother explaining to her wee girl in the shop what the tokens are for and how she could choose which project she wanted to help. The mother explained what each project was, and there were pictures on the wall. I was impressed, because the girl, who was just a wee tot, said, “I want to help them all,” so she divided her tokens equally between the three. The scheme gives people the opportunity to know what is happening in the community and what the community wants to do, and it encourages people to be involved from an early age.
I commend Asda’s community life champions, and in particular Asda Kirkcaldy, for their efforts. I wish Stephen Gallagher and Jean Ritchie all the best. They have our recognition, praise and encouragement for their work, which I am sure will continue.
Meeting closed at 17:32.Previous
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