Duke of Edinburgh's Award (50th Anniversary)
The final item of business is a members' business debate on motion S2M-4068, in the name of Karen Whitefield, on the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's award. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament congratulates the Duke of Edinburgh's Award in its 50th anniversary year; recognises the contribution made by the organisations that operate the award and the exceptional number of hours of volunteering undertaken by leaders in supporting over 20,000 young people each year in Scotland; further recognises the efforts of participants in the volunteering section of the award and its wider benefits to communities across Scotland and across the world; acknowledges the contribution the award makes to promoting a healthy lifestyle to young people; recognises the benefits in terms of skills development, enterprise, teamwork and personal and social development; acknowledges the findings of recent research which indicated the tremendous value placed by employers on the award programme, and looks forward to welcoming the International Forum and UK General Council to Edinburgh in November 2006.
I am delighted to take the opportunity that the debate presents to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh's award and I welcome the members who have stayed on to hear the debate and to highlight the good work that is carried out through the award. I am sure that I will not be the only member who has participated in the award programme or the only person who has a tall tale to tell of the time when they undertook the award—but more of that a little later.
I welcome the people who are watching the debate in the Parliament's education centre, in particular the young people who joined us for the reception that was held this afternoon and who have stayed on for the debate.
In case members are wondering about this, I do not normally dress so formally for debates, but I have to get to a constituency engagement by 7.30 pm.
I was very impressed by all the young people who spoke so movingly this afternoon about their experiences. Sahir, Sarah, David, Jennifer and Cinzia all spoke eloquently about how participating in the Duke of Edinburgh's award programme enriched their lives. I was particularly impressed by the achievements of John, who hails from Drumchapel and has just completed his bronze award. John told us about his rainy adventures during his expedition and about the voluntary work that he undertook. He also told us that later this summer he will go to university to study accountancy—I am sure that members agree that that is very impressive. John concluded by telling us that he began taking part in the award programme when he was in Polmont young offenders institution. His short speech was truly inspirational.
The Duke of Edinburgh's award brings wide benefits for adults and communities, but the main beneficiaries are the young people who take part in the programme every year, who gain a broad range of valuable skills and experiences that stand them in good stead throughout their lives. Members do not have to take my word for that; research by the United Learning Trust and Ratcliffe Hall Ltd clearly demonstrates the importance that employers place on the award. When a sample of major United Kingdom employers was asked to rate what they considered to be the most important activities that are undertaken at school, the activity that the employers rated most highly was the Duke of Edinburgh's award, because they thought that participation in the programme helps young people to develop the important skills and personal attributes such as leadership, teamwork, self-motivation and communication that modern employers demand.
No doubt, that is why more than 20,000 young people in Scotland will participate in the awards scheme this year and why more than 3.5 million people have participated in it since its inception in 1956. Young people know and appreciate the value of the award. They also know that participating in the scheme can be great fun and an excellent opportunity to make new friends.
As most members will be aware, the award has four sections: volunteering, healthy lifestyle, developing knowledge and skills and teamwork. I will not go into detail on each component but will instead focus on volunteering. As I have said in several recent debates, there is clear evidence of the benefits to society of volunteering. Research from the United States shows that strong, active and interconnected communities benefit from improved health and well-being and lower crime rates. In short, communities in which people volunteer are better places in which to live. That is why it is important that the Duke of Edinburgh's award emphasises volunteering and gets young people into the habit of volunteering at an early age. That is good for their personal development and better for society.
For those who volunteer abroad, the clear signal is that everyone on the planet is interconnected and that we have a duty and a desire to care for others. I mentioned John, one of the young people who spoke at the event earlier today. John came to the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme through the new start project. While there may be a misconception that the scheme is for middle-class children, the new start project demonstrates clearly that it is for all Scottish young people, regardless of their class or wealth. The various elements of the award, such as volunteering and teamwork, can play an important part in challenging and changing the behaviour of some of our most troubled young people.
I promised to tell members my Duke of Edinburgh's award tale. I am proud to say that I gained my gold award and then went on, as a leader in the Girls Brigade, to work with other young women to help them to gain theirs. However, the journey to leadership was not all plain sailing, as one of my expeditions lasted a little longer than intended—quite a bit longer, in fact. One trek into the southern uplands started early one morning and was supposed to finish at about 3 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it seems that the Forestry Commission plants trees slightly faster than the Ordnance Survey prints maps. I am sure that members know what is coming. By midday, my group was entirely lost and by nightfall we were starting to panic, which is when we decided to retrace our steps. We probably should have done that a lot earlier, but it was better late than never. At around 3 in the morning, we finally bumped into the mountain rescue unit that was hunting us down. It is just as well that we were on a practice expedition. I suppose that the map reading and compass skills that we learned ensured that, on our gold award expedition, we were up to the task.
I wish the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme many happy returns. I know that its next 50 years will be as successful as the first 50 were. I am grateful to members for participating in the debate.
We seem to be running a confessional tonight, so I will make a confession that will not surprise members: I never took part in the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme, although it was available in my youth as it started in the 1950s. I think it was the physical activity aspect that put me off. However, I must also confess—although nobody will believe this and I have lost the evidence—that when I was in the girl guides I got a badge for athletics, despite my genetic antipathy to sport.
To be serious, I congratulate Karen Whitefield on securing the debate. I also congratulate the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme for its success and for standing the test of time, which cannot be said of many things. The important aspects are that the scheme is voluntary and fun and—as I was delighted to hear Karen Whitefield say—it reaches parts that other voluntary projects do not reach, where there are more disadvantaged children.
The award has something of an image as an award that exists so that middle-class children at posh schools can get badges, so I am delighted to hear that it has moved beyond that. The operating authorities, which must engage with the award for it to succeed, cover a wide range, including national youth organisations, local and national government authorities, industrial and commercial firms, independent schools and, most important, special schools. As Karen Whitefield said, about 20,000 children in Scotland have benefited from the award. As we also heard from her, it creates self-confidence that is earned rather than just given, so it is the best kind of self-confidence.
The award is practical. So many activities disfranchise children, who feel that they must have academic skills to take part in them. The award is adventurous, as we can tell from Karen Whitefield's little adventure. She is no worse at orienteering than I am—I can get lost finding Kelso. Although I have been to Kelso many times, I always come out of the town a different way from the way I came in. I do not know why—Kelso is not special. I had better not say that or I will be sued by the people of Kelso.
In gaining awards, it is important that young people learn the importance of commitment. One of the important lines on the award's website says that the award is a "Marathon, not a sprint". In this age of instant rewards—instant rewards for what one eats or for what one buys—a reward for a slow-burning achievement has greater depth. I know that that is not why people strive for the award, but I hope that, at the end of the day, it helps people not just in their personal lives but in their careers thereafter. I congratulate Karen Whitefield on securing the debate and trust that the scheme will continue to thrive.
This is an excellent subject for debate and I congratulate Karen Whitefield on her choice. I cannot confess to having done the Duke of Edinburgh's award, but I have been a great supporter of it for a long time.
One of the award's great merits is its four sections, which catch all sorts of people. The bookworm is made to shiver in a tent halfway up a hill while the person who smokes and drinks has to adopt a healthy lifestyle. People on the award have to take education seriously and are introduced to voluntary work. Few things have changed so little since they started, so the award must have got it right at the beginning.
I agree with Christine Grahame that one of the great benefits of the award is that it teaches people tenacity—it teaches them to keep going. Perhaps other members are not as boring as me and do not make speeches about politics to organisations, but my standard response to the question, "What is it like to be in politics?", is to say, "You don't need to be clever and you don't even need to be honest, but you must have tenacity. Otherwise you're no good at all." I hope that the Duke of Edinburgh's award is training many good future politicians. Perhaps we could form a parliamentary version of the Duke of Edinburgh's award, so that in the future we could all confess to the silly things that we have done. I am sure that not being able to confess is bad for the soul.
Seriously, as Karen Whitefield said, the contributions at the lunchtime event, from young people from Britain and the Gambia, were very moving. The award clearly does a great deal of good. One of the merits of the Duke of Edinburgh's award is that it is not an organisation like the scouts or youth clubs. One can take the award as a member of an organisation, one can do it from school or, if one wishes, one can take it privately.
As other members have said, the award now works on a wide and classless basis. In the past, when I was a councillor, some councils were prejudiced against it, but the attitude of local authorities, schools and so on to the award has improved. It is an excellent thing and I hope that we will continue to support it. As the minister knows, I always put in a plug for proper funding for youth work. The award is one of the good things that could be funded and supported, especially by introducing it to areas where people perhaps do not have enough money to pay for expeditions and so on. I hope that we will continue to support the award and that the minister will do his stuff.
I warmly congratulate Karen Whitefield on securing the debate. Today's lunchtime reception in Parliament for the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme was fascinating. I was interested to learn that Dr Kurt Hahn, whom I had the privilege of knowing, was the inspiration behind the scheme. Members will probably know that, in the 1930s, he was head teacher of Schloss Salem school in Germany and advised all the boys to break with Hitler or break with the school. He was imprisoned and—to the great credit of Ramsay MacDonald, the first Labour Prime Minister—was released and came to Scotland. Apparently, he argued that there was a decline of compassion, skills, physical fitness and initiative, and his ideas were widened out into the Duke of Edinburgh's award sections on rescue and public service, pursuits and projects, physical fitness and expeditions.
In today's reception, what came across from the young participants who had benefited from the scheme was that they had been given confidence, recognition and opportunity and had made great contributions to their communities. The Friends of the Award, from Edinburgh and the Lothians, made it clear that the award scheme is involved in a huge range of projects that benefit communities. I will mention one: a group of young mums formed PACT—Parents and Children Together—and five of them completed a first aid course to achieve the service section of the award. Their steering group is now supporting the mums, who will have the opportunity to complete the awards.
Any system of awards that results in some 6 million people benefiting worldwide is worthy of congratulation. In Scotland, more than 20,000 young people are involved. There has been a huge amount of teamwork and a great many life skills have been learned. The scheme is highly regarded by employers, who see it on the CVs of young people who have completed the award. I would not go so far as to say that it played a part in Karen Whitefield's getting into Parliament, but it cannot have done her any harm in obtaining employment abroad and at home.
It makes a difference to young people when they give up free time to do the award, and the volunteers who help in instructing, supervising, mentoring and assessing them in a variety of sections of the award have done a great service to our communities. The scheme has benefited our country greatly.
I will end with an apocryphal story—I have no idea whether it is true. His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh was on a remote part of the Balmoral estate when some young people came over the horizon. He asked whether he could help them and was informed that they were on a Duke of Edinburgh's award activity.
The debate underlines the fact that the award has been of tremendous benefit to Scotland's communities.
I, too, congratulate Karen Whitefield warmly on securing the debate. I will speak about four things: my own relationship with the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme; the Edinburgh and Lothians contribution to the scheme; volunteering; and outdoor education. The Deputy Minister for Education and Young People knows that I am extremely passionate about the last two.
I went to the Outward Bound school in Morayshire for a month and helped to teach cadets at Gordonstoun school. As Lord James Douglas-Hamilton knows, both those institutions were inspired by the thinking of Kurt Hahn, and it is appropriate to mention his tremendous contribution to educational thought.
Under the enthusiastic and extremely hard-working Peter Wright MBE, Edinburgh and the Lothians have taken the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme forward. In Edinburgh, 1,400 young people are now engaged in it.
There are 300 volunteers, 100 of whom are trained in outdoor education in one way or another and 44 of whom are fully trained. That is a considerable achievement. They have used their skills to help the worst-off young people in our community—those who are likely to get into trouble or are already in trouble. The volunteers have been extraordinarily successful. A strategy to help young people at Castlebrae, Balerno and St Augustine's high schools who are at risk of skiving school has a 90 per cent success rate.
Karen Whitefield mentioned the sure start scheme, which has reduced young people's offending behaviour by 75 per cent and cut their drugs use by 50 per cent. Those are superb success rates with young people who are already young offenders. The Executive can learn lessons from the Duke of Edinburgh's award and other outdoor education projects. I will not go on about the Airborne Initiative. I think that it should have been allowed to continue developing in the direction that it had taken, but, given the success of the sure start scheme, there can be no doubt that the use of the Duke of Edinburgh's award's approach to helping young people is extremely successful, not just with young offenders but with all offenders.
I draw members' attention to the partnership with the young people's unit at the Royal Edinburgh hospital, which uses outdoor education to help young people who have mental health problems. Those young people, too, have benefited enormously from the Duke of Edinburgh's award.
Whenever I get an opportunity to speak on outdoor education, I argue that it is unique because it develops skills in risk taking, risk assessment, leadership, self-confidence, self-worth and other social skills. There is a lesson for the Executive in that. We could do so much more for outdoor education. If voluntary services in Edinburgh can train 300 leaders, 100 of whom have outdoor education qualifications, what could the Executive do throughout the country? At the moment, sadly, there are only two full-time outdoor education teachers in schools in Scotland.
I commend Karen Whitefield for bringing this debate to the Parliament and I commend the Duke of Edinburgh's award for the fantastic work that it does throughout the country to help young people of all kinds.
It was interesting to hear Robin Harper's comments on the immense value of outdoor education. Some years ago, I calculated that I have spent more than two years of my life under canvas, so I must be due to reach perfection shortly.
Donald Gorrie talked about the value of confession. I am sure that he will remember the old phrase, "Be sure your sins will find you out." I have never heard a bad word spoken about Donald, which must speak volumes about his purity of thought, his integrity of action and the certainty of his aim.
Like Karen Whitefield, whom I congratulate on bringing this debate to the Parliament, I have had an encounter with the mountain rescue services. I think that it was in 1967, at about Easter, at the bottom of Sgurr nan Gillean on Skye. I was there on a geological expedition. The Inverness police mountain rescue team was on the hill, but it got lost and we were invited to go and look for it.
Fortunately, we were not required to deliver, as the team appeared within two minutes of the request—or perhaps I should say suggestion—being made, but we were ready to volunteer. The whole point of the debate is the value of volunteering not only to the person or persons who volunteer but to the wider community. Indeed, that is why I broadly support the Executive's volunteering strategy—in which context it is appropriate to speak about the Duke of Edinburgh's award—and absolutely agree with its statement that
"Volunteering is a fundamental building block of civil society."
As members have said, some might not be aware that a wider social mix is now participating in the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme. Dr Andrew McLellan, the chief inspector of prisons, presented a report that showed that it can play a significant role in reducing offending rates among young people. The scheme is an excellent opportunity for integrating people who have become disconnected from mainstream society with those who remain within it.
The scheme also allows companies to make their contribution. I note that, for example, the list of charter members of the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme includes the Bank of Scotland, Scottish Airports Ltd and Slater Menswear. That said, I should point out that the scheme is slightly different from the uniformed activities that I took part in when I was in the boy scouts. Activities in the Duke of Edinburgh's award do not require a uniform, although, interestingly, most of the uniformed youth organisations have integrated the scheme's work into what they do and help their members to participate in it and to gain the award. That shows the high regard in which this non-partisan scheme is held by many youth organisations.
One organisation that participates in the scheme is the Sea Cadets. I note that, in a press release put out on 6 March, three Peterhead sea cadets, one of whom is participating in the Duke of Edinburgh's award scheme, managed to help someone who was injured and to ensure that they received support. That kind of activity will be repeated across much of Scotland.
I want to close by highlighting a point that arose at the Justice 1 Committee meeting today. As we know, Disclosure Scotland is becoming more important in ensuring the safety of the supervision and support that adults provide to youth organisations. However, I was slightly alarmed to discover that on Friday—and with comparatively little notice—the fee for Disclosure Scotland applications will increase 50 per cent from £13.60 to £20. I hope that, among the many issues that the minister will address in his closing remarks, he will touch on the support that we can give voluntary organisations, especially youth organisations, to offset the not unreasonable impositions that Government and Parliament place on them to meet high standards, not least through Disclosure Scotland.
I congratulate Karen Whitefield on securing this truly excellent debate—which has been the model of what a members' business debate should be—and for hosting the lunchtime reception that some of us were able to attend and which gave us the opportunity to meet very impressive young people who, as members have said, have benefited from the Duke of Edinburgh's award.
Like Stewart Stevenson, I was in the boy scouts, but I will spare people talk of my antipathy to physical exercise—which I share with Christine Grahame—and will leave for another occasion my unfortunate experiences of being flooded out at scout camp.
When it was introduced 50 years ago, the award was truly ahead of its time, and has gone on to serve as a model for much of today's high-quality youth work. The award is one of the relatively few achievements that is instantly recognisable to most people; they may not know precisely what young people have done to get it, but they have a general image of personal achievement, leadership, tenacity—as was mentioned earlier—team building, citizenship and community service.
Perhaps the scheme has a faint whiff of Gordonstoun about it. That is understandable because, as Lord James Douglas-Hamilton said, the impetus for the award came from the founder of Gordonstoun, Kurt Hahn. He suggested it to the Duke of Edinburgh who, in turn, developed it with enthusiasm and remains strongly committed to it to this day. Because of the number of historical events that he has been present at or has been touched by, Lord James Douglas-Hamilton always trumps us on such matters with his personal involvement and his recollections.
As many members have said, the award has a wide provenance today. In its anniversary year, the Duke of Edinburgh's award has much to celebrate and much to be proud of. We look forward to sharing in the Duke of Edinburgh's award team's celebrations throughout the year, in particular in November when it will welcome to Edinburgh many people who have been involved in the scheme over the years. Scottish Executive ministers, including the First Minister, have committed to supporting the event.
We look forward to working with the Duke of Edinburgh's award team in the future as it adapts and expands the scheme and continues to work with young people in Scotland.
Robin Harper mentioned the importance of outdoor education. That is not just traditional outdoor education: outdoor education facilities are now offered by many organisations. One of our challenges is to make the best use of such facilities across the board, as the scouts have done at Fordell Firs.
Nowadays, the Duke of Edinburgh's award is offered by half of state schools but, as Robin Harper rightly said, it could be offered by more. If I understood his comments correctly, some of the experiences in Edinburgh could be built on. All 32 Scottish local authorities are licensed to operate the award. As has been said, over the past 50 years more than 3.5 million people have participated in the award within the United Kingdom and nearly 5,000 awards were gained in Scotland last year alone. Annually, an average of 600 young people are awarded their gold-level award by the Duke of Edinburgh at the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
I first met the Scottish Duke of Edinburgh's award team—as opposed to the Duke of Edinburgh—about six months ago to find out more about the award, its methods and its funding. It was an interesting meeting, not least because I discovered the sheer breadth of the work that the scheme does, which has featured in the debate. The scheme covers a wide age group flexibly, but the award programmes are individually tailored and accommodate on an equal footing the specific needs of young people who have disabilities or who have additional support needs. That is extremely important.
It is also important that the Duke of Edinburgh's award team is considering the potential of the award in building capacity within the Executive's curriculum for success initiative. The team knows what we sometimes forget, which is that education does not take place only in the classroom between 9 am and 4 pm and that learning capacity and experience for life are also developed in informal settings.
We have heard about the young gentleman called John who started his journey in Polmont young offenders institution and ended up going to university after his Duke of Edinburgh's award experience. Polmont young offenders institution is perhaps a far cry from Buckingham Palace, but his journey is very much within the spirit of the Duke of Edinburgh's award. John is not the only example and the potential of the award to build confidence and turn lives around is substantial.
Confidence, recognition and opportunity—to use the buzz words—are the outcomes that we see from the Duke of Edinburgh's award.
Since 1998, the Duke of Edinburgh's award's new start programme, which receives funding from the Scottish Executive youth crime prevention fund, has been offering the opportunity to take part in the awards to people who are in prison or in detention, or who are considered to be at risk of offending. Independent evaluation work confirms the impressive success of the award programme in motivating young people and turning them away from harmful addictions and trouble. Stewart Stevenson mentioned that.
The Scottish Executive is soon to launch a wider consultation on youth-work strategy. I hope that the Duke of Edinburgh's award team will, with other organisations, give us the benefit of their experience and contribute to that debate. I have no doubt that their funding will be discussed as part of that consultation.
Members will be aware that disclosure checks for the voluntary sector are supported by the Scottish Executive.
I will finish by mentioning the views of young people. They overwhelmingly believe that the award is challenging and fun. Fun is a much underrated commodity and, as Donald Gorrie might say, we must have more of it. Five million young people in 110 countries throughout the world have had fun and have been challenged by the Duke of Edinburgh's award. More than 550,000 people are taking part in it now across the world, not only in Commonwealth countries but beyond. Volunteering, physical recreation—despite the attitude of Christine Grahame and me towards it—knowledge and skills, and the expedition are the four pillars of its success. I am sure that the whole Parliament wishes the Duke of Edinburgh's award increasing success in providing life-changing opportunities for young people in the next 50 years.
I again congratulate Karen Whitefield on bringing an excellent motion to the chamber.
Meeting closed at 17:45.