Chamber and committees

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting Skills Development Scotland to engage with the agriculture and rural sector to promote opportunities and apprenticeships for young people as a positive career destination. (S6O-00680)

I congratulate Jackson Carlaw on his powerful speech. Holocaust memorial day provides us with an important opportunity to reflect on and remember the tragedy of the Holocaust and the atrocities that were committed.

It is extremely important that young people have the opportunity to visit the sites of the concentration camps and experience what for me was only reflected in school history books. I recognise the work of the Holocaust Educational Trust and its continued commitment to supporting our young people’s education. I also want to mention the work of vision schools Scotland, which was started by the University of the West of Scotland. I became involved in that after being invited to join by Jackson Carlaw in 2019. I was due to visit Auschwitz with young people from the programme in 2020, but the visit was cancelled due to the pandemic. As many young people, particularly in Scotland and across the western world, have no lived experience of far right extremism or of the hatred and intolerance that come with it, I agree that education is key in ensuring that such atrocities are not repeated.

I will share an experience that gave me a physical connection to the Holocaust, which I have mentioned in the chamber before. It is worth repeating, as it demonstrates the impact of the Holocaust on survivors. I was a recent arrival in Los Angeles, California, in the 1990s. I was in the operating room at Cedar-Sinai medical centre, about to assist a surgeon with the removal of a gall bladder from a 76-year-old patient. The woman, who was of German origin, had been resident in LA for 50 years. She was very frightened of her surgery and being put under anaesthesia. I reassured her that we would look after her and keep her safe. I held her hand and when I saw her outstretched forearm on the surgical arm board, on her arm was a tattoo of a pale grey set of numbers—162753. I was overwhelmed with a quick flood of emotions—shock, anger and compassion all at once—so much so that I am not even sure that I remember the correct numbers. I definitely remember how they made me feel, and they still make me feel the same way.

What is burned in my memory is that pale grey tattoo, the significance of those numbers and the rush of emotions. I was 26 years old when I looked after that lady, and I thought about how, when she was 26, she was there—she was a survivor. The numbers that had been forced on to her delicate skin had made a permanent lifelong mark, but, more important, they were proof that she had survived the horrors and nightmares of Auschwitz.

That inhumane imprint on that woman has been part of my memory for 25 years. The visits that ensure that weans are involved in learning about the Holocaust and my memories of that survivor have contributed to my continuing to care about other victims of oppression across the planet.

I will conclude with a mention of the Jane Haining project. It is a new group that is creating a national essay-writing competition so that we can continue to remember Jane Haining. She was the daughter of a farmer in Dunscore, near Dumfries, and an amazing and brave woman who died in Auschwitz after refusing to abandon the Jewish children who were in her care in Budapest as a missionary. Jane Haining is the only Scot to be honoured as “righteous among the nations”, which is the term that is used by the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem for non-Jews who risked their lives to protect Jews from extermination.

I end with the words of Jane Haining, who said:

“If these children need me in the days of sunshine, how much more do they need me in the days of darkness?”

Through engagement with local manufacturing and agricultural businesses, I have had feedback that Skills Development Scotland can be sometimes challenging to engage with on manufacturing and agriculture career opportunities. Will the minister outline what further action the Scottish Government can take to support SDS to promote apprenticeships involving agriculture and rural skills, particularly given their importance to Scotland’s economy and our fight against the climate emergency?

I have a brief supplementary question for Irene Beautyman or Matt Lowther. Is it sufficiently clear which developments generate significant health effects? I am thinking about how someone’s mental health and wellbeing can be impacted by living next to derelict buildings or vacant or abandoned land. There is research that says that abandoned buildings and shops can make us feel unsafe and that run-down environments contribute to anxiety and low mood.

If we are trying to support planning to help mental health, should we be trying to expedite planning to deal with the derelict and vacant buildings that affect mental health? There are many such buildings across the region that I represent, from Stranraer to Dunbar, such as the George hotel in Stranraer’s town centre. Do we need to ensure that developments generate significant health and wellbeing effects, and also deal with the issue of derelict buildings?

Thanks very much for indulging me, convener. My question is for Dr Matt Lowther. He mentioned the place standard and described the 14 questions in the framework that aim to let communities, public agencies and voluntary groups find aspects of the place to target health, wellbeing and quality of life. How do we know that people are aware of the place standard tool and are using it? Yesterday, I called Dumfries and Galloway Council planning department. It was not aware of the tool but was certainly going to look into it. How do we ensure that such tools, which can support better planning for public health, are available and used?

That is good to hear. It was only one person I spoke to, so it might be worth my following it up more widely as well.

It has been quite interesting to hear everyone’s thoughts so far. I want to ask a couple of questions about collaboration and multi-agency working, which some of the witnesses have mentioned. Kevin Kane mentioned Scouts Scotland and Jacqueline Lynn described the role of sportscotland in that regard.

I know that the aim is to have multi-agency working. Will the witnesses provide examples of where there has been good collaboration with schools to support health and wellbeing, and set out what some of the barriers to greater collaboration might be? As Kevin Kane mentioned youth workers, Scouts Scotland and rural issues, I will go to him first, if that is okay, convener.

Good morning. You have talked a bit about what the national planning framework contains with regard to aspirations for supporting health and wellbeing. Does the framework give enough priority to health and wellbeing in relation to planning decisions? I am not sure who would like to answer that.

Yes, I have a quick follow-up question about collaboration and the third sector. There are so many different roles being played. It is important that Mike Corbett mentioned minority groups. We do not want to leave anyone behind.

We can get everyone around the table, but how can we ensure that everyone understands what everyone’s role is? Can more be done to improve that?

I have not. Maybe Dr Josie Booth could answer it.