Chamber and committees

Okay. Some respondents highlighted that a whole-system approach to policy action is necessary. What is a “whole-system approach” and how could it be used to the benefit of people living in rural areas?

Is any work going on to address those matters? What work is being done by the health board and the local authority?

Had the decision to move the services to a community-based setting already been taken and this was about designing what they looked like, or was it the public’s input that led to it? Which way round was it?

Thank you. That is helpful.

I suppose that, in the Highlands, housing will play a big part.

I will put a brief supplementary question to Professor Smith, who is a board member at NHS Eileanan Siar this year. It is good to hear about the principles, but if there were a specific example from the Western Isles that would add a bit of colour to our discussion, that would be helpful.

It absolutely does. Did you say that that work was done on the Black Isle?

How did the health board respond to that work? Was there any change in services for the citizens who live there?

Dr MacGilleEathain, I would like to hear a bit more about the work that you did on mental health services, because one theme in the responses to the committee related to mental health and addiction services. People spoke about their concerns about the lack of availability of such services, as you said. Issues relating to waiting lists and access were raised in a number of submissions.

People also spoke about health inequalities and deprivation, which are common across the country. You talked about the services that people are looking for in rural areas, but people in urban areas would also very much appreciate preventative community-based services.

You spoke about the model that you used when engaging with a community and said that you had done a “consensus-building exercise”. Can you speak a bit more about that so that we can understand what happened?

Sport is so important, and I welcome the report by the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. We know instinctively how important sport is for our physical and mental health and for social and cultural connectivity, but there is also extensive evidence of the benefits of regular exercise for physical and mental health and for wellbeing.

We all need a tribe or a team to be part of. Sport, particularly in our younger years, can provide that shared purpose and belonging that is so important—a good gang to join, if you like. However, that does not just apply in our youth. It is important for us as adults to have opportunities for social connection, and sport provides that.

We should all be concerned about the persistent gap between boys’ and girls’ participation rates in sport and physical activity, which begins at the age of puberty and persists up to women in their 40s. That is a substantial part of a woman’s life, and we have to understand the barriers and dismantle them.

The committee’s report found that teenage girls face barriers around puberty. To date, there has been some welcome progress in implementing the Scottish Government’s “Women’s Health Plan: A plan for 2021-2024”, which has included learning about menstrual health as part of the Scottish curriculum. I share the committee’s hopes that that will be beneficial in normalising discussions about menstrual health, improving awareness and understanding about the impact that menstruation can have on girls’ participation in sport and physical activity, and removing stigma around managing periods, particularly as that relates to girls’ participation in physical education classes.

I support the committee’s calls on the Scottish Government to set out how it will evaluate the impact of improved learning about menstrual health as part of the school curriculum in addressing the significant decline in the participation of girls in sport and physical activity that is connected with puberty.

We are debating the matter during the 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, so the minds of many of us will be on wider matters of inequality for women and girls. It is important to acknowledge how all those issues connect and overlap.

The committee highlighted negative body image and a lack of self-confidence as a barrier to participation, recognising that many may be deterred from participating in sport and physical activity because they lack self-confidence or experience negative body image.

From a very young age, our girls are bombarded with airbrushed sexualised images of unattainable aesthetics and content that can give the entirely wrong message about who and what their bodies are for. Participation in sport can be a healthy counter to that and help individuals to love their bodies for what they can do, not for how they look to others. Being surrounded by teammates of all different shapes and sizes reinforces that, as do many of the wonderful sportswomen and coaches that we have in this country.

I share the committee’s concern, but I was not surprised to hear extensive evidence that negative attitudes of boys continue to create a major barrier to girls’ participation in sport and physical activity, particularly during adolescence. The committee highlighted and commended the “Don’t be that guy” campaign to tackle sexual harassment that Police Scotland runs and the positive impact that it has had in addressing negative attitudes by boys, which in turn has helped to foster an environment of mutual respect between boys and girls when participating in sport and physical activity. There are some messages in the campaign that might be helpful for male colleagues who wish to address behaviour that they witness.

The committee is right to call on the Scottish Government to consider what more it could do to learn lessons for future policy development from the implementation of the “Don’t be that guy” campaign and to consider how a wider roll-out of it and other education programmes across schools could help to tackle misogynistic attitudes and behaviours.

I see that there was a mixed response to the topic of single-sex sports, and I agree with the committee that there should be no one-size-fits-all approach. That said, I absolutely recognise the benefit of female-only activities and competition, and there must be retention and protection of female-only space and sport for girls and women who need it.

I will close on a success story. The active schools programme is one that we can look to as just that. It successfully engages girls in sport and physical activity, and it offers a range of fun activities in schools across the country. In my North Ayrshire area, I am always particularly impressed by the range of activities that are going on and the young leaders who are doing sterling work.

In 2022-23, girls and young women made more than 2 million visits to active schools sport and physical activity sessions, and females made up to 46 per cent of participants in the active schools programme, so there is definitely learning for us in that. I was interested to read that the highest participation activities among females were netball, football, multisport, dance and movement, and basketball. Active schools teams have worked hard to engage girls and young women, people with additional support needs and young people from areas of socioeconomic disadvantage. In reviewing that, we can learn what is working well and where we need to make that investment.

I thank everybody who contributed to the report, particularly the legion of volunteers in this country who run the clubs and activities that support women’s and girls’ participation in sport.