(S5O-01970) Sport (Young People)

4. Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking to support and encourage young people to engage in sport. (S5O-01970)

The Minister for Public Health and Sport (Aileen Campbell): The Scottish Government strongly encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to try to participate in sport. To aid with that, we have protected sportscotland’s budget for next year, committed to help mitigate the impact of continued reductions in its income from the national lottery, invested up to £50 million for our active schools programme between 2015 and 2019 and committed to increase the number of community sport hubs.

I want to take the opportunity to pay tribute to the achievements of team Scotland during the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth games. I am sure that everyone will agree. Following the success of team Scotland, I am confident that the performances by all our athletes will inspire young people to take up sport, allowing them to set and achieve their goals.

Stewart Stevenson: I particularly welcome the fact that a member of team Scotland was older than me. That is pretty unusual.

More seriously, I recently visited Cullen bowling and tennis club, where the members have taken on offering coaching sessions to young people to encourage a new generation of club members. Does the minister agree that that is an excellent example of a community-based approach to encouraging our youngsters to try new sports?

Aileen Campbell: I would also like to pay tribute to the athleticism of Stewart Stevenson.

That is a great example of encouraging young people to join a club. I wish Cullen bowling and tennis club every success. Our commitment to the active schools programme will not only allow children to try new sports but will provide them with a pathway to local sports clubs. I actively encourage that partnership.

I commend the club in Cullen, particularly during this year of young people, for its endeavours to get our young people and children active.

Statement: NHS Tayside

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): Does the cabinet secretary recall that intervening in NHS Grampian led to a very successful outcome and to continuous improvement? Does she agree that moving the chief executive from NHS Grampian to Tayside should provide the reassurance that staff and patients need that the serious issue is being taken seriously?

The Cabinet Secretary for Health and Sport (Shona Robison): Yes, I do. I met the board on 9 April, along with the new leadership team, and everything that I have seen and heard about the approach that has been taken to date gives me confidence that NHS Tayside will continue to make provision of high-quality services for patients a priority. It is very important that the board does that.

It is also important to say that work has been undertaken to provide assurance in Glasgow and Grampian that there will not, because of John Brown and Malcolm Wright’s focus on Tayside, be an impact on work that is on-going in those boards.

Statement: Major Infrastructure Projects

Stewart Stevenson (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP): In the nearly 60 years that elapsed between 1948—to which the cabinet secretary referred—and the SNP’s coming into Government in 2007, Labour and the Tories were in government for roughly half the time each, and, indeed, the Liberals were part of the Government in Scotland until 2007. At any point in those nearly 60 years, were any road orders brought forward by those parties or other material preparations made to deliver an Aberdeen western peripheral route?

The Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work (Keith Brown): As his question implies, Stewart Stevenson knows about the absolute lack of progress that was made by the other parties during all the decades in which they had the opportunity to take the project forward. Not a single inch of tarmac was laid during any of those three parties’ time in government.

Mr Stevenson could have made the same point about the dualling of the A9 or about the fact that we did not have a motorway between Edinburgh and Glasgow until very recently. It is this Government that has taken on those big, complex projects and is delivering for the people of Scotland.