Chamber and committees

I can speak only for the situation at St Mary’s Kenmure, which is the secure care home in my constituency. In its case, there are always enough beds, and the cross-border placements coming from England are part of the funding solution.

We are definitely moving in the right direction, and I am really pleased to see a focus on the issue at last. However, it is perhaps quite a timid start. The Scottish Government has agreed to pay for the last bed in each of the four secure centres as it becomes available. A bed is always available at St Mary’s.

The short-term objectives of the funding are to reduce the number of cross-border placements, as required by the Promise. Collette Stevenson is right to say that we must think about the young people who are involved. That said, there are not enough secure places in England, which is why they are coming up here. We have been using that as a way to fund our system, but I hope that we are looking at that and saying that we need to have a different framework. I am quite optimistic that this is the start of a journey for making that process better, and I am glad to see that something is being done at last.

I agree with Jamie Greene’s comments—I do not think that we have all the information. Things have clearly reached an impasse, and I do not think that we have all the facts set out clearly before us.

We are not mediators, but it would be good to know more about the background to the dispute. I agree with Jamie Greene; it is a sensible proposition to ask for a fairly easy-to-understand timeline to enable us to know what has been going on. Once we get that, we can consider whether there is any role for the committee in the matter. That is not to say that the situation is not concerning, but work is clearly on-going.

I thank my friend and colleague Kaukab Stewart for bringing this hugely important debate to the chamber, and for her long-standing work on combating racism throughout society generally. I am delighted that her motion has received such amazing widespread cross-party support.

The fact that the debate is about ending institutional racism in sport is shocking. The fact that it has been proved that there is institutional racism in sport is shocking, and the fact that it took two international cricketing whistleblowers, Qasim Sheikh and Majid Haq, to speak out before it was acknowledged is beyond shocking.

Qasim Sheikh described the day that the report was published as he sat in front of a press conference as the most difficult of his life. He should not have had to do that. His complaints about racism had been ignored until they were endorsed by a sportscotland report. That speaks volumes. Cricket’s governing body, and even some fellow players, had turned the other way when complaints were raised. It was a case of “See no evil, hear no evil.”

As we have heard, the sportscotland report reveals 448 institutionally racist incidences. There were 448: let that sink in. It is shocking. There is no doubt that cultural change is required. Uncomfortable truths must be confronted, so we can only hope that this is the watershed moment that has been needed for so long. Cricket Scotland’s entire board resigned on the eve of the sportscotland report and the sport is now in special measures. It has until the end of the month to develop an action plan and will remain in special measures until at least September 2023, subject to its delivering outcomes that demonstrate an anti-racist approach.

The irony is that all that happened while Cricket Scotland was winning various diversity awards, as Gillian Mackay highlighted. That beggars belief and devalues the very purpose of the awards, which, in my opinion, would not even be needed in 2022 if we were a truly diverse population.

Sporting excellence has nothing to do with the colour of anyone’s skin, and outdated and racist attitudes have no place in Scotland—or anywhere else, for that matter. Those who perpetuate them should be called out at every opportunity.

Yesterday, I spoke in a members’ business debate that was brought to the chamber by Liz Smith, during which we celebrated the success of Team Scotland at the Commonwealth games. There was much to applaud. That is in stark contrast with today’s debate.

How do we move on from this sorry state of affairs? I do not pretend to know what goes on behind the scenes of sporting bodies. I can only comment on what has been made public; it seems to me that the two bodies have traditionally lacked diversity and expertise to take things forward. Of course, the voices of lived experience are, in my opinion, the most important to have at the heart of forward planning. Safeguards must be built in to provide independent scrutiny and oversight. I understand that sportscotland has limited powers to address issues within a governing body that appears to be all-powerful. That has to change, so I hope that the measures that are proposed will be effective.

We know that the problem of racism in sport does not exist just in Scotland or in cricket, but as a small nation that consistently punches above its weight in the sporting arena, we must address racism now and eradicate it for good.

I thank Liz Smith for bringing the debate to the chamber; I am really pleased to speak in it.

The title of my colleague’s motion is “Team Scotland at the 2020 Commonwealth Games”—and what a magnificent games for Scotland it was. As my colleague pointed out, it was our most successful games away from home, with our athletes simply shining on the world stage. The medals just kept coming, with 51 of them in total: 13 gold, 11 silver and 27 bronze. That was bettered only by team Scotland’s performance at Glasgow 2014, when we took 53 medals: 19 gold, 15 silver and 19 bronze. To say that those outstanding athletes did Scotland proud is an understatement, and I heartily congratulate the 260-strong team on coming in sixth overall at Birmingham, during 11 days of nail-biting competition. For a small country, we are once again punching way above our weight.

I also express my pride in a multiple medal winner in the pool: the swimmer Katie Shanahan, who is from Bishopbriggs in my constituency It was a truly magical moment watching the former Bishopbriggs academy pupil lifting a bronze medal in the 400m medley, followed by another bronze in the 200m backstroke—and all at her debut games at the age of 18. That is outstanding. The icing on the cake was Katie’s silver medal win in the 200m backstroke a few days later at the European aquatics championships in Rome. That was an incredible achievement in such a short space of time.

I had the privilege of meeting Katie, and her mum Allison, at her old school yesterday to present her with the motion that I lodged in Parliament to congratulate her on her success. Katie is a remarkable young woman: self-effacing, passionate about her sport and—to top it all—an academic high achiever, having swept the board in her advanced highers and qualifications this year. It was a pleasure to meet her and her mum, who she credits with her success due to the amazing support that she has received throughout her sporting career. As she starts another chapter of her life, studying sport and journalism at the University of Stirling while training for the next international competition, I wish her nothing but the best—she deserves it.

There were record hauls in swimming and cycling, and a sweep of the para bowls, and Scotland claimed medals in five of the six para sports. For the first time in the history of the games, the Scottish team comprised more women than men—134 females compared with 125 males—and around 43 per cent of the medals that were earned were clinched by female athletes. There were many momentous achievements from Scotland, including—as my colleague Liz Smith pointed out—Eilish McColgan’s stand-out record gold medal in the 10,000m, 32 years after the second win by her mum, Liz, and Laura Muir becoming the first ever Scot to win gold in the 1,500m at a Commonwealth games.

The swimmer Duncan Scott—again, mentioned by Liz Smith—who is a six-time Olympic medallist, claimed six medals in Birmingham to become Scotland’s most decorated Commonwealth games athlete—what an accolade. In addition, who could possibly forget the inspirational Micky Yule, who was one of Scotland’s flag bearers during the opening ceremony? Twelve years ago, the former Royal Engineer woke up from a coma after stepping on an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan; he lost both legs. This summer, he took a Commonwealth bronze medal, finishing third in the para heavyweight bench press final—what an incredible journey.

The dedication and drive of Katie and the rest of team Scotland are truly inspirational. Their successes are a testament to their years of hard work and commitment and can only serve to encourage aspiring young athletes to reach for the stars. I pay tribute to the encouragement that our schools give in nurturing those young athletes while supporting them in their studies and to the dedicated support and sacrifice of family members and volunteers in helping them to achieve their ambitions.

I have nothing to declare.

We know that this is not the first time that Police Scotland and the federation have had differing opinions. That is a regular occurrence.

The reality is that 440 of the 735 officers who have retired or are about to retire have 25 to 29 years’ service. They are perfectly entitled to retire. That is the situation; it is just the demographic. There is nothing that we can do to stop that because it is their right. Police Scotland says that it will try to recruit more than 300 probationers a quarter—I am sure that it will make every attempt to do that—and consider opportunities for transfer from across police forces so that people who do different functions could come into Police Scotland.

That is happening not only in Police Scotland but in many public services, such as the health service. We are at the point at which a lot of people with a lot of service are retiring. That is just the reality of the situation. I appreciate the concerns that members have expressed, but we should not hit the panic button, because Police Scotland will sort the matter out. People are perfectly entitled to take their pensions when they have done that length of service, and I do not think that anybody would deny them that.

I am pleased to speak in the debate, and I thank my colleague Ross Greer for raising this very important issue in the chamber.

As Ross Greer has explained, this is the second application that has been lodged by the developer; the first application was reportedly withdrawn following a record 60,000 objections after a robust campaign from the local residents and the save Loch Lomond campaign.

I am proud to say that I love Loch Lomond. I have been going there for as long as I can remember for family days out, celebrations, dog walks and just generally to soak up the peace and beauty of this jewel in Scotland’s countryside. Nowadays, as it is just a 30-minute drive from my constituency of Strathkelvin and Bearsden, I try to get there as often as time allows.

The Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park is home to 21 Munros, 19 Corbetts—none of them climbed by me, I hasten to add—and 21 large lochs. That is pretty phenomenal by anyone’s standards.

It is clear that the Flamingo Land developers have made a concession in order to progress their plans, which is to move the proposed lodges in Drumkinnon woods to another part of the development. The lodges will still be there, of course—just not on that site. That seems to prove the fact that the developers had no real thought for the aesthetic beauty of the area in the first place when they submitted their original proposals.

To be clear, I am not anti-development, and I do not want to keep Scotland in aspic. However, I do not believe that the level of this development is appropriate for an area of such natural beauty. The developers may argue that it will attract tourism and money to the area, but I would argue that a more modest proposal would do that, as Ross Greer has outlined very well.

In my experience, tourists flock to the national park whenever the sun shines, and it is doing very nicely without a fairground attraction. After lockdown restrictions ended in 2020 and 2021, there was a 200 per cent surge in traffic heading for Loch Lomond and, on several occasions, cars were turned back from approaching Luss due to the sheer volume.

Loch Lomond will always attract tourists and the generations of families who regularly flock there to experience the wonder of the area. I want people from all over the world to come to Scotland to enjoy our wonderful lochs and tourist attractions with the tasteful facilities that we have all come to expect.

All that is crucial, and that is before we even mention the inevitable environmental damage to the area, the disruption to wildlife, the pressure on local roads and the restriction of public access to Drumkinnon woods, as Ross Greer mentioned. It is also about the principle of selling off precious public land to a private developer for profit. Is that a good thing? I do not think so. Do we want to sacrifice a significant part of our Loch Lomond and the Trossachs national park for big business? I certainly do not.

Loch Lomond is one of Scotland’s greatest landmarks, and maintaining its integrity must be of paramount importance. Furthermore, our environmental heritage should not be sullied by big business that is intent on making a profit. Rejecting the submitted proposals will send a clear message to developers: leave our bonnie banks alone and let nature be the attraction.

What steps is the Scottish Government taking to drive forward meaningful improvement and strengthen public confidence in the police?

What steps are being taken to improve the transparency of data on deaths in custody?

Is that an operational decision? Does Police Scotland have the capacity to do that, or have the police just decided not to?