Seòmar agus comataidhean

Good morning. What action is sportscotland taking to support sport taking place in rural, remote and island areas?

Is there variation between regions or between rural and urban areas in the sports that people pick up? For example, Stranraer and Dumfries have Olympic and world-class curling. Dumfries has an ice hockey team, the Solway Sharks, but the women’s and men’s teams have to play in England, because it is easier to get to Sheffield, for example. There are teams there, whereas there are no teams nearby in Scotland.

Stranraer is developing a water sports hub, which is great because we will have people on the water paddle boarding and sea kayaking, which I have done down there—it is amazing, and it is good for your mental health. Is there a regional aspect to what gets funded or is it based on what sport is taken up?

It is not necessarily sportscotland’s responsibility to do such a wide sweep of the physical activity out there. Yesterday, I was at the convention of the south of Scotland, and we focused on transport and getting folk on their bikes to the bus or on their bikes to a train, but there did not seem to be a lot of people asking whether they can hang their bike on the train or the bus somewhere. It is about agencies collaborating and working together, so that is not sportscotland’s responsibility.

That is what Maureen Campbell seems to be saying about local authorities working together in collaboration, getting out of silos and so on. We have had lung health choirs singing in the Parliament. That is a physical activity but it is not within sportscotland’s remit. The people who perform in the lung health choirs say that they are so much more physically able because of how singing helps their lung health when they have conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. I am interested in your thoughts on that.

My point is that it is a wider issue that is not just your responsibility. It is about everybody collaborating and working together to improve physical activity for folk in Scotland.

Okay. I have a final wee question. The six nations rugby is on now, and it is pretty exciting to watch. I am meeting Scottish Rugby on Thursday, with a specific focus on girls in rugby. You can be any body shape and have a position on the rugby field, which is absolutely fab. Does sportscotland collaborate with Scottish Rugby on promotion and engagement so that more young women can play rugby?

I would be interested in getting further information on what common staffing methods are. I know that, in intensive care units, one-to-one care is often provided—that is, one nurse to one patient—whereas, in a recovery room, it is two-to-one care. In the operating room department, no one can cut skin until a certain number of people from the department are present. Staffing levels are based on, for example, the type of anaesthetic and surgery, and whether the patient is awake. That is based on my experience in the perioperative environment, but we also have new roles with physician associates, anaesthesia associates and surgical assistants.

I would be interested in fleshing out the detail on what the instrument means, rather than looking at reducing work hours. I do not think the cabinet secretary has betrayed anybody—that aspect is in process; it is an on-going discussion.

I know that sportscotland has invested £424,000 for Dumfries and Galloway Council to offer an active schools programme, community sports hubs, community cycling and coaching. We have five of the 7stanes cycle routes in Dumfries and Galloway. Cycling is another sport that can be accessed, and sportscotland has supported those facilities.

I am also interested in the research that is under way to understand the transport and travel barriers that people in island communities and remote places face, and Maureen Campbell mentioned support for that. Can you tell us when the research will be completed, and when will it be published?

We have a deer management problem in Scotland—in fact, we have a deer problem in Scotland. Can you say something, for the record, about the task in hand of needing to manage the deer population?

Finally, on a point about language, I see that the words

“competent to shoot deer”

are to be substituted with

“fit and competent to shoot deer”.

Can you tell us what “fit” means in terms of “fit and competent”?

You have probably covered this already, but I want to go back to the original national park legislation, which was enacted in 2000, when there was no biodiversity crisis, nature crisis or climate crisis. The updating of the legislation will bring it more into line with what is happening right now with regard to biodiversity loss, nature loss and climate issues. I am thinking about how flood management and so on is part of that. Am I correct in thinking that the bill is about bringing up to date the legislation that was delivered in 2000?

Good morning. Environmental Standards Scotland was set up as a public body in October 2021 to ensure the effectiveness of environmental law and to prevent enforcement gaps from arising as a result of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, but the bill gives it a new function of monitoring the achievement of any legal nature targets. What discussions has the Scottish Government had with ESS in relation to its new role?