Chamber and committees

It is nice to follow Brian Whittle in the debate, because he has a lot to contribute from his direct experience in sport.

As a member of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, I am quite happy to speak in this debate about our report. I add my thanks to everyone who provided input to the committee, including our clerks.

A lot of the points in the report have been well rehearsed by members this afternoon. The one thing that we all agree on is that more participation and visibility of girls and women in sport is essential. On the committee’s web page, there is a wee video submission by Daisy Drummond, which starts with this stark figure:

“By the age of 14 girls are dropping out of sport two times faster than boys of the same age!”

It is important to highlight that.

The inquiry has emphasised that being physically active is one of the best things that we can do for physical and mental health, and the minister and Willie Rennie have described how it benefits them individually. We know that sport and physical activity boost self-confidence and self-esteem, learning skills and socialising. More importantly, they are about having some fun. As a nurse, I think about health issues, and sport and physical activity help to prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes and a number of cancers, as well as playing an important part in helping people to maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of developing depression.

The number of women and girls in Scotland participating in sport and physical activity has increased in recent years, but the report shows that we must do more to address the barriers that stop women and girls taking part. Those who took part in the inquiry identified poor self-confidence and issues around body image as a barrier to participation in sport and physical activity for many girls and women. One person who responded to the committee’s call for evidence suggested that the relationship between body image and physical activity is a vicious cycle: the more self-conscious someone feels about their body, the less likely they are to take part in physical activity. Many people may be deterred from participating in sport and physical activity because they lack self-confidence or because they have a negative body image, as members have mentioned.

To combat that, the committee recommended that sporting venues should do more to demonstrate that they are welcoming and inclusive of participants of all abilities, and to offer tailored advice and support to those who may be reluctant. I would like to ask the minister whether any support, such as from sportscotland, could be made available to meet that aim.

Leadership and role models are crucial to overcoming barriers related to self-esteem. The committee heard that negative attitudes and behaviours among teachers and coaches and a lack of positive role models among women in leadership roles discourage female participation in sport and physical activity.

It was clear, through the inquiry, that men play an important role in increasing female participation in sport. We heard how it is crucial that men demonstrate a real commitment to promoting and encouraging female participation. That includes educating male coaches and leaders in their sport about the important role and responsibilities that they have in that regard, and encouraging them to demonstrate positive and inclusive behaviours.

As part of the inquiry, I wrote to 162 local sporting and activity groups across Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders. I received a fair few responses: I got 68 back. I also visited Wallace Hall academy, in Thornhill, to discuss female participation in sport with six young women who were themselves participants. A number of key issues were raised in that engagement and in the responses received, including many that were specific to my rural area. They included a lack of local buses to enable people to travel to and from venues, and the prohibitive cost of equipment and membership fees. Some women and girls reported that male domination of clubs was also a barrier. Those participants’ experiences were replicated by those of the participants in the inquiry overall, so it is useful to see that what is experienced in Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders is replicated elsewhere.

As the committee’s report states, Ewelina Chin from HSTAR Scotland noted that

“women who reside in rural places, and places that are more deprived, experience barriers to participation not only related to cost but because of”

the infrequency of public transport or

“safety concerns related to the use of public transport”

such as night-time or lone travelling.

In addition, the committee recognised that male dominance of clubs was a deterrent, particularly for young school-age girls. That has been outlined by members who have spoken about participation on school grounds. To address that issue, and to provide improved opportunities for girls to take part, the committee called on the Scottish Government, local authorities and schools to work together to develop support and guidance for teachers and playground staff, to help to ensure equal opportunity.

While I was visiting Wallace Hall academy, I met Barry Graham, the headteacher, and Kiva, Michaela, Zena, Daisy and Matilda, all of whom were inspiring young women who were involved with sport. They reported that a lack of access to, and the unavailability of, funding can be significant barriers to participation. One of their concerns was that schools, their sporting teams and community clubs often do not know about the funding streams that are available and that those can be complex to access. Will the minister tell us whether more emphasis can be put on advertising the various funding streams that are available for sports?

I will close there, Presiding Officer, because I am conscious of the time.

Martin Whitfield talks about body image, and I am thinking about evidence that we took during the inquiry about the Norwegian beach handball team that got fined €1,500 for wearing shorts instead of the regulation bikini bottoms. Does he agree that we need the leading bodies to champion comfort in uniforms rather than regulate something that might deter women from sport?

I welcome the debate and congratulate my colleague Clare Haughey on bringing it to the chamber.

I led the world AIDS day debate in 2020, in the previous session of Parliament, and I am pleased to continue my support for world AIDS day and the opportunity that it presents to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS. I thank the Terrence Higgins Trust, Waverley Care and HIV Scotland for their briefings and for the invaluable work that they do to support those who are living with HIV.

I start by emphasising that, thanks to scientific developments, a person in Scotland who is living with HIV today can, if they are on the right treatment, live a long, happy and healthy life, and—as we have heard colleagues mention already—they cannot pass the virus on to others. Once a person has received a diagnosis, receives the appropriate treatment, and HIV becomes undetectable in their viral load, they cannot pass on the virus through sexual transmission.

Waverley Care, along with NHS boards across Scotland, including NHS Dumfries and Galloway, continues its important work to promote the need for people to know their HIV status. It is also promoting the undetectable equals untransmittable, or U=U, message.

In preparation for the debate, I reflected on my time at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in the heart of west Hollywood, in Los Angeles, where I worked as an operating nurse in the early 1990s. That was when combination antiretroviral drugs were just starting to be used. The stigma associated with HIV and AIDS was absolutely rife back then, including from professional colleagues.

I am glad that we have moved on and that Scotland is leading the way in reducing stigma about HIV and AIDS. I note the work of LGBT Youth Scotland on its recent report on life in rural areas, which demonstrated that stigma about HIV and AIDS is more prevalent in rural areas. We must pay attention to that and ensure that rural Scotland is targeted to achieve stigma reduction.

When I led our world AIDS day debate in 2019, I spoke about the progress that was being made in Scotland to meet the United Nations 90-90-90 targets. The aim was that, by 2020, 90 per cent of people living with HIV would be diagnosed, 90 per cent of those diagnosed would be receiving treatment, and 90 per cent of those being treated would have an undetectable viral load. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, Scotland has met those targets. Ninety-two per cent of those with HIV are now diagnosed, 98 per cent of those are receiving treatment, and 94 per cent of those in treatment have an undetectable viral load. That is good news.

I pay tribute to NHS Scotland staff, such as NHS Dumfries and Galloway’s sexual health and blood-borne virus nurse consultant Marie Murray, for the trailblazing work that they do to support those living with HIV and AIDS. Marie in particular has broken down many of the barriers to people coming forward for screening and treatment, and she has been fundamental in helping to reduce stigma around HIV and AIDS, particularly among her colleagues in Dumfries and Galloway.

We have already heard that, today in Scotland, HIV is considered to be a manageable long-term health condition, with treatments such as PrEP and PEP that allow people to live long and healthy lives. I caught up with the Terrence Higgins Trust at our conference in September, and I was pleased to hear about its new joint campaign with the Scottish Government, which says that stigma is more harmful than HIV. That landmark campaign, which is the first on TV for 36 years, takes the topic of HIV to the Scottish public and provides an insight into the stigma that people living with HIV in Scotland face today. It also provides important messages about HIV transmission, treatment and care. I encourage all members to engage with that campaign, share it on their social media, and promote the importance of people knowing their HIV status through testing. Testing has a central role to play in reducing the number of new infections, and it is as simple as giving a wee finger prick blood sample.

I ask the Scottish Government not to take its foot off the pedal but to continue public awareness campaigns on the importance of sexual health testing, including for HIV and AIDS, and to keep showing that stigma about HIV and AIDS has no place in Scotland.

I know that I am a substitute on the committee, but I want to go back to the beginning. This is a technical instrument making a technical amendment. In my engagement with Quality Meat Scotland, I have found it to be competent, professional, responsible and diligent in working with businesses and farmers. I would trust Quality Meat Scotland to carry out the correct engagement.

My question goes back to the fact that this is a technical amendment. It allows Quality Meat Scotland to go out and engage if levies are to be increased, which would be done incrementally over an annual engagement basis. Is that correct?

If I bring six puppies over on the ferry to sell them for £2,500 each because they are bonnie wee spaniels, and then somebody says, “Right, I want to move this dog,” and that person keeps the six puppies, the provision would cover moving those dogs on to another person who was going to receive the dogs.

It would help to reduce the unregistered transfer of dogs and, again, it would promote education to whoever is the recipient of the young dog or puppy.

I will not pursue my supplementary question about microchipping, as it relates to the traceability of dogs in relation to livestock worrying. However, as microchipping is not part of the bill at this time, I will not pursue the issue.

Good morning to you all. I know how hard Christine Grahame has worked on the bill over the past six years. I have been very interested to follow the process, because I am interested in illegal puppy farming and puppy trafficking and how we can reduce or prevent that. We know that puppies still come in through the port of Cairnryan.

In 2021, regulations established licensing conditions for the sale of puppies under the age of six months. The conditions include requiring the puppy to be seen with its mother, which is an important part of mitigating trafficking. I am interested that the bill has chosen to define a young dog as a dog under the age of 12 months, whereas the SSPCA defines a puppy as a dog under the age of six months. Will you tell us a bit about why the bill defines a young dog as a dog under the age of 12 months for the purpose of the additional requirements in section 3?

To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting businesses in rural areas to become accredited living wage employers. (S6O-02749)

Rural and small businesses that I regularly visit across Dumfries and Galloway and the Scottish Borders report that they would like to become accredited living wage employers. However, it is often the case that, due to the nature of rural employment, such as seasonal working, small and changing workforces and the costs associated with becoming accredited, it can be difficult for small and medium-sized rural businesses to do so. Will the cabinet secretary provide any further information about the steps that can be taken, such as through enterprise agencies, to support rural businesses to deliver fair work practices such as the real living wage? I remind members that I am a living wage employer.