 The next item of business is a debate on motion 4256, in the name of Marie Todd on walking, improving health and strengthening communities. I would invite those members who would wish to speak in the debate to please press their request to speak buttons now. I call on Minister Marie Todd to speak to and to move the motion around seven minutes, please minister. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It's my pleasure to open today's debate as Minister for Public Health, Women's Health and Sport to celebrate national walking month and to discuss how walking and wheeling plays a huge role in improving the health and wellbeing of the Scottish people. This government is committed to delivering a more active nation. We've pledged to double the investment across sport and active living by the end of the Parliament and we've made record levels of investment in active travel, ensuring that everyone has the opportunity to take part in walking and wheeling is central to our vision. Being active really is the best medicine, helping to prevent many illnesses and diseases, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes and a number of cancers, as well as benefiting our mental health and helping us to maintain a healthy weight. Walking and wheeling are the easiest and most accessible form of physical activity for most people, and yet there are loads of pressures in our society that lead us towards less active lifestyles, and many Western European countries are seeing a decline in activity levels. The good news is that here in Scotland we are bucking the trend. We've generally maintained the overall proportion who meet physical activity guidelines and seen an increase in recreational walking from 59 per cent participating in 2012 to 68 per cent in 2019. The impact of the pandemic on those trends is still to be fully understood, but it seems clear that the overall picture is of a greater impact on those who are already facing barriers to participation. For example, we know that deconditioning among older people has the potential to cause long-term issues around increased frailty. We're determined to focus even more strongly on the need to address inequalities in our recovery from the pandemic. Our additional investment in active living will target health inequalities across the spectrum of sport and physical activity. For walking and wheeling, we've increased our financial support for Paths for All, which will increase the number of health walk projects in Scotland and activity with disadvantaged groups and communities, as well as leading a refresh of the national walking strategy. Alongside the investment, the increase in the active travel budget to £320 million by 2024-25 will accelerate progress towards our ambitions for Scotland to be an active nation and our commitment to reduce car kilometres. Those strategic ambitions become reality on the ground through the efforts of a huge number of highly motivated and skilled people right across Scotland who are helping to enable and support people to be more active more often in schools, workplaces and communities. It's always a great pleasure to celebrate the hard work and innovation that the people of this country are capable of. There is no better example than the Daily Mile, an idea that was born in Scotland and has spread throughout the world. Established in 2012 as a school-based programme, the aim of the Daily Mile is clear. Run, jog or wheel in the fresh air with friends for 15 minutes a day and minimum three times a week, and doing so has been proven to improve the physical, social, emotional and mental health and wellbeing of our children, regardless of age, ability or personal circumstances. One recent study has also suggested that it helps with children's memory and cognition, so it's made them more clever. As I'm sure you all know, I'm a huge advocate of the Daily Mile, and I always prioritise my day to allow myself the time and space to get outdoors and exercise in the fresh air, and I thoroughly recommend it to everyone. Only last week I attended the Daily Mile's 10th birthday event in Dundee, where I participated alongside almost 800 school children in completing the Daily Mile to celebrate the evolution and the positive impact that the Daily Mile has had over the last decade in Scotland. With over 164,000 children and young people currently participating in the Daily Mile, from over 900 schools across 32 local authorities—that's all the local authorities in Scotland—we are leading the way to improving health and wellbeing of our future generations. We're on track to becoming the first Daily Mile nation in the world by the end of 2022. In encouraging people to walk and wheel more, we often have particular advantages in Scotland. We have a truly unique natural environment that can be a huge asset to our health and our wellbeing, and we want to ensure that that is as accessible as it can be. Our Green Health partnership programme is supporting and encouraging people to be more engaged with nature and the outdoors. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Thank you, Minister. I agree with you. Going for a walk is probably one of the greatest things that you can do. I wonder if, Minister, if you agree with me that in 2005 local authorities were committing £16.5 million a year to help outdoor access facilities, maintain them and also provide rangers, it's now dropped to £11 million. We have five local authorities that have no budgets at all for outdoor access within their own budgets. I should not think that it would be a good idea for local authorities to buy into it in the same way that the Scottish Government is, and will you give them the funds to do so, Minister? Minister. Thank you. Certainly, my party has commitments to increasing access to participating in physical activity, and I'm absolutely keen to do anything that I can support in central government all of our local authorities, newly elected tomorrow, to make progress on this issue. Undoubtedly, in central government, we are doubling the budget over the course of this term of Parliament in sport and physical activity. There are big increases coming in terms of the investment in active transport, and I think that that will actually make a fundamental difference. I recently approved further funding for the green health partnership programme, which is supporting and encouraging people to be more engaged with the outdoors and with nature. I'm very keen that they continue the great work that's taking place. I saw that myself in a recent visit to Highland green health partnership, where the community in Woodland in Eventon near Dingwall is being used for a whole range of activity, including buggy walks, health walks and forest bathing—wonderful. Using local assets in this way can bring a community together and it makes connections between generations and develops a common sense of belonging, so there's a clear social benefit, as well as the health, physical health and mental health benefits. To conclude, the Government is prioritising the importance of investment in walking and wheeling. We recognise that this is central to our vision of a more active Scotland for all the benefits that it brings for our health, wellbeing and strengthening communities. We are always open to ideas on how we can continue to improve our approach, and I look forward to a constructive discussion today about what more we can all do to encourage and support people to walk and wheel more often. I propose that this Parliament supports this motion and that we commit to working together and delivering a healthier and more active Scotland to and beyond 2030. I move the motion in my name. Debate is extremely important as we mark national walking month. I think that we should take some time to thank all the organisations who have engaged in briefed ahead of our debate today, particularly past for all, Sport Scotland and the Scottish Rights of Way and Access Society. Their engagement in the debate and more widely on the issue of walking across Scotland is hugely important and they make a vast contribution. I also think that we can start with that degree of consensus today around the vital importance of getting out walking or wheeling and the improvements that that simple activity can make to our physical and mental health and wellbeing. I am sure that members across the chamber have rediscovered what it is to take time to walk or wheel during the lockdown periods over the past two years. So many people found huge benefits in going out for that daily walk or wheel, whether in our beautiful countryside, beside our locks and mountains, in our urban parks or along canals. In many ways, people rediscovered the joy of what was around them and saw huge benefits for their health and wellbeing. We know from evidence that a 20-minute walk can reduce the risk of a number of preventable health conditions, including certain cancers, depression, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. Supporting people to be physically active is vitally important in our public health mission here in Scotland and active travel is vitally important to improving health inequalities, meeting our climate targets and relieving pressure on the NHS. Not just walking, of course, but associated activities such as running and cycling all have an impact and must be supported. The national walking strategy is, of course, hugely important in encouraging people to walk. Having been originally launched in 2014, I hope that the minister will say more about its refresh and update, particularly as we recover from Covid-19 and people hopefully sustain that level of activity, because there are many strong recommendations in it. It points to the work that we still have to do, with local authority figures from 2019, showing that the proportion of trips made on foot range from 39 per cent and Dundee to just 11 per cent in East Renfrewshire. Hailing from East Renfrewshire is clear that we need to do more locally and nationally to get those numbers up. The other key recommendation in the strategy, of course, is that there must be better-quality walking environments with attractive, well-designed and managed, built and natural spaces for everyone. That brings me to our amendment today. Although many people, as I have said in our communities, rediscovered walking in the lockdowns, they also discovered that paths were often inaccessible or covered in litter, that too many pavements are cracked and broken and that too many parks were dark, unlit and unsafe to go, particularly for women on their own. Councils are struggling to keep up with repairs, and it is becoming harder and harder to sustain attractive, well-designed and managed areas for walking, wheeling and cycling. The truth, Presiding Officer, is that the Government has cut £6 billion from local authority budgets since 2013, and right now there is an eye-watering outstanding road repair bill of at least £1.7 billion accumulated under this Government, making in already dangerous conditions worse, and that is before we even come to pavements. People will not walk if the infrastructure is not there to support them, and, understandably, cash trap councils have been faced with having to prioritise other issues. That has had an adverse impact in our most deprived communities, limiting the options for people to get out and take the most cost-effective form of exercise. We on these benches have called for an increase in active travel spending to 10 per cent of the overall transport budget, giving priority to encouraging and enabling people to get out of cars, on to bikes and walk more, benefiting their health and the health of our communities. We have also called for additional measures to improve women's safety, including the pilot of physical space safety audits and providing planners with guidance on how to make communities safer. That brings me, of course, to not just walking but cycling, which we believe is a key component of the wider act of travel agenda and is highlighted in our amendment. In last year's election, the SNP promised free bikes to all school-age children who can't afford them. In August 2020, the Greens called for all children from low-income families to receive a grant towards bikes and helmets to get to school safely. However, 18 months on, only 238 bikes have been given out, and the Government does not even have the stats on how many children are using these pilot schemes. I think that in the last seconds, a case of something perhaps looking good on a leaflet is not being delivered in reality. Walking, wheeling and active travel are paramount for our health as a nation and our sense of wellbeing. However, to encourage more people to get out and get active, particularly in our most deprived communities, we must do more. Further cuts to local government services and infrastructure will hinder not help. I now call on Brian Whittle, who is joining us remotely, around six minutes. Please, Mr Whittle. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I apologise to the chamber for not being there in person. I am delighted to open this debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives. I also thank in many organisations who took the time to send in their briefing documents for this debate. Of course, Deputy Presiding Officer, as you would expect, I am a great supporter of any form of physical activity, and walking is what I would term the ultimate low entry option for increasing physical activity or even beginning the journey to a healthier lifestyle. For that I mean that the financial cost of participation is very low, and being physically active is one of the best ways of ensuring good physical and mental health. Although we cannot completely negate the possibility of becoming unwell, physical activity can help to stack the cards in our favour and, of course, help the recovery process from illness. It can help to prevent heart disease, strokes and diabetes, some cancers, scourge of obesity and reduce the risk of developing depression. I thought that it was an interesting start in the sport Scotland brief, highlighting that the world health organisation has stated that physical inactivity is now the fourth leading risk factor for global mortality. Walking is a key activity in this battle. We should note that pre-pandemic Scotland was the unhealthiest nation in Europe with the lowest life expectancy. Health inequalities were significant and increasing, and that has only been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It is a worry against this backdrop to state that the health of the nation has taken a significant down turn during the pandemic, as people's ability to access physical activity was great and reduced. However, walking activities include rambling and backpacking, and we are rightly proud of our incredibly beautiful countryside for those activities to occur with walking tourism worth an estimated £1.3 billion to the economy. Those activities are not available to all, however, and that is why we will be supporting the Labour amendment. We need to ensure that activity is available to all irrespective of background or personal circumstances. Access to things such as walking football and walking netball and safe walking access to the natural environment need investment. It is true that the SNP Government cuts to local councils will hamper the work without a doubt. It is a false economy. Investment in this kind of venture will undoubtedly remove the cost from another page in the ledger. Fail to give this kind of access to activity will deliver the opposite. I would rather see investment further upstream to prevent the cost of pearing down the track in our health services. If you want to take the opportunity to cycle to work, for example, in the last Parliament, I highlighted that there are many more cycle-safe paths if you live in more affluent areas than are from the lower SIMD areas. That is, of course, if you happen to own a bike. It is less likely that a bike is available to children from those lower SIMD areas, which is why the roll-out, or more accurately, the lack of roll-out of the Government bike scheme, is having little impact. I talked about the supporting third sector organisations such as Cycle Station in my area who refurbish and recycle bikes and sell them on for a fraction of the cost of new bikes, and they managed to sell more than 600 bikes in their local community just last year. I would like to see the development of say cycle routes to school, something that we all took for granted in our schools, at least if you have to be from my generation. I am not one for saying in my day, but this is an example of looking back to look forward. How do we get our children walking and cycling to school, not only for the benefit of their health but also for the environment and the air quality around schools? An example of good practice is the park and stride initiative in my area, where parents drop the schools off a distance from the school and children are supervised by teachers as they walk from the many distances into the school. That ensures that the air quality around the schools is significantly improved. The Daily Mile, as the minister has highlighted, is a fantastic issue. Even if the children walk, it is a fantastic initiative brought up by a sterling teacher, and it has really taken off. We also get behind it. Outdoor learning is another key initiative that needs investment. My colleague Liz Smith is developing a member's bill to ensure that all pupils have the opportunity to access that kind of learning. However, I encourage the Scottish Government to back the bill and invest in it. National Walking Month gives us the opportunity to highlight the great physical and mental benefits of physical activity and the challenges that we face to enable and encourage Scotland to take those activities for the sake of their physical and mental health. While we can be right the proud of Scotland's natural beauty, we are walking and cycling in the countryside, we will certainly cannot be patting ourselves in the back given the health challenges that remain in Scotland, the huge inequality of access to physical activity and the subsequent health inequalities that stubbornly exist and grow. I would ask the Scottish Government to accept those challenges and take a long-term planning and investment way beyond any parliamentary term. Planning and investment has been consistently missing from any Government plans. As you say, Presiding Officer, you can achieve anything as long as you don't mind who gets the credit, and the fruits of this kind of investment in planning will certainly not lead to the credit for the outcomes to reside in this Parliament and its members. However, surely a long-term plan to improve the health of our nation is worth putting political differences aside and working together for better outcomes for Scotland. Outcomes are all that matter. One word won't make this issue one iota. Thank you. We now move to open debate speakers. I call Julian Martin to be followed by Alex Rowley. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Remember the days in the first lockdown where we were limited to 30-minute walk outside our homes? It genuinely felt like the highlight of the day, and everything that we'd ever taken for granted was now limited but ultimately cherished to that precious time out in the fresh air in nature. I speak as somebody who represents a rural constituency. I've got nature and green space all around me, but I am acutely aware that in urban areas people weren't quite so fortunate. That's one of the reasons why investment in green spaces should be a priority for those in charge of planning in urban areas. It's well understood that access to green space and access to nature is a fundamental part of our wellbeing, as the minister said in our opening speech. Any community that does not have that is faced with a fundamental health equality. However, I want to use my remaining time to mention three groups in my constituency for walking and wheeling as essential to the mental and physical wellbeing of those who work with them. The first is Paul Powell in Ellen. Paul Powell was started by Toby McKillop from men who had difficulties with their mental health, or were in recovery from drug and alcohol problem usage. As the name suggests, that was also for their dogs. During the first lockdown, Toby got in touch with me, because he was concerned that he had to stop the group due to restrictions. The impact that that would have on the many men for whom the group was an essential part of the recovery and mental wellbeing. I worked with the police at the Ellen station, who were excellent in reassuring Toby and the Paul Powell's, and gave his advice to the group on how they could continue to operate safely. The group operated throughout those difficult periods and continued to meet and have expanded the network of similar groups for women in the area. I also want to mention the work of Balmedy beach wheelchairs, run by volunteers from the Bill Helvey community trust, to give free access to people who need specialist wheelchairs to access the quite difficult terrain of Balmedy beach—the beautiful but often difficult for people who have mobility issues. They have a range of wheelchairs so that people can still enjoy one of Scotland's most beautiful beaches. I also want to mention the walking group of the Clann Cancer Centre in Inveruri. The group is open to anyone whose life has been affected by cancer, whether they are undergoing treatment, recovering from the disease, or they are a friend or family member of those who are living with cancer, or who have sadly lost their lives. The friendship and support that this walking group offers is an indication of the therapeutic benefit of getting outside, but also spending time with people with shared experience. In the health, social care and sport committee, the value of walking and wheeling comes up a lot, not just from a physical exercise point of view, but from a social prescribing perspective. Referos to walking groups or wheeling groups is a kind of complementary treatment that is becoming more accepted and recognised as a way of improving physical fitness, mental wellbeing and combating social isolation. The roll-out of community link workers into GP practices throughout Scotland in accessing opportunities for walking and wheeling, and sometimes even accompanying visitors and individuals to that awkward first date can literally be a lifesaver. I have said before in the chamber in the last session how much I cherish my walk into this Parliament every day, 25 years of having no option but to drive without all the other people into Aberdeen City. Has made me extremely grateful for the opportunity and I am convinced that my mental health is all the better for my twist daily walk across Holyrood park, admiring the community's many dogs. If we are all continue to take that half of our walk that we cherished in 2020, what would the impact on our wellbeing be as a nation? Significant, I am sure. I am pleased to speak in this debate that recognises national walking month. We have had a number of briefs for this debate today that all evidence, the massive advantages and health benefits of regular exercise and walking is one of the most easiest to relax in forms of exercise. As Rambler Scotland say, walking also helps to prevent many illnesses and diseases and they also point out the economic function in terms of tourism. Key to this debate for us as politicians is how do we encourage people to walk more and what action can we take to support people to walk more. Government has a role to play, but I would like to first highlight some of the good practice out there where people are supporting people and coming together to make things happen. The Facebook group Scottish Women's Walking Group is an excellent example providing support, motivation, overcoming isolation, providing friendship and general guidance as the platform for organising groups and walks. There are many groups like this, the length and breadth of the country, run by volunteers and I do believe the impact they are having is immense. I would make the point that we really need to talk to and listen to these groups and their members as they have more first-hand experience and expertise than many in this chamber. That said, there are many things that we as policy makers can do to support these groups. I believe that local authorities are key in terms of new infrastructure but also in the maintenance of existing infrastructure. Poorly maintaining paths, walkways and the state of pavements are all important as is getting people out of their cars and that also requires better public transport alongside access to safe and well maintained routes. I am afraid that the persistent cut to council budgets has had a devastating impact on all of that and while it is fine to speak in the motion about doubling the funding it will not make up for the impact of the cuts to local councils. I was surprised to read from past for all that amongst younger people the Scottish household survey revealed that walking as a physical activity dropped dramatically in the 20% most deprived areas to just 66% compared to 89% in the 20% least deprived areas and in those deprived areas 29% of adults did not participate in any kind of physical activity. These are the kind of challenges facing government at every level if we are to improve the levels of walking in Scotland and indeed the levels of health. From social prescribing to getting the right support to local community groups will be the key. Joined up thinking and joined up working we can do and we can be better at. My challenge to the ministers would be how are we actually going to do that? How are we going to ensure that government is joined up? Social prescribing for example is something that is talked about but how are we actually going to move to work with GPs, to work with NHS boards to actually talk about what does social prescribing mean and indeed how can we support or how can the government support health boards right down to GPs to health practices to actually deliver. Those are I believe the kind of steps but I would want to finish where I started. Some of those groups on social media and I have talked to constituents who tell me they are the lifeline, they are the support, they bring people together, they get people working. So let's also talk to them and work with them for a healthier Scotland. Thanks for our own health and wellbeing, not to mention the good of the planet, we all of us need to give walking and wheeling greater priority in our lives but how each of us buys into the aspirations of national walking month and the government motion will differ from person to person. As a former transport minister I've been particularly keen to rise to the 20 per cent cut in car kilometres challenge. I've found having days when the car sits parked up is easy so to reducing some avoidable vehicle journeys. Actually cutting the overall kilometres particularly when you MSP for a rural constituency in favour of walking is to be honest more difficult it's fair to say for me this remains a work in progress. As far as walking more per se is concerned being gifted a step counting watch by my daughter a year past January has proved the significant motivation. Some might say I've become obsessed I'll leave others to judge but if it assists colleagues in coming to a conclusion on that let me share the following by election day last year my average daily step count was sitting at 16,500 albeit with the end of the campaign that dropped dropped off a bit to an average for the year of 13,150 and currently for 2022 it stands at 14,458 not that I'm counting you understand walking to and from parliament where possible when here contributes to cutting down using the lifts in this place all helps so to right now of course does election campaigning that will be the case for all of us however, Presiding Officer well supportive of others doing it I can't claim to be an avid walker of distances for recreational or exercise purposes well not unless you count pounding the golf course Mark Twain once famously described golf as a good walk spoiled I tend to view lengthy walks as a dull substitute for hitting a wee white ball around the golf course and one of those people will spend three and a half hours walking the golf course in a heartbeat but wouldn't dream of committing even a third of that time to walking just for the sake of it and I won't be alone in finding my own way of buying into the health and wellbeing asked to be made of all of us here and I would just urge that we recognise and respect the fact that different people will get walking in different ways it's absolutely right Presiding Officer that we promote walking for the health and climate change reasons that we all know about but we should also acknowledge that people will come at this from entirely individual perspectives and golfers particularly older male golfers for the record older than me are a case in point many in their late 60s or 70s wouldn't dream of going for a walk as such in fact they wouldn't think they were capable of walking distances but once twice maybe three times a week they'll head for the golf course where depending on how much time they spend searching the rough for balls they might be clocking up 11 and a half thousand steps or circa five miles without noticing staying fit and active as a result with the multitude of benefits that brings Presiding Officer having made this vested interest play I through admit this let me conclude by focusing briefly on the Labour amendment and a fundamental flaw within it the fact is that it would be impossible to give every child requiring one at a bike by the end of 2022 not because the will isn't there nor the fact that the pilot projects don't report before august the reason simply is that there has been and I believe to an extent still is a global shortage of bikes and bike parts so the amendments concluding demand actually cannot be met and as such it should be rejected so please support the government motion but oppose the amendment thank you Presiding Officer thank you I call Gillian Mackay to be followed by Karen Adam thank you Presiding Officer the benefits that walking and wheeling in the outdoors can have upon mental and physical health is widely recognised no doubt this was impressed on all of us during the pandemic when we were not able to exercise and explore the outdoors as we usually would it is worth noting in this regard that we're very fortunate to have the amount of green space in Scotland and that we have the right of access to most land and inland water since the introduction of the land reform Scotland act in 2003 it is vital that these rights are protected and upheld so that everyone can continue to benefit from Scotland's rich natural environment I was proud to see the announcement of at least one new national park for Scotland as a grade in the bute house agreement between the greens and the Scottish government as one of the many ways in which we recognise the importance of experiencing and exercising within nature as part of people's wellbeing people who spend quality time walking and wheeling in nature are happier and more likely to care about the local environment and climate change walking can also widen access to sport many sporting bodies have created walking versions of their sports such as walking football to encourage more people to take part regardless of their age and fitness level this can help to tackle social isolation as well as help people to get or stay active recent data published in the Scottish household survey has shown that walking has grown in popularity and that's not just with graham day and his obsession with his fitbit it's encouraging to see that the survey found 89 percent of respondents aged 16 to 24 were likely to take part in walking as a recreational activity of those surveyed who had a disability 61 percent regarded walking or wheeling as their most common activity however the survey also revealed stark differences in regards to areas of deprivation finding that physical activity dropped 20 percent in the most deprived areas to 66 percent compared to 89 percent in the least deprived areas this must give us pause to reflect and ensure that public spaces and the natural environment are welcoming to all as i've said the mental and physical health benefits of walking and wheeling outside are well known like jillian martin meeting many of the dogs around calendar park in falcork undoubtedly boosts my mental health but if people do not have a space or root nearby where they can walk or wheel while feeling safe and free from heavy traffic pollution and blocked pavements they will simply not do it we have much work to do before scotland streets are truly accessible indeed the world health organisation states that physical inactivity is the fourth leading risk factor in global mortality walking and wheeling in themselves may not be the silver bullet to fix poor health outcomes but they can make an important contribution toward maintaining and even improving health across the nation and removing barriers must be prioritised during the pandemic the importance of walking and other active travel infrastructure became clear to many of us the continuation of measures such as the spaces for people scheme is a recognition that active travel including wheeling and walking must be an accessible option as part of our everyday lives schemes such as this simultaneously pro active travel reduce our impact on the environment by having less polluting cars on the road and can minimise congestion across scotland's towns and cities when applied well supporting the development of 20 minute neighbourhoods will also reduce the need to travel and ensure people can walk wheel or cycle most places they need to go going forward we must prioritise measures such as reallocating road space to people and supporting the creation of low traffic neighbourhoods so that walking wheeling and cycling are accessible practical and significantly safer programs such as safety school initiatives which aim to ensure that every child who lives within a two mile route from school is able to walk wheel or cycle there safely could be a catalyst for ingraining more walking and wheeling into the everyday lives of scotland's children in conclusion providing officer this national walking month it's important that we acknowledge and celebrate the many benefits that walking and wheeling can have to our mental social and physical health because there are many but we must also renew our efforts to ensure that the benefits are felt by everyone across scotland thank you and i call Karen adam the final speaker in the open debate thank you Presiding Officer as previous speakers have stated the pandemic restrictions certainly highlighted the desire for human beings to connect not just with each other but with our nature and surroundings once being just a path we used to get from A to B became much more than a route but a space for contemplation for once we didn't just put one foot in front of the other but we looked up and around we breathed in the air and noticed seasonal changes more pronounced than before we saw signs of wildlife and appreciated what we perhaps took for granted all because we were forced to slow down and confine ourselves to actually see what we had around us a connection to place many in the professional field of mental health speak about the disconnect which occurs during poor mental health moments the connection not just to people but to place can have enormous benefits to reconnect and ground us many of us might be familiar with the technique to calm down during anxiety attacks this is the five four three two one method five things you can see four things you can touch three things you can hear two things you can taste sorry two things you can smell and one thing that you can taste and this is a fantastic way to connect while out walking for anyone and there's one thing you can certainly taste when walking by the coastline and that is the salty sea air for those around the coast like in my constituency of bamshire and bucking coast at outdoor space become more important than ever these last two years and this enhanced relationship is set to continue motivated by these triggers a real connection i'd like to share a very practical illustration of how walking coastal trails the paths that align our beautiful coastlines can be a hook for motivating and empowering local communities in my own constituency one such project developed is coast Aberdeenshire which builds upon the concept of coastal paths and it is indeed about walking but it is so much more than that from logi head cullen to peter head and stretching about one mile inland along the northeast coast this project provides support with a dedicated council team to empower local communities joined up working with council services and specialisms council staff with a dedicated officer group which facilitates connections with support for organisations and advice for help and funding applications where appropriate all of this encourages community groups to identify a route or related project that supports local commitments to take ownership long term developing repairing maintaining and promoting like every any aspect of walking this is ultimately about reconnected reconnecting exploring and understanding but it is also about a local community looking after our history our coastal environment and thus emboldens the sense of community and connectivity walking can play a key role in our future and survival of our towns and villages our businesses our arms and estates taken in wildland and shoreline the potential for tourism to our coastline is vast for visitors near and far not only do we get to show off our stunning landscape and shoreline but we benefit from the economic benefits that tourism brings in conclusion preside officer as well as that very local connection to place with international travel restrictions we saw a huge increase in what many call a staycation which during my childhood my grandad called it Costa del Baki it was his running joke every summer with aging wisdom he saw what he already had around him and I want to take that wisdom and apply it in a broader sense to my constituency who are backies they can extend miles beyond our fences and to finish up I'd like to read a quote made famous by Jack Karouac where he stated there was nowhere to go but everywhere thank you thank you fair I move to closing speeches and I call on Paul O'Kane up to four minutes please thank you presiding officer and I'm pleased to close this debate on behalf of Scottish Labour party I think we have found consensus in today's debate and I do believe that we are committed across the parliament to improving and enhancing the uptake of walking across Scotland and I think we've heard many strong examples I think particularly from the lockdown periods where people have rediscovered the joy of walking as I spoke about in my opening remarks but I do believe that we have to be honest about the barriers that exist and indeed the work that still requires to be done in order to make sure that the activities of walking are as accessible to all and it is in that vein that we offer our amendment and I want to note the contribution of Brian Whittle and Edward Mountain in his intervention in that regard particularly I think in terms of not only the cuts I think that local authorities have experienced in terms of budgets for place and space but also I think things like the role of walking coordinators outdoor access officers and countryside rangers which are often the first things to go when there are decisions to be made and I do at this stage presiding officer want to return to the importance of safety measures for people who are vulnerable particularly in our urban communities where parks and canal routes are often dangerous particularly for women and we have called for additional safety measures to improve particularly women's safety and I spoke in my opening remarks about the importance of piloting physical safety space audits but I think it goes further than that I think we need to provide planners with guidance on how to make communities safer including safe walking routes particularly in those urban communities and in new estates across Scotland. I think that Gillian Martin and Gillian Mackay my colleagues in the health committee made important points about the importance of walking related to good mental health and it is good to hear what is being offered in different parts of the country and I was particularly taken by the examples that Gillian Martin shared particularly when there are dogs involved and I know that Gillian Martin is a dog lover as am I but I think something that's key in all of this is that we need to support our third sector and we need to do that in a sustainable way and many third sector organisations are struggling to maintain these services that are often free of charge to the public and I think my colleague Alec Rowley made excellent points in that regard because if we're going to get the walking strategies right and we're going to encourage a broader uptake of walking then we have to listen to the groups who are supporting walking day in and day out across our country and for me that is about sustainable funding that can help them to expand and to grow the services that they offer and we on these benches want to see our active travel budgets more widely put towards assessing and developing safer routes in combination with using that planning system to increase to ensure less car use and make residential areas low traffic neighbourhoods by reducing speeds and looking at the volumes of traffic whilst also maintaining local access for those who need it in terms of Graham Day's contribution the former minister I did enjoy the majority of his contribution I am not a golf fan I confess but I did enjoy his contribution particularly in regards of the campaign trail and the steps that he is achieving I think perhaps in future elections Presiding Officer we should have a competition between members in this chamber to see who can do the most steps I will say though giving his comments on the shortage of bikes it would be helpful to know why the free bike pledge has appeared in the manifestos of the SNP and the Green Party and I believe that neither pledge actually featured in the coalition agreement so it would be good to understand if not now in terms of free bikes and provision of access to bikes when Presiding Officer I am rapidly running out of time so I will conclude active travel is vital to improving health inequalities but proper funding for councils must mean proper funding for the infrastructure that makes walking a reality thank you thank you and I call on Brian Whittle thank you Presiding Officer I'm delighted to be also closing this debate on behalf of the Scottish Conservatives I think it's been a good debate it's been consensual I think we all are looking for the same kind of outcomes I think the benefits of physical activity have been well made across the chamber I think that is as I said in my opening remarks this is against a backdrop of an unhealthy nation Scotland being the unhealthiest nation in Europe and also against increasing health inequalities and I think all these things have been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic we've talked about physical activity and how it allows that interaction and that interaction is to the benefit of our mental health we encourage participation and activity in sport not necessarily to produce sportsmen and women but more to educate food activity in sports as Paul Cain has just alluded to there are barriers and those barriers must be accepted by the Scottish Government and systematically tackled because I said in my opening statement outcomes are all the matter I think waxing lyrically about what the Scottish Government is doing on these matters matters little if the outcomes are not what is targeted I think we need to be creative and not necessarily descriptive because of course one size does not fit all the outcomes we are looking for are continuing improvement in our in the health of the nation and reducing health inequalities the impact would be a consistent redistribution of healthcare budgets to improve health outcomes and support our healthcare workers and a healthier nation leads to greater productivity for the country Daleks Rowley raised social prescribing and I think that was well made that initiative is crucial and it has been discussed for as long as I've been in this place I don't think we are any nearer developing a national strategy that will require that will require investment in technology and an IT to allow a connected system for our GPs inequalities I think quite interestingly we probably didn't realise this but Graham Day I was listening to him intently and I think he highlighted inequalities because he talked about wearable tech or a game of golf as a motivation to be to be active both of which I have and I do and I think this idea that golf is a what wasted there are two types of people there are people who enjoy a game of golf and then there are people who are wrong and I would be delighted if Mr Day fancied the game because I think golf such a great great way of getting out and being active but of course these take money and that's where inequalities kick in and he also mentioned bike parks which is something I was I was looking at the other day and I think Graham Day is right there and I agree especially if you couple that with with skate parks these are a great way to encourage youngsters into activity but they take investment physical activity is an outlet when you're stressed and I've been lucky to have that tool all my life we must ensure that that is available to all and it will take investment and the political will. It's time we made this kind of priority across the chamber I don't think this is a political statement I think that currently as I said in my my opening remarks we have a really unhealthy country and an increasingly unhealthy country you know we have a life expectancy that is way behind where it should be and and it's just it's not a political point we have to accept that as the case and then only by accepting that will we be able to take the steps that are required this is this is this is investment in our future this is this I think not to invest or to try and save money in this area as I said before is is false economy we need to start moving our investment further upstream to prevent these health health issues and health inequalities and I think it's not surely not beyond this chamber to come together and look at the solutions that would be to the benefit of our country. Thank you and I now call on Patrick Harvie to wind up up to six minutes minister. Thank you very much Presiding Officer and can I thank all members who've taken part in this debate I'm told that it's possibly the first time the Parliament has debated walking specifically and if that's true it might be because for most of us for most of our lives walking is perhaps something so casual so natural that maybe it doesn't even need to be discussed but I think the views that have been expressed around the chamber here today show that it does need to be discussed and there's great value in this debate. I don't know if it's entirely a coincidence that this debate on national walking month is coming at the end of what we all know as national canvassing month. Graham Day made that connection and like him that's what's keeping my step count up at the moment. Other members have talked very beautifully about the extraordinary landscapes and the places that they're walking through out on the election campaign trail. Most of the views that I've had have been of the tiles and windows in Glasgow tenements beautiful though they are. I'm hoping to get a little bit of a change over the summer and see some more of the country myself. The barriers that people encounter and I think all of us politicians and the thousands of political activists that we work with who've been out campaigning and canvassing around Scotland encounter this more and more when we go out canvassing around communities in Scotland. We encounter the barriers that exist for people accessing their communities to walk whether those barriers are physical, cultural, economic or indeed the important points that Paul O'Kane made about women's safety in particular. We need to address those barriers and we need to recognise that we have a political responsibility to do so. But we've also got an incredible opportunity. Several members, Paul O'Kane as well as Gillian Martin and Karen Adam and others talked about the experience during lockdown. The really different context in which people were permitted daily exercise and when people went out for a walk for that very unusual reason but again encountering their own communities in a different way and experiencing them in a new way. That I think gives us all a responsibility to ensure that as we go forward those communities do become more accessible, more inclusive and safer places for people to walk. There has been I think more consensus in this debate than there's been disagreement. I hope that members across the chamber will work constructively with the Government on the work that we're taking forward. We're working with PASS for all to lead the refresh of the walking strategy. In keeping with what several members have said, I think that there's real scope for connection of that strategy, not seeing it as a document in isolation but seeing how does it connect to the Government's other strategic objectives, whether that's around health, physical health, mental health issues around loneliness and isolation whether it's around climate, the need to cut car kilometres by 20 per cent, whether it's around the reinvigoration of our local economies as they recover from the pandemic. I think that that cross-cutting approach is very much in keeping with some of what Alex Rowley and others were talking about having a joined-up approach to that issue. I hope that Mr O'Kane will acknowledge that we won't be supporting his amendment today, notwithstanding that we will continue to have disagreements about wider local authority funding. We believe that we've protected local authority funding significantly, other Opposition parties will say that we haven't done enough for that. However, on active travel there's simply no question that we have dramatically increased the direct funding to local authorities on active travel, not just what we spend from the Scottish Government. The increase in the cycling, walking and safer routes grant in this year has gone to £35 million. That's a £10 million increase in one year alone, as well as the work that we're doing with Sustrans on the Places for Everyone programme and other funding streams, and the work that Marie Todd mentioned around the increased funding that's coming through sport and active living budgets as well. There is direct funding to local authorities allowing them to take that work forward. In relation to free bikes, the free bike pilots, I genuinely am sorry to hear that very clear and repeated public commitments from the Scottish Government somehow haven't been acknowledged. The pilot schemes that we committed to were up and running within the first 100 days as promised. They'll be evaluated later this year as promised, and they need to be. We do need those pilot schemes to evaluate a wide range of issues. Graham Day was right about the issues in the supply chain, not unique to Scotland but certainly issues that we need to overcome and understand, but a wide range of other issues as well. If we're looking to ensure that young people who maybe for whatever socioeconomic reasons, whatever their background, they need to have access to free bikes and they need our support to do that, those will be the very young people for whom issues around storage are an additional barrier. They need access either to their repair skills or to another service that they can access to to make sure that they can repair bikes when they go wrong. We need to make sure that we're increasing the range of adaptive bikes so that this is an inclusive programme for young people with disabilities of a wide range of types. We also, as others have said, need to increase capacity for recycling, the skills and the capacity for recycling bikes to ensure that we're increasing supply. We need to work with those pilot schemes, and I hope that Labour and others will work with us instead of simply making unrealistic demands about impossible timescales. Let's work constructively with those many organisations that are enthusiastically developing those pilots and who will be reporting to us later this year. Whether walking is for recreation, for tourism, for health, to see more of our beautiful country or just for getting about on our daily trips, whether it's part of a journey with other modes or it's a whole journey in its own right, we have huge potential to make sure that more people feel able to do that. The Scottish Government has an unprecedented commitment to active travel both in funding and in policy, but, as Gillian Mackay argued, it has to be inclusive. Walking, as well as wheeling and cycling, addresses all the diverse needs of our people and realises a positive vision of safe, healthy and thriving local communities in every part of Scotland. That concludes the debate on walking, improving health and strengthening communities. It's now time to move to the next item of business, which is consideration of business motion 4270 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau setting out a business programme. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and moved. Thank you. No member has asked to speak on the motion and the question is that motion 4270 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of business motion 4271 in the name of George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau on stage 2 timetabling off a bill. Any member who wishes to speak against the motion should press their request to speak button now. I call on George Adam to move the motion. Thank you Presiding Officer and once again moved. Thank you minister. No member has asked to speak against the motion therefore the question is that motion 4271 be agreed. Are we all agreed? The motion is therefore agreed. The next item of business is consideration of parliamentary business parliamentary bureau motion 4272 on approval of an SSI and I ask George Adam on behalf of the parliamentary bureau to move the motion. Thank you minister. The question on this motion will be put at decision time and there are three questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first is that amendment 4256.1 in the name of Paul O'Kane which seeks to amend motion 4256 in the name of Marie Todd on walking, improving health and strengthening communities be agreed. Are we all agreed? The Parliament is not agreed therefore we'll move to a vote and there'll be a short suspension to allow members to access the digital voting system.