Chamber and committees

Our colleagues from Children 1st have invited members to visit the barnahus, and I am sure that we will be keen to take up that invitation.

Ms Mackay has been waiting patiently to ask a question.

As Ms Stevenson and Mr Greene have raised some questions to which it would be valuable to get some answers, I propose to hold off asking the committee to agree the instrument until next week. Are members content with that?

Members indicated agreement.

I welcome the Lord Advocate to the chamber. Will she clarify the criteria for whether a person is suitable for diversion?

I thank Michael Marra for bringing the debate to the chamber. I have a rugby family, and for many years I have been a child protection officer for a local rugby club in Aberdeen, so I am sensitive to, and supportive of, the work to improve safety in sport.

As members will recall, I asked a question on this very issue earlier this month, following the news that Denis Law, Scotland’s joint all-time leading football scorer, had confirmed his own diagnosis of mixed dementia. The beautiful game is an essential part of life for many generations of boys and girls: idolising their favourite players, posters on bedroom walls, stickers swapped at school, and players reinvented as characters in computer games. However, behind the glamour, football players are, first and foremost, human beings with friends and families who love and support them. I know the emotion that is felt when a pal, brother or father is diagnosed with dementia.

As an Aberdeen constituency MSP, my thoughts turn to two individuals in particular. The first is Jimmy Calderwood, who was Aberdeen team manager for five years during the 2000s and led the team into the latter stages of a European competition. Mr Calderwood went public with his own diagnosis of Alzheimer’s in 2017, but he maintained a very positive attitude in managing his condition and enjoying life. I understand that he is open-minded on whether heading the ball may have been a factor behind his diagnosis.

Dons fans through the 1970s will remember Chic McLelland, who made more than 150 appearances for Aberdeen but sadly suffered from early-onset dementia for 10 years. I am aware that Mr McLelland’s family believe that football may well have played a part in his diagnosis.

I note the research, to which Michael Marra referred, by Dr Willie Stewart, who found that former football players are three and a half times more likely to die of neurodegenerative disease in comparison with non-footballers. Outfield players are four times more likely to suffer from brain disease, and defenders—the position that Mr McLelland played—were found to be five times more likely to suffer from dementia.

Sadly, it would appear that Mr McLelland’s family had good reason to believe that heading footballs contributed to his condition. Likewise, the risk for Mr Calderwood, having played as a midfielder, may have been increased.

The Minister for Public Health, Women’s Health and Sport, in answer to my question in the chamber, confirmed that the Scottish Government is

“in regular contact with the Scottish Football Association”,

and I was encouraged to hear that the Scottish Football Association has

“produced guidance ... on heading”—[Official Report, 2 September 2021; c 5.]

for clubs and coaches to follow.

It is reassuring to know that there is specific guidance for primary and secondary school children, so that future generations of footballers will not face the same risks as those in the past or, indeed, in the present. I also welcome the Scottish Government’s plans to “substantially increase funding” for Scotland’s national health service and social care system in order to ensure that older people, including football players who are living with dementia, receive the care that they need.

We all know how important it is to encourage people, especially children and young people, to participate in sporting activities. I commend the work of researchers in the field of brain injury and sport, as well as the many others who have helped to raise the profile of this important issue and have worked so hard to improve safety in football and similar sports. It is vital that that work is supported and continued.

I am pleased to support Michael Marra in bringing the issue to the Scottish Government’s attention. I will follow developments very closely and will do what I can to ensure that work continues at not just a national but an international level.

Thank you. After Collette Stevenson, I will bring in Wendy Sinclair-Gieben for any final comments that she may have.

I will bring in Ms Graham at this point and then Professor McAra. I am trying to keep things moving smoothly.

I am conscious of the time. Let us focus briefly on secure care again. Pauline McNeill has a question on that. I will then move on to community sentencing, when I will bring in Jamie Greene.

Thank you, Professor McAra. That was very helpful.

Fulton MacGregor has a couple of questions about violence reduction before we move on to questions about alternatives to custody.

Thank you for that, Dr Graham. I very much appreciate your passion and insight. Because of the pressure of time, we will move on to looking at community sentencing.

We will move on to questions on the modernisation of the prison estate.