 The first item of business this afternoon is a debate on motion number 10736, in the name of Shona Robison, on the legacy of the 20th Commonwealth Games in Scotland, humanity, equality and destiny. I invite those members who wish to speak in this debate to press the request to speak buttons now, please. I call on Shona Robison to speak to and move the motion. Cabinet secretary, you have 14 minutes, please. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. With the spectacular success of the Commonwealth Games and Team Scotland's record medal hall freshener minds, I'm delighted to address the chamber on the legacy of the games this afternoon. I'll reflect on the opportunities brought about by these games, touching on the core Commonwealth values of humanity, equality and destiny, and I'll look forward to reflecting on the need to maintain momentum and drive and to building upon the strong foundations now in place for the benefit of Scotland. From the outset legacy has been central to the planning of these games with more than 50 national legacy programmes in place. People across Scotland and the Commonwealth are benefiting now. We've reaped the rewards of record levels of investment into Commonwealth Games sports with Team Scotland's highest ever medal hall. They delivered the biggest ever Scottish team with 310 athletes securing a record-breaking 53 medals and four new Commonwealth Games records. Such world-class performances, supported through a system delivered here in Scotland, are an inspiration to us all. Scottish disability sport and other governing bodies of sport now stand ready for an upsurge in interest, harnessing enthusiasm through the Unleash Your Sporty Side campaign. The working group for sport identified that Scotland has world-class sporting facilities to complement the world-class sporting system. Those are being used by performance athletes and communities alike. They include many that are used in games such as the Sir Chris Hoy velodrome, the national indoor sports arena, the Commonwealth pool, but excellent facilities such as the Aberdeen Sports Village, the regional gymnastics facility in Dundee and many others. In fact, since 2007, more than £100 million has been spent on new and upgraded facilities. We have £25 million committed to support the development of the new national performance centre for sport. A further £20 million has been made available through Sport Scotland's national and regional sports facilities fund. We have seen more than 100 projects that have been supported by the £10 million Legacy Active Places fund. Just prior to the games, I announced a further £50 million for Sport Scotland's active schools network, providing pathways between school, club and elite levels. That is not to mention the 133 community sports hubs in development or operational across all 32 local authorities. Turning to the economic legacy, games procurement is estimated to have supported as many as 30,000 jobs. The £500 million that has been spent on the athletes village over the past six years has, on average, supported around 1,000 jobs and contributed £52 million to Scotland's economy each year. Through our national legacy programmes, 5,000 event-related training and job opportunities are available across Scotland for those who can most benefit. We have worked hard to ensure that contracts were accessible with 69 per cent going to Scottish businesses and almost £1 million being awarded to supported businesses. Next, we will help companies to take that new confidence and capacity to international markets. With a major international business conference and more than 90 business events held at Scotland House, we engaged more than 1,000 national and international business leaders, helping to strengthen international connections. The conversion of the athletes village to housing will leave behind a well-designed residential area, where, before there was a 90-acre brownfield site, major transport projects completed ahead of the games are helping to open up the area to further development opportunities. Legacy is also evident in the event sector, where an additional 37 national and international events have been secured, worth £14 million. That bodes well for the sustained use of games infrastructure. Alongside the sporting action, the cultural programme saw more than 1,500 events and thousands of performers at venues across Scotland. In Glasgow, more than three quarters of a million visited the game's live zones, cementing our reputation as a truly creative nation. As well as providing an unprecedented opportunity for tourism, those games have attracted Commonwealth heads of government and state, as well as numerous other international dignitaries. Individuals taking away a lasting impression of why Scotland is such an attractive place to do business, invest, work, live, study and visit. I have no doubt that the success of those games will continue to be felt throughout Scotland for many years to come. Now, let me reflect briefly on the core values of the Commonwealth games, humanity, equality and destiny. From the outset, Glasgow 2014 has been a truly inclusive games, with para sport fully integrated and the highest number of medals ever. Visitors and athletes alike saw first hand where it is like to be a country whose government is committed to an equal and fair society for everyone and has a progressive approach to human rights. The rainbow flag has been flown in solidarity with the LGBT community across the Commonwealth. Pride House welcomed over 6,000 visitors through its doors. The Scottish Government launched its one Scotland campaign in the middle of the games, promoting the message that Scotland believes inequality. It is vital that those games are a positive force for inclusion, not just for the weeks past, but for the decades to come. Our para athletes have performed fabulously at those games, winning seven para sport medals, and that is why I am delighted to announce today that £6 million is part of a £9 million investment for the development of a new national para sport centre. Based in Largs, Sport Scotland's national centre will nurture and hone future sporting talent here in Scotland. It will complement our network of world-class facilities and will allow for a future-erried Davies, who amazed us at Toll Cross and Neil Fahy and Aileen McGlynn, who wrote us to the podium in the velodrome. That centre will be the first of its kind in the UK. I think that it is testament that sport can truly be a powerful catalyst for change. Cabinet Secretary, thanks for the intervention. I am delighted by this most welcome announcement, as indeed I know that everyone will be connected with the national sport centre in Verklyde. Cabinet Secretary, if you can advise the chamber how this will now be taken forward in order to maintain the momentum and drive that you mentioned earlier in your speech. First of all, I should pay tribute to Kenny Gibson, because he has been a real advocate for the Inverclyde centre and has helped to bring people together to look at the future of the centre. Going forward, Sport Scotland will be working very closely with North Ayrshire Council to plan the development of the new centre, which will include not only the new national sports centre, but I know that North Ayrshire is keen for its school estate to be involved in the development of the new centre. That would be a good balance of use. We will give Inverclyde a whole new lease of life. I am happy to keep the member informed as those discussions begin to go forward in a more detailed level. I am sure that you will agree that we are well on our way to securing a lasting legacy for Scotland, but today does not mark the end of legacy. Legacy did not end with the closing ceremony. We have to look ahead to 2018, when the 21st Commonwealth Games will take place on the Gold Coast. The eyes of the world will be upon us again, and we want to show that we have continued to deliver a lasting legacy. I will continue to provide drive and leadership to maximise the benefit of hosting those games, but everyone has a role to play. Legacy is the responsibility of many parts of Government. Before the games, I wrote to my colleagues to highlight the important role they play in sustaining that legacy in the years ahead. Post-games structures are being established to deliver on our long-term commitments, embedding legacy aspirations into existing policy structures. Achievements to date have been made possible by the partnership working of a whole host of organisations and committed individuals, all working with a common purpose. National partners have been struck by the benefits of a collective approach to legacy, achieving more by working together, and we will capture the learning from this and use that going forward for legacy and other major events, starting with the year of food and drink next year. Local authorities are an essential link in the chain in spreading the benefits of those games across the whole of Scotland. The solace legacy leads group is meeting again soon, and I welcome their continued support. There are a number of areas where there are clear opportunities to strengthen this legacy. First, the sporting legacy, Sport Scotland, will continue to drive forward its world-class sporting system, which has already delivered for us so spectacularly. Let us not forget also the delivery for schools, communities and sports clubs on a daily basis. Of course, an immediate benefit exists in the form of the sports equipment from the games, including items of rugby balls and table tennis tables that will be distributed to clubs, schools and local authorities across Scotland. A long-term population-wide shift in sports participation and activity levels, however, is not an automatic outcome from hosting a major sporting event. The physical activity implementation plan was launched earlier this year and takes a long-term approach to tackling an activity building on the internationally renowned Toronto charter. I look forward to working with partners to ensure that we deliver on our commitment to increase sports participation and physical activity levels, regardless of age or background, as a lasting legacy from those games. We are in a good place, but we have to keep going. That is why I am pleased to confirm today that we are continuing with the £2 million of legacy funding next year to maintain momentum and continue to capitalise on the inspiration provided by those games. There can be no doubt that the games have been a strong catalyst for regeneration in the east end of Glasgow and South Lanarkshire. However, long-term success will only be achieved if communities are at the heart of regeneration and if the support is in place to reduce unemployment before the games are continued and strengthened after the games. Recognising that, the Scottish Government and partners, Glasgow City Council, South Lanarkshire Council and Clyde Gateway have reaffirmed a collective commitment to the regeneration of the area to ensure an enduring legacy. There are also plans in place to work with Scottish businesses to grow Scotland's role in the global events sector at home and overseas. Events are one of Scotland's biggest assets and we must capitalise on the venues, the infrastructure, the business, the volunteering and skills base that have been developed, and a new national event strategy will be published after the events of 2014 capitalising on what we have learned. Central to the success of the games has undoubtedly been our 15,000 Clyde Siders and we are working closely with Volunteers Scotland and others on a new initiative that will harness the enthusiasm of those who were successful and those who were not, matching their interests and skills to other exciting volunteering opportunities beyond the games. Finally, young people deserve a special mention. They have been at the heart of legacy and are key to sustaining legacy beyond the games. I, along with 19,000 others, had the pleasure of visiting the youth legacy ambassadors at Glasgow Green at their flourishing Scotland live site, where seed balls and wishes will form part of a wider regeneration effort to bring stalled spaces back to life. I am pleased that young Scotland will, in a matter of weeks, offer young people the platform to co-design future legacy activity beyond this year. That will build on the insights of the 150 youth legacy ambassadors, as well as other young people involved, in a wide range of legacy programmes that focus on youth. The year of young people in Scotland in 2018 provides a pathway to build on the legacy from those games. The opening ceremony marked a first by raising £5 million for UNICEF, and as a charitable partner of the games, UNICEF will use those funds to realise their ambition of reaching every child in Scotland over the next four years, as well as helping children across the Commonwealth. Part of the legacy in Scotland focuses on children's rights, and I was delighted to receive a preview, along with pupils from Blackfriars primary school in Glasgow, of the child rights launchpad. That will be provided free to schools, communities and sports groups in youth clubs throughout Scotland, and I believe will make a huge difference to children's lives. The legacy that has been created by the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council and partners is sparking interest further afield. The Commonwealth Games Federation has already hailed it as a blueprint for the future, which was very complementary. We are now engaged in learning lessons in the transfer of knowledge, most directly to our friends in Queensland for the Gold Coast 2018, but also for the CGF itself in its plans to build legacy more explicitly into the bid requirements for future games, and that is something that we would certainly welcome. In the years to come, the 2014 Commonwealth Games will not only be remembered as the biggest cultural and sporting event that Scotland has ever seen, but it will also be remembered for its legacy, a legacy that has grown and evolved, providing other countries with a benchmark showing what can be delivered when you put people and the nation's wellbeing at the heart of a major international event. I note the amendments that are made by Patricia Ferguson and Liz Smith, and I am happy to accept them in full in the spirit of co-operation and I have moved the motion in my name. I now call on Patricia Ferguson to speak to and to move amendment 10736.2, 10 minutes please, Ms Ferguson. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I move the amendment in my name. Can I say in opening that I am delighted with the announcement that the Cabinet Secretary has made today about the facility in Largs. As she knows, I have had a keen interest in disability sport for a long time now, and I think that it is entirely fitting that we take this step, building on what happened at the Commonwealth Games and recognising that, although Paris sport has always been integrated into the Commonwealth Games, it has never been integrated quite to the extent that it has been on this occasion. From ScotRail renaming stations such as Springburn to the Whitty and Games Appropriates, or to the millions of people who bought tickets for the games or watched on TV, it seemed to me as though almost everyone was in on the biggest party that Glasgow has ever thrown. It was not just Glaswegians who were involved with athletes from around the world, games venues in Edinburgh, Lanarkshire and Angus, and volunteers from around the UK and beyond. I will perhaps say a little more about the volunteers in my closing remarks. A quick glance at social media in the evenings helped to tell me which of my relatives and friends were in town for the games and which cousins were coming back to Glasgow from around the UK to watch the games. I think that the prize for distance travel to my own family goes to a cousin who came from Tasmania to watch his two sports, judo and triathlon, and could not believe the transformation in the city of his birth. Given that he is the same age as me, I must admit that he put me rather to shame, but we can but aspire to do better. Of course, it all really began with the baton relay. The relay was always going to be important in my own constituency because, alone of all the sectors of the city, the north was the only one that did not really have a games venue, something that I regret. The baton relay was the main opportunity for communities in the north to join in the fun and the excitement and joy. People lined the route wherever the baton went, and special praise must go to Depowarch's Imposial Park, who really went to town with a programme of activity second to none. The 8,000 people who turned up at Springburn Park to witness the final event of the day's baton relay also embraced the event with real enthusiasm, and we enjoyed music and sunshine for several hours before the baton arrived. The opening ceremony was just the kind of event that was needed with enough pomp to mark the beginning of the games, and plenty of Glasgow humour, self-mocking and joyous, allowing everyone to join in. I think that the sight of dancing teacakes will probably stick with me forever, although I probably won't eat very many in the future. There's much about that night that is memorable, with all the performers deserving praise—I know that I don't have a habit of eating them at the moment, but that's nearly there. With all the performers deserving our praise, I think that, for me, the joy in Nicola Benedetti's face as she played, and the marvellous voice of Pumessah singing one of my favourite songs, together with the wonderful dances from Scottish Bally, will be remembered for a long time. The volunteers who danced their hearts out for more than two hours were simply great. I was at the opening ceremony, but I was rather far from the field of play, so I missed the fact that John Barrowman had kissed another male performer, but when I heard about it, that just gave me an excuse to watch the ceremony again. And well done to John Barrowman and to whoever came up with the idea of making such an important point without a lecture being delivered or a word uttered. I think that that truly is part of the legacy of these games. Scottish Labour's amendment also makes reference to the UNICEF initiative that raised £5 million from the audience and reminded us during the evening how difficult life can be for some of the children at home and further afield, and I hope that it might become a feature of other multi-sport events or other sports events in the future. Then, of course, the games began with every last one of our athletes, indeed all the athletes who participated, being remarkable, and many of them overcoming great adversity in life to participate. And of course, the spectators cheered on the home athletes with great gusto and enthusiasm, but cheered on other countries too, and that was a joy to see. I have a feeling that if the bid for Glasgow to host the 2018 Youth Olympics had been made after the Commonwealth Games and not before, the outcome might have been influenced in a good way in Glasgow's favour. And our medal hall began on day one with the amazing Aileen Magline and her pilot Louise Haston, adding silver to Aileen's already impressive Olympic and Commonwealth Games medal tally, and the Renwick sisters in Judo, leading a medal rush in their sport. The fantastic achievement of Hannah Mylley and the pool began a games that culminated, as we know, in Scotland placed fourth on the medal table with new records against the names of many of our athletes and our largest ever medal hall at a Commonwealth Games. We witnessed some amazing performances throughout the games. I am not going to mention them here because time doesn't allow, but they were truly remarkable in that regard. There isn't time either to mention every Scots athlete who won a medal, but actually that's something to be proud of. So I will simply say, well done to all of them and to their coaches and their families who support them throughout the year. So the games began in glorious sunshine, but all too soon the weather deteriorated and we were faced with a downpour of almost monsoon-like proportions, but still the spectators came with £120,000 lining the streets of Glasgow in the worst of weather to cheer on those brave enough to compete in those conditions. All too soon the games were over and now we must consider their legacy. So what will that legacy be and how do we harness the enthusiasm that there is for sport in our country as a result? Now I have to say that going right back in the history of these games, before our decision was even made that we should bid, one of the assessments that was done and the most serious assessment that was done was about whether or not it is possible to secure a legacy from an event such as this. The result of that study, which took the best part of a year, was that there could be, but it had to be planned and programmed in from the very beginning if it could be realised. So it is important that we remember that that was always part of the plan. Indeed, I think that it was actually a key decider in the bid for Glasgow being successful. We know that we have witnessed regeneration in the east end of Glasgow in terms of regeneration and infrastructure. The athlete's village will provide new affordable homes as well as houses for rent. The tourism sector in the city has enjoyed a boom and is likely to be able to capitalise on return visits for some time to come. Hopefully that too will result in more jobs with decent pay and good working conditions attached. Unemployment in the east end of Glasgow, as in several other parts of the city, including my constituency, remains stubbornly high. There are legacy programmes to try to counter that. I would particularly single out the apprenticeship programme that has been operating in Glasgow at a cost of £50 million for some time now. I have certainly met a number of young people who have successfully applied and become apprentices on that scheme. To say that it has made a difference to their lives and their life opportunities is not to exaggerate at all. A recent survey carried out for the city council revealed that some two thirds of those in the sample cohort in the east end who were out of work reported that they had long-standing illness, disability or infirmity. How do we improve the health record of Glasgow in Scotland and can that be a legacy of the games? In my own view, encouraging young people to walk or cycle to school would be a start, with more encouragement given to people who walk or cycle regularly. If we have to start somewhere, it seems to me that we could start there. Those are not activities that require a great deal of infrastructure, they just need encouragement and the get-go to do it. What is sport itself? I think that that is perhaps the most interesting and possibly even the most challenging aspect of legacy. In an article in the Herald this week, Doug Gillan, who is covered at least 11 Commonwealth games by my reckoning, makes the point that there should be a process of debriefing, learning what worked and being honest about what did not, and that we should look at how and what we fund in sport 2. Doug Gillan suggests that the analysis should be done independently, that it should not be done by the Institute or Sport Scotland, praiseworthy though they both are, that it should be done independently to ensure that it is rigor. I think that he has a point. We know that we performed particularly well in some sports and perhaps did not perform to capacity in others, and we need to look at that and be honest with ourselves and with the athletes about why that occurred. If we look forward to the Gold Coast, as the minister has urged us to do, we have to think about the fact that all the home nations, England and Wales—I think that with the exception of Northern Ireland—did better in those games than they have ever done before, like Scotland. We have to wonder whether or not we will be able to achieve those kinds of results in the Gold Coast. I hope that we will, but we have to start preparing seriously now to do that. Before much more time passes, we need to harness to the enthusiasm that was so evident during the games to encourage the entire country to become more active more often. In my view, some kind of event to mark the end of the games and to encourage momentum might have been a good way to do it at some point during this or next week. It might be that the athletes parading Glasgow on 15 August would be a fitting moment to show that that momentum will continue and that the impetus is still there, because the games might be over, but their legacy must live on. I now call Liz Smith to speak to and move amendment 10736.1. Six minutes please, Ms Smith. I begin by reiterating our congratulations to all those who helped to make the Commonwealth Games such a successful and indeed memorable event, whether it was our outstanding athletes, the numerous officials and administrators, the volunteers, the Scottish and UK Governments, Glasgow City Council, the police, the armed forces—they all deserve glowing praise for the excellent work that they did. Over the 11 days, we witnessed competition of the very highest order, and so we were perhaps not surprised to hear Mike Hooper, the chief executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation, tell us that they were the stand-out games in the history of the movement. That is a very considerable compliment, and in that vein we have absolutely no problem in supporting the main motion and indeed the Labour amendment. We also welcome the announcement that the minister has made regarding large. I do not think that anybody could doubt the extent of the challenge that we actually face when it comes to the delivery of a meaningful and lasting legacy. I say that because I do not think that it is easy to actually define the parameters of the debate. The word legacy in itself is not actually terribly easy to define, particularly in its qualitative sense, and therefore I do not actually think that it is particularly easy to measure. In some games in the past that has been a reason why people have perhaps moved away from the issue. While it must by necessity include some aspects of quantitative measure, for example increasing the number of people who are participating in sport and taking on board the Scottish Government's initiative to try to ensure that more women take up sport, you can measure the reductions in obesity totals or how much additional money is raised, but the legacy has to be much more than that, and I think that is the tougher call. Indeed, I am not entirely sure that it is the politician's job to say what that should be, but what I think is our job and what we have to do in line with the other stakeholders, such as Sport Scotland and Glasgow 2014 and local authorities, is to deliver the right circumstances that will help communities to develop the more qualitative aspects of the legacy. Stewart Harris said that it is all about building capacity, and I think that he is absolutely right in that. It is not enough to provide top-class facilities in sport. At a recent meeting of the cross-party sport group, we heard that 50 per cent of the senior schools in Scotland now have excellent sports facilities, and we have all seen many of them, but at times quite a lot of them are still underused in what is important. I think that the cabinet secretary referred to this in the context of LARGs. We have to change the public perception and the culture and attitudes to ensure that there is participation and development. The games obviously revealed some inspirational examples that can facilitate such a shift in that perspective. The extraordinary achievement of England's Steve Wehoun in 2007—I think that he said on television that he weighed 16.5 stone and smoked 20 cigarettes a day, but at Glasgow 2014 he finished 10th in the marathon, breaking the British Over 40s record, which he had stood since 1979. I think that Weh's transformation shows the ability of sport to change lives as sufficient determination is there. Or who can forget the delightful Eric Davis, the 13-year-old shetland swimmer who won bronze in the 100-metre power breaststroke, showed just how much can be done with even modest means. I'm sure our colleague Tavish Scott, who I know is here, will say a little bit more about this, but she trains in Bray in a pool that I think is about a third of the length of the one in which she won her medal. She has proved just what can be done without necessarily having world-class facilities in which to train. When she was interviewed, she spoke about her inspiration at primary school. If I may, I want to focus on the Conservative amendment to this, which makes a statement about the crucial role that I believe primary schools will have if they have to deliver the legacy in full. As I understand it, cabinet secretary, I think that there has been very significant progress in recent months about the meeting of the PE targets in schools. I know that Sport Scotland has worked very hard with Education Scotland to support the PE CPD programme, which will ensure that much more is done to tackle the shortfall in primary teachers who are fully qualified in PE and in sport. Sport Scotland, at a recent session of the Health and Sport Committee, made it very clear that the issue is much more about the quality of that delivery, rather than just the amount. I would suggest, cabinet secretary, that we need to do a little bit more to ensure that local authorities know exactly what is going on in their schools, because a recent FOI response suggested that there was a rather worrying number of them who did not seem to know what the situation was in their schools, how many teachers were fully trained etc. It would be helpful, cabinet secretary, because there is a little bit information about when you expect to be able to update that kind of data and just how we can move forward from that. What the games have also proved is Scotland's depth of sporting interest and ability. Something that I know is always very dear to the heart of the late Margaret MacDonald, as she chaired the cross-party sport group. We may be a football mad nation from time to time, but I think that these games have proved just what else we can do in the so-called minority sports. Three goals in the bronze and lawn bowls are remarkable. There are 13 medals in judo, and I just noticed yesterday that the squash and netball figures are both shot up in terms of the rankings of spectator sport. I think that there is an interest there about the broadcasting of sport, and that was something that all credit to the BBC, who managed to develop a lot of these minority sports to a level that we had not seen before. I think that the lessons about broadcasting are something that we can develop in the future. I am running out of time, but I do want to say that I think that this legacy has to run deep. It is about some of the difficult concepts, but nonetheless these are the most important ones if we are to provide what will be a meaningful and a lasting legacy. I move the amendment in my name. We now come to the open debate, speeches of six minutes please, and I call Sandra White to be followed by Drew Smith. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I am looking forward to a very animated debate, I hope. I just start by saying and giving an absolutely big warm thank you to everyone who partied in the games, from the athletes to the volunteers, the transport workers, the council workers and of course the people of Glasgow and of Scotland who made it truly the people's games. That is certainly the word that I was hearing throughout the games, this is the people's games. I do believe that that is the legacy that these games have given to the rest of the world and it is resonating throughout Glasgow. I think that we are a bit shell shocked that it is not still going on obviously. Some people are quite happy that they can go on the bus now and get their cars out, but the vast majority of people are saying what has happened. We are so busy and we are looking forward to anything else that comes forward to Glasgow. I have to say that perhaps an interest here has been a member of the Executive Committee of the CPN in the Scottish Parliament. I really was very proud, I am glad that Patricia Fergan has put it in her motion, proud of the fact that the organiser of the games took it upon them to use the initiative to raise money through UNICEF for the benefit of the children of the commonwealth. It is a truly unique idea and it shows the spirit of Glasgow and the people of Scotland and the humanity that is there. I am very proud of that part that was put forward. I echo Lord Smith of Kelvin, the Scotland 2014 chair, when he said that Glasgow's connections with the commonwealth are centuries old and they are undeep. The tell a story of industry and enterprise on a global scale. Those connections have been strengthened and, although the games may leave Glasgow, Glasgow will never forget the commonwealth games. It has marked our city and it has won a place in our hearts. This is a city that dares to dream, a city that is defined by its people, a city that looks out for each other, a welcoming city. That is very true and perhaps I will come back to some of the personal experiences that I had throughout and that will continue our connections with the commonwealth after September 18 this year. I mentioned the fact about the initiative and how proud I was and I am also very proud and thankful for the Minister for her announcement of the Paris Sports Centre based in Largs. The first in the UK, and I think that this is absolutely great news, fits in with the legacy of humanity, equality and destiny. I must also mention and congratulate Glasgow College, who had six graduates in team Scotland, including Kimberly Renwick, who won the very first gold medal of the games, and Liam Davies, whose team claimed the very first medal for team gymnast. The reason I raised this is that it surely bodes very well for our colleges and what they can achieve. It bodes well for the future of our gymnast and our athletes in our colleges and I think that we have to remember that. I want to share some of my fantastic personal experiences from the transport workers point of view. I remember getting on the bus because obviously we were still working during the games as well, and living in the merchant city I couldn't get a car out, so I would walk or I would jump the bus. I must admit that everyone was so happy that we had to stand going from the city centre, coming out from the city centre, but it was just an absolutely happy atmosphere and the drivers on the first bus really took it to their hearts. They would get off the bus to take people off with prams, they would get off the bus to take people off with wheelchairs, and I was saying to the cabsseq earlier on when I came in that one particular driver, I'm sure he'll know who he is, if he reads this, was so enthusiastic when people got on from Kelvin Grove with their passes and they perhaps had a pass that said they were going to the wrestling and the judo, and they were over 50 years of age put it that way. The driver would make a remark and saying, sure that you goodness you're not going to go wrestling or anything, and everybody took it in absolutely fantastic spinnits, and that was the way it was throughout the whole of the games. I've also got to thank the Glasgow City Council workers who kept the city absolutely spotless and clean. They worked 24 hours a day, constantly all the time and I think it was great in the closing ceremony to see them come out and be awarded by the song, Obviously Destiny, as they were singing it by Deacon Blue, and I thought that was a really good touch because they worked so hard and as I say, I live in a medicine city and travelling throughout the Kelvin, there's lots and lots of things going on in my constituency, it was spotless and clean and they kept the whole thing going all the time. There's so many people obviously, the volunteers as well, but I think the police as well, I saw a couple of policemen doing a dance and our guide street joined in with, we had a 1920s, 1940s one afternoon in our guide street and they were having a great time and I'm sure I think everyone else probably saw it, it was on YouTube as well as, I thought that they did a great job as well, but the everyday people, apart from the volunteers, but the everyday people in Glasgow were absolutely fantastic, they helped people, they gave them directions even if they didn't want to go, they told them they were going, in Glasgow they were pretty famous for that, telling people well if you want to go there, we'll take you, but maybe we don't want to go for another hour, we'll take you just now anyway, so it was absolutely fantastic in that, they gave them a history of Glasgow, I was with a couple of Australians, we were up at the Necropolis and people were giving them a history of the Necropolis and the great thing was that every single one of them said, we'd never visited Glasgow or parts of Scotland before, perhaps the Highlands, but nothing in a city centre and they were definitely going to come back because there's so much going on that they were so enthused that they wanted to come back, and I think that in concluding, Presiding Officer, we've got to thank the staff who ran the hotels, the pubs, the clubs and the restaurants, they really run these places absolutely fantastically, I hope they got the salaries that they deserved because they certainly did work very very hard around the clock with a smile on their face and all in all, I think the legacy that's been left to the rest of Scotland and the world is at Glasgow is a great place that we are always welcome to come and visit, thank you. Thank you and I call on Drew Smith to be followed by John Mason. Thank you very much Presiding Officer, it's a pleasure to take part in this debate and to follow the enthusiasm of Sandra White and I would begin by echoing some of those thank yous as well to the minister obviously, I couldn't have thought of a better highlight of that last weekend than the one that she was able to enjoy on all of her behalf in presenting the medals after the men's road race at Glasgow Green to the city councils and all the partners, the organising committee, all of the various officials and different organisations. To the media, Kenny Stewart, who's in the gallery, our parliamentary link, I think will all miss your email invitations to pose with a giant inflatable shoe or high five with Clyde or put her hard hats on a venue tour, the volunteers including Patricia Ferguson and I know John Mason also. I think it says a lot about Patricia Ferguson that she volunteered her time in the back rooms at Glasgow after being part of the successful bid and indeed presenting medals herself in Melbourne and our amendment makes reference to the thousands of ordinary people who gave up their time to do the same and I agree that we do need to think about how we follow up their superb contribution. Many of those that I met did come from all over Scotland, all over the UK and many of them had been volunteers at Manchester and in London and it's clear that there's a momentum there that will keep going. There are too many people to mention, Sandra White gave a good shot, I would agree with her, the bus drivers took us to and from the venues, the bus marshals who were losing their voices trying to get us on the buses, the trains and taxi drivers, the police, the men and women who brought their Scotty dogs to the opening ceremony, the women in the George Square ticket office, it helped me on the morning of the opening ceremony to get my tickets. It's the city parks department who made sure that the city looked at its best and that every public space in the centre of Glasgow was decked with flowers but the event of course was about athletes and that's our biggest thank you to them, the teams that support them for putting on the show from all over the Commonwealth from the home nations and of course Team Scotland who are proud of it as the minister says, a record hall of medals. I think that the success of these games was measured against the expectations and the preparations that were made for them and I don't think that I ever doubted that Glasgow would deliver so I wasn't surprised and I don't feel overawed by the best games ever. I think that Glaswegians knew that our city would shine in this moment whether it was in the sun or in the rain and the people of Glasgow, Galas and Generous as they are, I think made these games and I think that regardless of our parties, all of us have got the privilege to represent the city, we are rightly proud to do so this summer. I think that politics and sport do have a curious relationship so I think that it was right that we saw it to protect the competitors from being asked their views about the referendum every turn but it is the case that the games happened because political leaders got behind sporting visionaries in bringing them to Glasgow and a lasting legacy, something that is often talked about with major sporting events but which is rarely delivered will only come if we politicians back up those volunteers in our sports clubs and support our least active citizens to make their own way to healthier lives. The backup and frankly the money comes because of political decisions so the games were not about politics but the legacy now is all about politics. My constituents in East End and across Glasgow who feared the games would be something happening to other people and they are now looking to us to the Scottish Government but to all of us to deliver on the promises that were made and those of us who supported the games coming and thought through the planning knew that there were cynics out there who were unconvinced that this would be money well spent or that it would be worth the disruption and it was the vision of the legacy as much as the success of the sport which has ensured that public support was so high when the games opened and we really do have a responsibility not to let those people down now. I would welcome every announcement that the minister has made in every programme that she is supporting but I think that the political determination to change lives and to raise our eyes must be sustained beyond the athletes period and I do not doubt that the minister shares that. Physical activity in Scotland's single biggest public health challenge and encouraging participation in sport from the youngest age is a huge part of the solution. Children need the opportunities to try and like or dislike as many sports as possible until they find something that might be part of their life forever. Physical literacy is key skills not just for games or for sport but for living a fuller life, running, jumping, swimming, throwing and catching. Confidence at these basics provides us with the ability to return to activity at any time in our lives regardless of fitness levels or our commitment to competitive sport. In the days following the games, I was pleased to see that Scottish swimming has been promoting their Every Child Can Swim campaign, which I feel very strongly about. Swimming is too often missed when we talk about physical literacy. I would say, as some of the team Scotland medallists who have been doing so in an online video this week, that swimming is also a life skill. We do obviously live in Ireland but we also live in a country where too many children are still seriously injured as a result of accidents and drownings in open waterways. In my view, that would be one example of where a fitting legacy would be for a long-term commitment to teach all of our children to swim for enjoyment, for fitness, for sport but also because it is the potential to get them out of danger. Like riding a bike, learning to swim is something that never leaves us and it is the perfect activity as we get older and our ability to exercise vigorously does decrease. Walking was rightly mentioned by Patricia Ferguson as well as being promoted as an activity for those who are currently least active and wished to improve their mobility, their fitness or their health. It has been described as the best prescription for a healthier life, so I would also hope and expect that the minister will continue her encouragement for those forms of activity in a way that I think can promote lifelong activity by giving children the skills at the youngest age to have skills and activity that they can then go back to in life but also to provide those entry-level activities that can be gateways for people taking up activity later in life. I do not really have time at this stage now to go into all the issues about facilities, Presiding Officer, and I will not. I think that they are fantastic and notwithstanding what Liz Smith said about swimming pools, which I absolutely agree with. She is perfectly correct that it is amazing things that can be achieved without facilities. I do not doubt that the increased availability that we have seen over the years of things such as 50m pools across the country did help us with the success that we supported Scottish swimming in Tollcross. I hope that the minister will consider this to be a debate that we can come back to on an annual basis in the remaining period of this Parliament so that we can all continue to play a part in the legacy of these games. The first two opening speakers have run slightly over. I am afraid that I do not have a lot of time in the debate, so I would ask members to keep to their six minutes. Please join Mason to be followed by John Pentland. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Firstly, I would like to add my voice to say that I consider the games to have been such a huge success. I do not know if it is my personal make-up that I do not always share quite as much confidence as Drew Smith has just told us that he was confident that everything would work, because I did wonder, I did wonder could we fill the venues for some of these minor sports? What would the weather be like? Would some external event come along and that could disrupt the games? Or even if it was wise to have the thanksgiving service in the cathedral actually before the games had happened? I am glad to say that all of these concerns were proved unfounded and things clearly went extremely well. I could list a range of things that we could have done better, and I want to mention one or two of those as we go through. However, we have to keep anything like that in perspective. The games were enormously successful and hiccups or blips are always going to happen along the way, but we need to remember that they are just that, pretty minor issues in the scheme of things. Specifically on legacy, one of the biggest parts of that has to be the ability, the experience and now the confidence to run such large events in both Glasgow and in Scotland, and that is linked, I believe, to the image of Glasgow in Scotland in the wider world. This is a process that has been going on for quite some time. We had the city of culture in the past, we had the garden festival, we had the Champions League final, all of these, and we want that process to continue now that we have shown what we can do. Would we do things differently in the future? Of course, we always want to be learning and doing things better. For example, was the £90 million for security a bit over the top? We had a lot of police, a lot of military, a lot of private security personnel, where there are too many. I guess that that is a question that there can never be a right answer to. We had a lot of high profile individuals and some of them potentially unpopular individuals in the city attending the games and something could have gone wrong, so I am very grateful indeed that nothing did go wrong. For example, I was working in the hydro at gymnastics at one stage when members of the royal family came in, watched the sport, later left, and that seemed to be handled in a very appropriate, low-key, relaxed kind of way, albeit that there was more going on behind the scenes. Moving on to volunteering, which I know that Patricia Ferguson and I both took part in. I do not know if we were representatives of the Parliament, but we would like to think we were. I really enjoyed the experience and my duties included things like checking people's tickets, guiding folk around the hydro and using a megaphone and large green foam hand in Finneson Street directing spectators to their events. There was a certain feeling of power, which I now understand what you have, Presiding Officer. Very quickly, yes. Bob Doris, can I have your microphone up? Presiding Officer, I thank the member for high-fiving me with a large green foam hand at Finneson on the way to the women's weightlifting finals. I think that Mr Mason did an excellent job. There were some trickier tasks along the way. For example, with the one-way system at the SCCC, people had to leave over the Bell's bridge and, frankly, not everybody was very happy about that. By contrast, one of the most pleasant experiences that I had was last Saturday morning when some of the boxing fans were being told that they were getting their tickets upgraded, and to see people's faces when they told them that they were getting a better ticket was absolutely magic. On the Clyde side, it will be interesting to see in due course an analysis of all those who took part, were they across sections of the whole of society. I was only in one part of the team, which was spectator services at SCCC, although it was quite a large team. A lot of them were young, which is perhaps not surprising, especially given the physical nature of a lot of the work. I think that both Patricia Ferguson and myself found our ages a challenge when it came to some of the work. The advantage of having a lot of young people was certainly the level of enthusiasm and energy that we had. I could see that some of the—oh, yes, on you go. I can assure the member that, while I might have been a little bit tired after a nine-hour shift on occasion, I did not feel that the work was too difficult or too hard, but then again, I did not have the responsibility of the foam finger. It was good to see some of the younger folk who were team leaders and some of the temporary paid staff, who were also quite young, gaining obviously value of experience and decision-making and leadership skills. However, the volunteers in the team where I work did seem to be very white and very female, and I wonder whether it was mainly folk from better-off backgrounds. One Clyde Sider told me from down south that it cost him £2,000 to take part. Obviously, for local folk, there was virtually no cost in that. It was good to have volunteers from all over different parts, not just of the UK but even beyond, although some of them clearly suffered from lack of local knowledge. One evening, the train stopped running at Exhibition Centre station, and we were asked to explain to people how they could get home. That could be challenging for folk who did not know where the city centre is or where they could catch a number two bus. Maybe we need to think too about the local knowledge of volunteers in the future. I have mentioned so far the legacy of our ability to run such events and the volunteering legacy, which I hope can continue. The third and final one that I would want to touch on would be the physical local legacy, which I am not sure others will talk about other issues, too. For my constituents and myself, we have something very real and very physical. We have the games village, now becoming 700 new homes, social rented bought care home, we have the eminence arena and velodrome for a whole range of major and minor sports. We have the improved tow cross pool, which allows both serious and leisure swimmers. We have the Scottish hockey centre, and I hope that sport can be spread out amongst more young people in more schools. Of course, we have the great infrastructure now with roads like the Clyde gateway, which they have helped to generate to bring business and jobs into the area. On behalf of Glasgow Shetleston constituency, we are very grateful for all the investment that has been made. We are sure that both residents and businesses have been disrupted and, in some cases, quite severely disrupted. However, the long-term benefit is hard to argue against. There is more to be done, but we have been given a superb lift-up in order to get on with the job. I call John Pentland to be followed by James Dornan, and we have to keep straightly to six minutes, please. Presiding Officer, like others, it is really important to recognise that the organisational and sporting successes of the Commonwealth Games have been a product of the efforts of many people working together, enthusiastically and inclusively. Mr Pentland, could you put your microphone round slightly? Maximising the benefits that are delivered as a result of the Games will also be dependent upon harnessing that energy and the commitment and the spirit of co-operation. Like me, I am sure that everybody knows somebody who knows someone from somewhere who made these Games pure dead brilliant and the best ever. There is not enough time to thank all the sports people, parliamentarians, councillors and officials who were involved with the bid instigated in 2006, or everyone involved in the planning and development of the Games, Glasgow City Council, The Excellent Hosts, North Lancer Council for the Triathlon at Strathclyde Park, which was immaculate and fantastic, and where the first medal of the Games was awarded, and to North Lancer, Malaysia, who provided the training facilities at Ravenscraig's regional sports centre. I congratulate all our competitors and medal winners who deserve all the praise that has been heaped upon them for their dedication and for making the Games compulsive viewing, especially for a couch potato like myself, and I can assure you that that's about to change. And what a delight it was to see the gold medal won by Bishop Horseman, lightweight boxer, Charlie Flynn, and like many others, I shared the surprise when the judges decided that Motherwell's Rhys McFadden, who should have been on his way to gold, would have to settle for a bronze instead. And last but definitely not least, my thanks to the volunteers who all did such a magnificent job, and to everyone who worked with the national teams, who helped at events, and were out and about helping the public to make the most of the Games. We are all, we are of course hoping that all the success added to the experience of those who visited and those who watched throughout the world will have a lasting legacy. And like the minister said, you know that there are good reasons to hope that this, you know, will be the case. Not least is the way in which the Commonwealth Games himself took advantage of the Olympics that preceded them in London. That helped with the development of facilities and the performance of sports people throughout the UK. North Lanarkshire's facilities, by the way, will hopefully bring the British transplant games in 2017, and I'm sure the Parliament along with myself will wish the Council every success in that bid. Many of the sports are, of course, supported at UK level with UK-wide facilities, and there is tremendous UK co-operation and camaraderie in all sports. The Olympics provided the template and the platform, and this was utilised in the planning of the Glasgow 2014, and it encouraged the growth of public interests in the wide range of sports. These really were the friendly games, as all competitors were given great support and all visitors were warmly welcomed. That was often especially true to the supposed old enemy, with English athletes being rousingly cheered to victory. What we have to do now is to take the combined achievements of the UK and its nations, competing together and in a friendly rivalry, and to build on that to take Scottish and UK sport to the next level. The Commonwealth Games legacy for Scotland will exist at many levels, and they are the obvious and often highlighted economic aspects such as regeneration, tourism and international trade. There are the benefits for sport and the consequences for that for better health. Some are not so obvious, such as boosting social capital. This is one part of the legacy that has to be harnessed, not tomorrow, not next week, or after the referendum, but immediately. Some of the volunteers will already be involved in various forms of activity, but for others who I heard talking about it, it was an invigorating first new experience. I welcome Scotland's best initiative, being open to young Clyde Siders, but we also need to channel the tremendous energy and commitment of Clyde Siders into other areas, into their communities, into the volunteer sector and into civic activity. Those benefits just won't happen, or at least they won't be maximised, without a concerted effort to promote and sustain them. The lottery is spending £15 million on games-related funding, but the opportunities to access this are coming to an end. What is going to be done to match the volunteers with further opportunities? The next few months will be a crucial time during which we can build on the success of the Commonwealth Games. The Scottish Government has the power to do that and needs to use that power. Hopefully, the result of the referendum will allow us to concentrate on developing the benefits of working together within Scottish and UK sport and within our communities to further the spirit of the Games. I would like to join with my colleague Joe Smith and welcome Kenny Stewart to the chamber. I have a feeling that Kenny, like many of us, has got a hangover from the Commonwealth Games and is here for a wee curer. Nice to see you, Kenny, and thanks for your help. I am in an extremely lucky position of having Hamden Park in my dosta, which meant that, for the duration of the Games outside my office in Mount Florida, I was buzzing with people excited at the first-class sport that they were on their way to witness or coming back from witnessing in the arena. No one who was there or watching TV will forget that it reveals a velly child and Hannah Miley, Ross Murdoch, Lindsay Sharp, Libby Clegg, and so many others. The sporting highlight of the Games was the incredible 13-year-old, Derry Davies, which I am sure my colleague Tavish Scott will probably want to speak about in more detail. Her smile after she won her bronze was without a doubt one of the great moments of the Games for me. For the 11 days of the Games area, I represent, like so many others, was transformed not only by the sporting endeavours around it but by the countless local community groups who arranged numerous events to really get into the Commonwealth Games spirit. On Monday prior to the start of the Games, I attended the Lane Party held by the Gateway Residence Association in Battlefield, which was attended by members of the Barbeders Commonwealth team after they had adopted them as their Commonwealth Games team earlier on. It was a great day with a massive turnout from local community, keen to welcome the Games to that area. I know that this was appreciated by the Barbeders team as was their presence by the locals. I have to thank the Barbeders team for some of the athletes coming straight from training that day to make sure that the Games were seen as being part of the community and not just part of the arenas. The local Glencart hill, Paris Church, was at a coffee shop over the course of the Games, which kept them extremely busy, and the visitors to the Games were well fed with the delicious selection of home baking and offer. The parents, teachers and pupils of Mount Florida primary school did a magnificent job of decorating the Triangle grass area just outside of their school and across the road from Hamden. I was driving past it one day and I saw people putting knitted blankets around trees, so I thought that I would need to stop here and see if there is somebody vandalising those trees in some way. It was the school pupils, parents and teachers who were doing this to welcome people to the area. The communities of Crawford and Casamol decorated the streets in the way of Cathken Braves with banners and flags, and thousands turned out to watch the mountain biking at the purpose-built mountain biking centre. The local community is rallying around to try to ensure that one of the lasting legacies of the Games is an increase in the facilities at the mountain bike track so that it can become an urban centre of mountain biking excellence. Casamol turned out to be forced to see the Baton really reach its community, but it was carried for part of the way by Theresa Saddler, one of those nominated to carry the Baton by members of her community and who is another excellent example of a local champion in the area who is involved in a number of local groups and campaigns in the community over and above the fantastic work that she does as chair of the Castle and Houses Association. The Baton really was just another example of the community spirit across the commonwealth that the Games fostered. The Queen's Baton travelled more than 198,000 kilometres across all parts of the commonwealth when she was warmly welcomed wherever it went. Another local people who carried the Baton on its journey to Celtic Park was Carol Patterson, who runs a magnificent Saturday club in Aussies based at Cathcart Old Paris Church. It will come as no surprise to the people in this chamber who know that every new go breath at his church was jam-packed with events as part of his celebration city. Glasgow, the caring city, has worked on more than 55 of the 71 commonwealth countries that had teams competing in the Games. I hosted one of those events, a night of Celtic Rock with Eric Fonkner of Bay City Rollers fame and an upcoming Glasgow band The Chatlands, named after the comedian and not the Reverend Neil with lead singer Jill Jackson. It was a great evening with more than a few ladies of a certain age, a bit excited to meet a Bay City Roller. It's amazing how quickly some can revert to their screaming teenager phase. This was just one of a number of events that took place, but undoubtedly the highlight, with my night of course, was brave hearts and musical, starring the kids from the aforementioned Saturday club in Aussies. For those who don't know it, the Saturday club in Aussies are clubs for children with disabilities of varying kinds, and to see them put in the effort and put on such a performance was extremely touching, as well as very entertaining. We also have to give a message to all those dedicated ladies and they were all ladies, that's why I said it, who worked so hard to make sure that the tea rooms were open for everybody that attended over the period of that 11 days. This is just a small flavour of the more than 120 events that were put on over the course of the Celebration City Festival. The whole area was a cacophony of sights and sounds, and it's clear that there's a want for there to be a lasting legacy of the Games. We are here to talk of legacy, and for me it will come in many different guises. As a board member of Scottish Women and Sport, I was particularly delighted to see that Scottish Women had the best games ever. We need to keep that momentum going and do all we can to ensure that a lasting legacy of the Games is getting more women of all ages involved and engaged in sport. I suspect that the greatest legacy for my great city will be the reawakening of community spirit that took place before and during the Games. I see that the part of the legacy being about humanity, and I have not seen greater examples of humanity than I have seen over the two weeks roughly the two weeks of the Commonwealth Games. Both people from all over the world working together, enjoying each other's company and making sure that the Games for everybody were, as somebody has already said, the friendly Games. Of course, it would be because Glasgow is without a doubt the friendly city. I now call Tavish Scott to be followed by Bob Doris. I start by joining with James Doran and, indeed, colleagues from across the chamber in the collective loving for all those who made Glasgow 2014 work. It was, without question, a great achievement, and in judging the legacy, I suspect, not just in sporting terms but in economic terms, there will be much good that comes of that. As a Shetlander, it is difficult not to start with not just Erid Davies but the three girls who made Team Scotland. Erids was a fantastic success. To win a bronze medal in a para-swimming discipline was all the greater success for two reasons. First, it was so unexpected in all the assessments I saw, including asking the top of Scottish swimming what they expected to happen. At no time was her success expected, and that's why it's a triumph for her personally, but also for her coach and for her family and indeed for all of Shetland. We are all very proud of her indeed. Also, we are equally proud, and we have to be equally proud, of Andrea Strachan, who made the 50m final breaststroke. She is one of the eight fastest girls in the 50m in the Commonwealth. That is one heckerman achievement for her, again personally, but also for her coaches at Edinburgh University, where she's on the swim team there and for her mum and dad. If there's something good I did in that whole, oh, I did two things that were very good during that, during the 10 days of the Commonwealth Games. First, I spent a lot of money in the bars of Glasgow, so I did my bit to help your economy, Mr Dorn, although I'd rather that didn't go home to Shetland. The second thing I did was to take a text message while Andrea was swimming in the semi-final from her dad, saying, is there any chance you can get some tickets for the final because the family have run out? I'd like to thank a number of people. I won't mention them all today, but I'd like to thank a number of people who really helped to make that happen because I was very proud to see Andrea swim in the final, but I was even better as a Shetlander, knowing that her whole family was there, her grandfather was there, a bunch of her wider family were there, and to see someone you've known for a long time swim in a final of the Commonwealth Games takes a bit of beating. So too for Linda Flaws, who was in Team Scotland's table tennis team, she's doing exams at the moment for her soul to get back to university in a couple of weeks' time because she was in Tokyo competing in an international table tennis event some time back so as to make the grade and qualify for Team Scotland. Well, that worked, and we hope her university markers look favourably upon her, upon the work she's now doing to make sure she continues glittering academic career as well. I should say about Linda that she was skinning my son on a football field aged 10, so she's a very talented young girl at every sport and will continue to be so. There were so many great memories of the games, but I thought two of the most abiding aspects for me was the support for all the whole nations. I must confess that I didn't know so many Scots knew the words to Jerusalem quite so well, but it was quite noticeable that night when Hannah Miley won, when Ross Murdoch won, and when Andrea qualified for the final of the 50 reststroke, that when the English lad who won, and I'm going to forget the discipline now, but won an event that night, the place erupted in the same kind of way, and that was the experience I had at all the events I went to, that the support for English athletes, for Welsh athletes, and of course for Team Scotland. Yes, the roof did go off when Team Scotland won, but the support for all the whole nations was absolutely astronomical, and I think that's made me very proud to be a Scot and it may be very proud to be part of these proceedings as well. Similarly, when the Malaysian rugby 7s team did a lap of honour at Ibrox, I haven't seen many laps of honour at Ibrox recently by anyone, but they were the first, they did a lap of honour halfway through the end of the Sunday morning proceedings, and they did it just to say thanks to the fans who had cheered them through defeat after defeat after defeat. They probably did more for a Malaysian diplomacy than anything else that's going on at the moment, but I was very proud to see again the whole stadium rising to them and selfies were taken and fun was had by lots of kids rushing down the front to have their photographs taken with these hulking vast rugby players. 170,000 people at Ibrox over two days, a world record crowd for rugby. If there's a legacy, it's probably that rugby 7s has come to Scotland. We should say really come home because it started in Melrose after all, but it's come home, but that I thought was a tremendous achievement. For me at Hamden, the other two were that on the day that I saw David Radisha lose to the absolutely astonishing Botswana athlete Nigel Amos in the 800 meters, I never thought I'd see someone like Radisha lose a race after he won the Olympics, but it was the day before, although two days before, when I saw a Nigerian discus thrower in, again, the para discipline, walk into the throwing ring, throw both his crutches down and, with one leg, throw the discus 45 meters and come second, where he won the silver medal that day. He did a lap of honour, too, and believe me, Hamden stood for that. I'm just unbelievable. The decision, if I may say so, to integrate the games of able-bodied athletes with those who have disabilities was a brilliant one, absolutely brilliant, because across sport I thought that came across fantastically. If there's one point of legacy, Presiding Officer, for me, as well as all the ones that I think Liz Smith rightly mentioned in the context of schools and leadership and walking to school and participation, all those things that other colleagues rightly mentioned, for me it is levelling out the playing field so that people no matter where they are in Scotland can compete at an elite level, but also just take part. For my part of the world, it's just the ability for sports clubs to take part against other sports clubs in whatever their discipline is right across the country. I know the minister is very seized to this, and I thank her for her very positive response on those points, not just yesterday but also on other occasions as well. I really do recognise her commitment to that, but that would be a great legacy for me, that no matter where you live in Scotland, you can make sure an Erid Davies or an Andrew Strachan or a Linda Flaws or the shopping rugby team can take part as well. If we do that, then we're making real progress. Thank you very much. I call Bob Doris to be followed by Elaine Murray. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. We've been a good debate. We've had a revelation from John Mason here this afternoon. He's too old to be responsible left in charge of a foam finger. I've had confirmation from Sandra White that Glasgow people are great at telling you where to go. I think that both those things are absolutely true, but it has been an excellent debate that has not only paid tribute to the wonderful success of our commonwealth games athletes but also just as significantly to how those games can be consolidated, that success can be consolidated, sustained and built upon. I am proud that those have been Glasgow's games but have also very much been Scotland's games, as we've heard, such has been the success that most communities feel they have some connection somewhere to a successful sportsman or woman. Indeed, I know just how excited my nieces were, both keen swimmers, when Ross Murdoch won his gold medal, given that he is available even lad and trained at the same swimming pool where Beth and Emily, my two young nieces, swim with that said same local club. Indeed, originally, as a veil boy, I felt a little bit of civic pride having started my swimming experience at the veil bath, although I did that at the age of six. However, I did not learn to swim until I was 16 at the Brock Bath and Dunbarton. I should put that on the record. There was a late blossomer, Presiding Officer, in relation to that. However, I do not think that we should underestimate the boost that such success will give young sportspeople right across Scotland, but also the civic pride that will be fostered right across Scotland's towns, cities and villages, not just by the medal-winning sportsmen and women, but all those who are participating. I think that Tavis Scott made that point very well. I do not think that we can underestimate that. I pay tribute to the partnership work between the Scottish Government, local councils and Sports Scotland in developing around 150 community sports hubs. That is already a lasting legacy, bringing together various sports clubs, various community assets and various volunteers from those different clubs to work together to get a greater outcome for young people being involved in sport. It is starting already to show some wonderful successes. I hope that the Scottish Government's community empowerment bill is a real opportunity to ensure that community assets such as community centres and sports facilities do not always appear to have a long-term strategy and use within communities that can potentially become community owned, community-developed and community-led sports initiatives. I think that there are a number of examples on Glasgow where that could be a significant success to promote the quality of those facilities that could be enhanced and that there could be greater use of those facilities as well. I am very sure that that is something that the Scottish Government, Sports Scotland and Glasgow City Council and Glasgow Life would be very much on board with. It is very much in keeping with the community empowerment bill aspirations right across society. Indeed, whilst I am at it, it is only right to mention the fantastic job that Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Life and all the civic partners in the city that I represent did in having a wonderfully successful game. I merely comment and were potential opportunities to build on that further. I know that the Scottish Government and Sports Scotland have invested greatly with the sports national governing bodies to ensure that we develop club sports in Scotland to boost grass-roots participation, but also just as important to seek to ensure that our most talented sportsmen and women excel. How wonderful that programme was, it was greatly successful—19 gold medals, 53 medals in total—again, significantly, I think that just as important is that the largest team ever for Scotland having the opportunity to compete at that level is vital for the confidence of our sportsmen and women and for society in general. I do not think that Scotland has ever seen anything like it. In the time that I have left, Presiding Officer, I would maybe like to talk just a little bit about sporting pathways. A similar point was made in relation to volunteers, I think, but sometimes with anything in society, those from more middle-class backgrounds, with a little bit more money, find it easier to access, identify and progress on whatever pathway within life. I do not think that sport particularly is necessarily any different. I did mention, my intervention to John Mason, that it was the women's weightlifting that I went to at the Commonwealth Games, where John was volunteering and directed me slightly to the venue, but weightlifting is something that I have been following more and more because of my association with the Gladiator project in Easterhouse, who are already seeing wonderful success with young boys and girls going to Europe and winning gold medals for Scotland at the age of 12, 13 and 14 years old. They are hoping that, in August 2015, there will be the under-15 European Championships and, in that instance, they will represent Britain. There is a possibility that there could be an athlete pathway award to enable them to go there. That is a potentiality, it is a possibility. I also note that, in the September of the same year in Samoa, there is another event where they have the opportunity to represent Scotland. I raise that for a very specific reason. I am wondering if the minister could just have a look to see where the sporting pathways are for the young boys and girls from Easterhouse and beyond are in terms of weightlifting and progressing to that next level, because the volunteers there do a wonderful job. They have had support, but it is just that extra push, that extra nudge to support them to go to the next level. I am sure that there are stories right across the country and I know that money has to be spent in the wisest possible way, but that is a certain area that I am passionate in. In concluding, the Commonwealth Games were clearly a wonderful success, but they will only really have a true legacy if we work at it. The real hard work starts now. It is wonderful to cheer people over the finishing line and to win medals. The tough bit is developing it from here on in, but it has been a pleasure to take part in this afternoon's debates. Many, many years ago, in the first session of Parliament, I had the good fortune to have the post of Deputy Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport. It is fairly obvious from the title that it has some pretty good gigs in that respect. It can film festivals, Edinburgh Film Festival, Scottish Opera Advice and other things, but probably the one that I enjoyed most of all was being involved with the Scotland team in Manchester in 2002. I had known Manchester a bit because back in the 80s I had been involved with a research project with a scientist at the Christie hospital and I spent some time working there from time to time. At that time, it was a city with great cultural, industrial and political traditions, but to a certain extent had fallen on hard times. When I went back in 2002, I could barely recognise the city because it had changed so much. The whole change in the appearance, in the atmosphere and the confidence of the city was very, very marked. Two events were credited with that change. One is terrible. Obviously, the prison YRA bombing in 1996. The other part, which was associated with the regeneration, was the Commonwealth Games. To many of us attending with the Scottish team at that time, the parallel with Glasgow was so striking and the seed was planted to bring the games to Glasgow in 2014. I was particularly pleased when I was watching the games on the television to see Louise Martin presenting some of those prizes, because Louise was such a mainstay of the Scottish team and such a mainstay of the Commonwealth Games. It is so crucial to bring it there. She has taken a great deal of the credit for the success of the games this year. Congratulations also to everybody else, to all the politicians and everybody else who has worked hard to bring this here and all the people who made it such a tremendous success. Some of the legacy of the games, of course, is already in place. It gives me some amusement to remember that when I was in Manchester, I was lobbied by one Chris Hoy about the need for a competition standard velodrome in Scotland. We now have that state-of-the-art velodrome in Scotland, and it is actually named after him. From what I knew of Chris Hoy, I am sure that he was far too modest to imagine that it ever would be named after him. It was, of course, a tremendously wonderful experience. This time last week, I was on the bus from Eurocentral to Hamden to see Ailey Childs powering to her silver medal to see David Warren, an extraordinary sport with a T-54 of 1,500 metres, being cheered on by Scots as much as by English people to his success to see indeed Amos beat Rhodesia. I was also there on Saturday. I do not know whether I actually did see Usain Bolt because he was going so fast, he was just like a sort of a blur, but I did see him afterwards whether I actually caught him racing is another thing. It was an absolutely marvelous experience. However, the overall success of the games in the years to come will be judged on what changes for the better they affected in both Glasgow and in the rest of Scotland. Over the years that we have seen with Manchester, the memories of the games eventually fade, even though they are great memories for all those who were involved. Games will be held in other nations and there will be other nations games talked about. I have absolutely no doubt at all that the games will inspire more young people to take up sport and to become involved in sports that they would otherwise not have considered. Talented young athletes will be able to train now in top-class facilities in Scotland, though some of that training will still go on in parts of the United Kingdom too. In some parts of the Scotland members of the public will also have access to those tremendous venues. A new generation of elite athletes will have gained inspiration from what they have seen during the past couple of weeks in Glasgow. However, I want to return to what I touched on in the question earlier this week. What about most of us who do not possess any great talent for sport? Will we actually become more active and will we sustain that activity over future years? I actually do not think that we should expect elite sport to deliver that, because apart from anything else, the physiques and the performance of elite athletes are so different to most of us that we love watching them. We do not actually identify them because we know that we will never be like that. Getting more people more active more often has been an aspiration since the review of sport 21 in 2003 that I took part of, and I am sure that it was probably before that. It has been very difficult to achieve over the years, and I wonder whether part of that is because it is presumed to be a side effect of success in elite sport. Unfortunately, getting ordinary people more active more often is not something that can be delivered down. Even if you deliver first-class facilities across the country, you cannot ensure that people who currently do not take part in physical activity will take it up. I think that the ordinary people of us—majority of us—will be encouraged to be more physically active if they see people like us. If we see people like us taking part in physical activities that we enjoy, that is where friends, colleagues and family members can help each other to improve their physical fitness. Most people who have some degree of physical capability will be able to find some form of exercise that they can enjoy with swimming, cycling, jogging, walking, and they can set themselves personal goals to grow a bit faster, a bit further, carry on a bit longer. It is not always easy to maintain physical activity once started. People who have a busy lifestyle need something that fits in. One of the attractions for me to walk in is that you can fit it in with this job, although I would not power walk up to anybody's door and demand to know how they wrote it, I have to say. Of course, in Scotland, outdoor activity is great at this time of the year, but less so when the sun does not rise until almost nine and sets again before four. There needs to be a long-term motivation once the novelty wears off. I think that there are three aspects. There needs to be more publicity around individuals improving their fitness through normal physical activity. We hear a lot about people on diets, we see lots of programmes of people losing weight, but we do not hear a lot about people becoming more physically active. I think that there needs to be more concentration on that. The second part is the encouragement and support from others in taking part of the community aspect. Finally, there is personal motivation to improve. A personal best is not only achieved by an elite athlete. Any one of us, whatever our age, whatever our build, who has some degree of physical capability, can choose an activity and be the best that we can be. When it comes to major sporting events, legacy is one of those things that we debate very hotly, not least the equality strand of the trifecta that was mentioned. However, if there is one thing that I can say with absolute surety about the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it is that they have changed the definition of the Glasgow Kiss forever. I have marched in the name of pride many times. I know the feeling very well. I felt pride with every further act that demonstrated not just the success of the games to which we all owe so many people thanks but also our values of respect and diversity. During the games, the rainbow flag flew from the Scottish Government's headquarters. The One Scotland campaign was launched with billboards everywhere. At the games, a pride house flourished, not a last-minute hastily permitted pride house as at London 2012, but a centre that was a real focal point for LGBTI participants, guests and discussion and hosted over 6,000 visitors. The hub received financial support from the Scottish Government, but what matters so much more is the political support received and the legacy that will leave. At the opening night for pride house, Shona Robison, the cabinet secretary was there on behalf of the Scottish Government. So, too, was David Gravenberg, the games chief executive. This was not an unauthorised sideshow sitting on the fringes. This was an integral part of the games. Over the days of the games, the First Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and Ed Miliband all visited to. There were selfies for everyone, unfortunately, no bacon rolls. On July 29, Peter Tatchell, a man more noted for attempting citizens arrests of Robert Mugabe than being gushing, was fulsome in his praise for the Scottish Government. An activist used to mealymouth statements and disappointment came to Scotland and found the real deal of commitment to equality. At that opening night, we heard voices from beyond Scotland and the west—important ones, such as Dr Frank Magesha from Uganda, Monica Tavengwa from Botswana and Palav Patankar from India. They were part of a series of links made by campaigners in Scotland to forge lasting links between campaigners here and campaigners in countries where legal equality on LGBTI rights seemed a far-off dream. Scotland's campaigners recognised the importance of having their work led by those on the ground in those countries and using the Commonwealth Games and the shared experience and history as an opportunity to empower others. The quality network each day in the run-up to the Games highlighted in turn a Commonwealth country and their equivalent organisation there. It matters because 80 per cent of Commonwealth nations have some form of legal persecution against people who are homosexual, bisexual, transsexual and so on. Millions risk their liberty or their lives if they just turn to their loved one and express their feelings. That happens today in the Commonwealth. It is a sad fact that those anti-gay laws are in the main also a legacy—a legacy of the colonialism and imperialism, that very troubled history of domination and conversion. One that has left many nations scarred but also sensitive to what could have been seen as attempts to repeat that history by further lectures or domination—understandably so. Uganda's LGBTI laws have been rallying points for activists around the world, but, although the most severe, they are no means alone. Calls to exclude Uganda from the Games came from an understandable sense of hurt, but there are many nations in the Commonwealth whose records on human rights raised very serious questions. Singapore is an authoritarian dictatorship, but the best way, I believe, to do what we did was what we did—to continue to take the approach by inspiration rather than domination. Scotland has achieved a level of diversity that is far different to what it was for the first 11 of those games. For the first 11 of those games, being gay here in Scotland was still a crime. We want to demonstrate the kind of Scotland that we are. We want to be and are increasingly becoming because, although the law now respects all attitudes, do not always do likewise. Sporting grounds are one of those fields in which the reports of homophobia are still the strongest and most frequent. If we are to get all of Scotland physically active and participating, that is one group that must be understood and those barriers overcome. I hope that one of the legacies will be the links that are built up between organisations here in Scotland. In particular, I hope that the Scottish Government could do what it can to encourage the continuation of Pride House as an on-going centre for promotion of LGBTI rights, both in sport here but also more widely. Those games will be remembered. They will be remembered as the people's games, as the friendly games, as successful games and as progressive games, too. I am sorry that Paul Wheelhouse is gone because, as a Belfast boy, I was going to rib him for Team Northern Ireland coming one place below the hypothetical Team Gay in the medals league table. There is an important record that was set by Team Gay. That is that this was the first ever time that two openly gay athletes took both gold and silver and stood on the same podium, Matthew, Mitcham and Tom Daley. It is a moment made for me, all the sweeter, to remember that it happened at the beautiful, refurbished Commonwealth pool in my constituency and in the great city of Edinburgh. As Liz Smith pointed out earlier, the legacy from the most successful common old games ever is not easily defined. Every single person will have a view of what that legacy is and I suspect that nobody will be wrong. Those common old games were a showcase for Glasgow in Scotland and they certainly did not let us down. There were the Clyde Siders, the personal hardship stories from the likes of Lindsay Sharp and Libby Clegg, there was a handling of the pressure of being the poster girl for the games from Ailey Child and who will ever likely forget the wonderful smile and look of sheer happiness shown by 13-year-old swimmer Eric Davis. Those were some of the great stories which made these games and what they were was simply magnificent and I would add my congratulations to everyone involved but of course there was much more to these games than just competition and the question now of course is what do we do now that they are finished. As we know the Scottish Government produced the document of games legacy for Scotland, the legacy themes consulted on which were of an active, connected, sustainable and flourishing Scotland covered every aspect of life. Glasgow produced a game so enlightened that the world could not help but see that in the 21st century our nation stands tall and as a course of the actions taken by those participating in the whole event this country did not need its politicians to stand up and inform the Commonwealth what we are as a nation feel about the issues of community equality and diversity. Regardless of your skin colour, if you're male, female, disabled, LGBT or have a different religious belief from your neighbour, whatever, you're a valued part of our community and you have a part to play in our community. This alone would be a tremendous legacy for our latest Commonwealth games but we can do more. We have issues of course with health particularly within our cities which could be helped if we could encourage people to rediscover exercise. I'm sure that the irony isn't lost in the chamber that someone who is as overweight as I am lecturing on the dangers of obesity and diabetes perhaps looks a tad hypocritical. But my point is that if someone like me who is privileged to receive international honours in my younger days can let themselves go physically, then how much easier it is to follow the wrong direction if you've grown up with a bad diet and difficult circumstances. I commend such initiatives such as the physical activity implementation plan in this respect but the big issue will always be how to change people's attitudes to exercise and health. Once we start to change attitudes, can we get away from the perception from some that you need a pair of £100 trainers to take part? Or the difficulties of taking part in sport without having to pay substantial amounts of money to use facilities? Sport in general exercise should not be out of bounds to anyone in our society. Moving to a legacy dealing with elite sport, we should be delighted that the Scotland team achieves so much success. For many of the athletes, a medal or a personal best performance will be seen as a stepping stone to further success. The Scottish Institute of Sport is obviously starting to reap rewards and I heartily commend the director of high performance, Mike Whittingham, and his team for the job that they're doing. I hope that there is a constant review of what happens at the Institute. Even the much lauded and successful Australian Institute of Sport came under fire as the rest of the world caught up with Australia and elite performance levels were perceived to have dropped. I'd also like to mention the issue of identifying young talent in order to help them through into elite competition. While youngsters may find a sport and enjoy it at around the age of about nine or ten years, it's also important to offer other options. Not only might they find something new that they like, but I would like to think that there is a talent spotting method to encourage youngsters who may be physically more suited to another sport, perhaps in their teams, to move to a discipline that they may achieve elite success. This was done, I believe, by UK rowing a few years ago on a larger scale and is common practice in countries such as Australia. Finally, there is one other thing. Team Scotland achieved remarkable results at the Commonwealth Games, but that is the top level that our country can compete. In most sports and athletics being the perfect example here, our athletes must challenge for places in a GB team to compete at the highest level that is the world and European Championships and Olympics. That usually means fewer athletes are able to come through and gain the experience to compete efficiently at the top level. Is it a coincidence, for instance, that we have had less international success and long distance running since Scotland stopped sending a team to the world cross-country championships some 30-odd years ago? I believe that the biggest legacy at the elite level will be to see our Scottish teams competing at the highest level, and I am afraid to say to bring a little bit of politics into it that the only chance that that can ever happen is with a yes vote on the 18th of September. Many thanks. I call on George Adam to be followed by Alison Johnstone. Thank you, Presiding Officer. First of all, I would like to thank Glasgow for the games, the friendly games and the biggest party ever, but seven miles down the road in Paisley, I get no invite. There was no invite for George. There was no tickets for George to go to any of these events. All I had was the antisocial behaviour from the fireworks that went off in Parkhead, and I had to put the sound down to say to Stacey, did you hear these fireworks, Stacey? Can you hear them? We had the antisocial behaviour, but unfortunately I would like to say that seriously, Presiding Officer, Glasgow Airport was obviously the gateway to the games, and being in Paisley, there was obviously a generation there. Most of the athletes came through our area, and there was quite an effect on the Paisley economy, so much so that when the Queen's Baton really came to Paisley, my friend and colleague, Brian Maguire, was one of the community activists who ran through Paisley High Street with it, and he does paisley.org on a website, a community-based website, and he was getting it for that reason because of everything that he had done for the community, and I think that that was one of the great things about the Baton really itself, because we had a fantastic day in Paisley as well. I also recommend that Brian is a great photographer, because he makes me look good in some of the pictures that he's done for me as well. I would say with Patricia Ferguson that some of the sports that we would have to look at that we weren't so successful at. Craig Mahoney, who is Professor Mahoney, is a professor in sports psychology in his UWS principal. He has a debate that he says that he will do what the Australians do, specialise in what you're good at, find the sports that you're good at and excel at the sports. I like football, but I did say on Twitter during the games that I'm giving up this football malarkey and it's a ball in for me from now on if we can win that many medals. I have to say to John Mason, who could doubt the Scots if we win anything, we're going to fill any arena to make sure that we're there to celebrate it. I think that's one of the things that we have to remember from the games as well. Glasgow brought the world to Scotland, the opening ceremony, and I have to say that Marco Biacci has already stolen my John Barnum and Glasgow kiss-lines, so thanks for that. From that, at the beginning of the ceremony, he set out their stall and said exactly what Glasgow was all about. Glasgow was just being Glasgow, the town that we all know, even though it's our neighbour next door and we have a bit of banter between each other. We all know Glasgow as a friendly city, not as good as Paisley, but it's very friendly. Even to the closing ceremony, when you had Deakin Blue, Kiley and Lulu, I never thought I'd say all three of them in the one line, but it took me back to my teenage years in the 80s, where they were all going to a big gig when I was younger, but the world watched and he watched a small northern European nation compete at a level that five million people probably shouldn't have been competing at. It shows that the commitment that the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council worked together that what we can achieve in Scotland if we put our minds to it. There's been so many good points. If you're trying to think of the great things that happened, I think that Erie Davis is obviously number one, because her smile just lit up the whole games when she got her bronze medal, but Libby Clegg, with the T12 100m, was the first one to win a gold medal in Hamden. Many people would say that Hamden is an athletic stadium. The roar is better, and it's a better stadium as an athletic stadium as it is a football stadium. I wouldn't know that I wasn't there, and I haven't had any tickets, but I know that debate has actually been mentioned. One of the things that will remember me is the fact that Sweet Caroline has been sang by, oh, sorry, yes, no problem. I'm really feeling very sorry for Mr Adam here, given that he didn't have any tickets for the games, but I wonder, did he apply? He did indeed in numerous times, but one of the things that I remember is that Sweet Caroline has been sung by 40,000 fans at the Rugby Sevens. In Ibrox of all places, who would have thought we'd have actually seen that in her lifetime as well? One of the things that my wife Stacey managed to get some tickets when she went along, I was working at a time, so she went along with some friends. She went to see the judo on three occasions, and now she's an expert in the judo. I had to sit there and watch it and actually explain how the actual whole thing worked as well, and that was interesting to hear that non-stop house Stacey is now an expert after three days of going to see the judo. But I finally did get tickets, yes. Does the member now do more housework than previously? I'll plead the fifth one if you don't mind at this stage. One of the things that I will say is that I did finally get tickets to go and see the boxing in the Saturday, and I enjoyed that. It was a great event in the Hydro. I think that's the legacy when you look at what has been left to Glasgow. It's all the fantastic facilities that are there within the whole area as well. One of the things that reminds me is the true legacy, the first time that the Parasports were worked together with our major games. I think that that made the difference, because that was some of the great stories that came out of it. Team Scotland was just inspirational what they did as well. One of the things that I would add is that Glasgow made sure that the state of the art facilities were enjoyed by tourists and athletes. One of the things that I even went to George Square myself to see to sample it when Stacey was at the hospital for MRI scanning 100lb later in a nice team Scotland hoodie—I'm the oldest, 45-year-old hoodie that you've ever seen in your life—was great. It was absolutely fantastic when we were there. One of the things that I would say is that it shows us what we can do. The important thing is that I know that the cabinet secretary is aware that we are working with Paisley at the Kelburn Hockey Club and at Mern Football Club to try to get a sports hub in Paisley. I would say in closing that the legacy is building on projects such as this, ensuring that we can get access from children like the children in Ferguson Park in Paisley to make a difference so that they can aspire to be as good as some of the athletes in Team Scotland. I now call on Alison Johnstone to be following my Richard Lyle. I'd like to begin my contribution to this debate by saying thank you, Glasgow, and thanks to all who were involved. The games were a success because of those who bids, those who organised, those who volunteered, the host city volunteers, the Clyde Siders, the coaches and the hundreds of thousands who came to support the athletes. The games were a success because of those athletes who came from across the globe to compete here in Scotland. They were a success because of our fascination with those who dedicate time, blood, sweat, tears and often cash to being the best they can be in their chosen sport. I know that we'll all have our own personal memories and stories from the games. As someone involved in sport from my earliest years, I've attended a few events and they really were very special. George Adam may be slightly disturbed to learn that I was one of the very lucky ones in the ballot and was fortunate to attend several events. If I'd been organised, I might have stayed in the city, but I'd had to book accommodation before it was all booked up. However, if I'd done that, I would have missed some of the memorable travel moments that Sandra White touched on. Steve Montgomery, the managing director of ScotRail, could regularly be found mingling with the Glasgow Central rail queue and I was quite a cue at times, but I really well managed one and good tempered one. He was offering advice on the most sensible way to get back to Edinburgh on a given evening and I didn't only see him there once or twice. Taking his advice, I chose central rather than Queen Street, is a departure point. That meant that I enjoyed the dead pan delivery of the cross-country train guard who solemnly announced as a prelude to other catering news. There is no rooftop garden on this train. Or the Mount Florida station announcer who updated the hundreds returning from Hamden Park on the latest meddle tally and his views of his take on national characteristics. I don't think that I can actually share them in the chamber, but he could certainly give a few of the fringe stars a lesson in timing and delivery. Glasgow embraced the games and, as the days passed, the feeling of pride and enjoyment in what the city and its people added to the spectacle simply grew. I was privileged enough to attend hockey, netball, track cycling and athletics. The warmth, humour and desire to help visitors and spectators to get to where they needed to be was palpable. Those delivering the games had clearly learned much from the London Blueprint. Those games were a huge success, as were Glasgow's. Glasgow 2014 brought people together from across the globe in a way that only sport can. Spectators cheered on their own country folk, but the applause from the crowd for each and every athlete and endeavour is testament to the generous and knowledgeable audience that Glasgow attracted. The crowd defied definition from babes in arms to our oldest citizens, folks of all shapes, sizes, nationalities and walks of life cheered every individual regardless of outcome or level of celebrity. I was really chuffed with Ailey Child Silver by Mark Dry's Bronze, by Lindsay Sharpe's Determination to Achieve. Guy Larmond's personal best in the 800m final was a real highlight. Ailish McColligan's guts here on. Beth Potter's 10,000m PB. Emily Dudgeon, who narrowly missed out the 800m final after a fantastic performance. There are far too many great performances to mention, but medals and records aside, it is the endeavour of all those. Those who may have to wait till next time, those who will have to go back to the drawing board, but that is what makes the games what it is, what makes it so special. I have no doubt that many people, young and old, will be inspired to follow in the footsteps of those cheered on. There have been sports for all ages and inclinations on show. Joe Pavey's 5k bronze in her fifth decade and months after giving birth will spur on many a middle-aged runner. Seeing bowls being played by rising young stars will have an impact too. However, there are questions posed by the games. How can our part-time netball and hockey players compete with full-time professional athletes? Which sports should receive more funding? We need to look even more closely at formal links between our top coaches and our earliest educators in school. Physical education in games are not the same thing and we need to invest in physical literacy for our young people as this will pay dividends in terms of long-term health and wellbeing, self-confidence and enjoyment of sport. The challenge now is to deliver a truly meaningful legacy. Part of the legacy is visible. It is the velodrome, the rest of the Emirates arena, the housing with its district heating scheme and it is not just about facilities in Glasgow. That is a nationwide issue. Let us make sure that those facilities are properly maintained, that we proudly take care of them, that we learn lessons from what happened medlebank in Edinburgh and that Bob Dorris is right to highlight community sports delivery as an important model. The other part of the challenge is to make sure that those who would like to use the facilities have access to them, that they are affordable, that we have enough coaches in place and that no one is priced out of a more active lifestyle. Let us look at good practice like Scottish Athletics Club together programme, which is about partnership and building a meaningful legacy from the grass roots up. The games do not take place in a vacuum. The world watched and Scotland's message of equality was clear and heartfelt. The inclusion of parasport made the games even better. Pride House played an important role and I was proud to be a patron. The impact of the house on a central location cannot be understated and I would like to thank and congratulate the board, the volunteers and all those who supported this public sign of our support for the LGBT community. There is a recognition among many prominent campaigners and academics that the games have helped to elevate the issue of public support for gay equality. I think that the great use of the platform that the games gave us was used. It was used by UNICEF. The fundraising campaign was innovative, appropriate and welcome. Jubilee Scotland got involved in highlighting unfair national debts. Those in the seashells have an astounding £13,000 of debt for each of its citizens, so there are barriers that prevent all of those in the Commonwealth taking part. I am sure that we will continue to challenge those as we seek to deliver a meaningful legacy. Can I first say to George Adam that, if I had known that he was looking for free tickets or given my two boxing tickets, which, unfortunately, I had to forgo due to other circumstances, I would also like to add my congratulations to everyone who played a part in delivering such a successful Commonwealth Games. I will. George Adam I was not wanting free tickets. I was willing to pay for them. I think that we proved to the world without a shadow of a doubt that Scotland is more incapable of hosting major events such as this on time and on budget. Again, that will be demonstrated when Scotland hosts the golfing world for the 2014 Ryder Cup. 2014 Commonwealth Games were a resounding success. However, those games were about more than just 11 days of sport. I am sure that there will be a long term and lasting legacy from the games. As seen from other major sporting events, that does not come about automatically. Manchester hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2002 could be held up as a good example of having a successful legacy as it accelerated regeneration in the city. I can personally testify to that. As then I worked for the Royal Bank in our office, I was based in Manchester, which I visited regularly. Manchester changed dramatically, as Elaine Murray has already said. The games legacy for Glasgow 2014 has been a major focus throughout the planning stages of those games. In order for Scotland to benefit from those games, the legacy has focused on boosting sports participation, increasing physical activity, maximising economic benefit, promoting business growth and increasing employability and skills, urban regeneration, sustainable development and promoting Glasgow and Scotland's image internationally. For those games, roughly 70 per cent of the venues were already in place, but those have now been joined by other world-class sporting facilities, such as the Emirates arena, including the Circus Hwy velodrome. I remember visiting the building along with the members of the health committee and also the Athletes village, which are homes for the 21st century. Along with the new venues, some existing venues have already been upgraded, including Strathlie park in my own region, which hosted the triathlon events. 1.2 million has been spent in the park to upgrade the facilities for this event, and local residents are delighted because now the games that have finished those upgrades are benefiting the whole community. I would like to take this opportunity to thank North Lancer Council for working closely with the game's organisers and the Scottish Government to ensure that those enhancements to the park were carried out for the benefit of all. With Strathlie park being a satellite venue, transport to and from the venue was critical, and in that regard, I feel that the games have seen a lasting improvement in a rail network that has shown itself capable of coping with the large crowds seen at the games. In preparation for the games, over £2 million was spent at key stations, which were upgraded to enhance the experience of visitors to the games. It is clear that the railway transport in Scotland is a significant asset to Scotland that can contribute to economic legacy of the commonwealth games. At those games, Scotland had its most successful games ever, as has already been said, with 53 medals. However, the true success of those games will be the legacy that is felt from the games. In order to carry a viable and long-term legacy over 50 legacy, 2014 national programmes are in place across Scotland. Those programmes are generating jobs and training opportunities, investing in new or upgraded community facilities, which in turn are helping people to get more active. Holding a major sporting event brings with it responsibilities in promoting human rights. In that case, I was also pleased to know that the Scottish Government is working to strengthen and empower communities across the commonwealth, including South Africa, Uganda and Malawi. Malawi has a special place in our heart, where the Scottish Government funding is providing improved infrastructure and sanitation for more than 100,000 people. As Bob Dorris has already said, I believe that independence for Scotland would mean that more Scottish sportswomen and men will have the opportunity to compete at the highest levels against the best competition in the world, with a view for an independent Scotland to have a Scottish Olympic team in Rio in 2016. To finish, the commonwealth games' values of humanity, equality and destiny are cherished in Scotland and have been right at the heart of our games, and I am sure to continue in our legacy vision for the future. I personally want to pay tribute to the cabinet secretary for all her hard work, for all the hard work that is done by Sports Scotland, by all the people who are associated with the games, especially the hard work done by the people of Glasgow, the workers in Glasgow, North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire and not forgetting Edinburgh City Council, and all the officials who work tirelessly to make these games such a resouding success. I am sure that Scotland will benefit and has shown the world that we can be independent, we can run a games that is tremendous and, as was already said by my friend Colin Kear, if we vote yes in September 2018, I think that we will show the world that Scotland is a country to be proud of. Thank you. Thank you very much and good afternoon, Presiding Officer. I welcome the opportunity to talk about the legacy of the 20th Commonwealth Games Glasgow today. Firstly, I think that everyone here will agree that the games have been a tremendous success. I also want to wish to thank the Minister for her announcement in regards to facilities for para sports and also the additional money. She will be a bit disappointed that I am not criticising her today but this is a special day I think. As someone who has had the privilege of watching and playing a part in the long journey from the organizing bid to the closing ceremony, I have a few observations to make. One of the things that strike me the most was the spirit of working together by all, something that made me very, very proud. It showed me once again, as always, the hospitality and the friendship the people of Glasgow offered people from around the world and in fact right across Scotland. From the start of the bidding for the games, Glasgow City Council was given a substantial amount of support from a broad network of embassies, UK foreign office and the British Councils as well as friends all over the world, which has made it not only unique but quite inclusive in the terms that it was very clear that coming together, working as a team, we could make this a success which we've demonstrated. In today's day and age, every time when there is a sporting activity, an international sporting activity, many of the hosts are challenged by resources and by cooperation from others. We had been extremely lucky in all of those issues and I think that I want to mention the fact that we haven't had an opportunity to thank some of the agencies who worked internationally for us to mention their hard work as well. Another important point is the role of Glasgow City Council, the councillors, officials, business people, not only in Glasgow but across Scotland and other parts of the UK, as well as the then First Minister, Jack McConnell, whose vision and leadership ensured that all the relevant funds were in place, regardless of which government would be in place when the Games happened. That I have to welcome and thank him for personally because I know that a lot of work went in with people like Patricia Ferguson himself, Archie Graham, leaders of the council and the council itself. I think that sometimes we underestimate the value of the contribution people make behind closed doors and I wanted to pay tribute to them. Whilst I watched the gymnastics, I was impressed by the excellent performance of the athletes. I was struck by the friendship and support between the gymnasts of the home countries. After all, many of the young men had trained together as part of Team GB. I don't want to underestimate and undervalue the support that Team GB gave to our athletes, something that I welcome and I hope and wish we will continue to use and demonstrate. Amazing efforts made by the people of Glasgow in general and by the volunteers, in particular welcoming visitors and volunteers from around the UK, and I in particular wish to thank the parents of the athletes. Parents make a huge personal effort, a contribution that we can't pay for, a contribution we can't realise and comprehend where parents are getting up day in, day out, week in, seven days a week giving their children, their young every opportunity to be successful. The expenditure they incur in travel, in clothing and paying fees and paying costs of clubs, tremendous. Hats off to them, all the parents. I also want to take the opportunity to thank schools and colleges who have played their roles in supporting that success as well. A very positive mood that even the rain couldn't wash away and that's fantastic. I think that we were very lucky, God had given us some good weather during the games as well so everybody appreciates it, doesn't only rain in Scotland, we do get the sun as well. But in order to secure a lasting legacy for the games, we need to enhance this positive strength and not waste it away and things to come. Legacy and skill should allow Glasgow to build on other national and international events such as the European football tournaments for one. I think that we need to be proud of what our athletes have achieved. 20 per cent of the medals won in the Commonwealth games were by the home countries. Fantastic achievement. Australia only managed 10 per cent. So we have a challenge when we go to Australia. We want to make sure that if we can't enhance and increase our medal totally, we'll at least match it. Whilst I'm happy to wish Australia every success and hope they'll maybe invite me to some of the games, but I need to say that my wishes are only for the successful games and not to the medals because I want our own teams to do so. Presiding Officer, I thank you for the opportunity to make a contribution today. I want to thank the Minister for her announcement and also to petition particularly among us who had a huge role to play historically in the games. Thank you very much. Very much. I now call on Kenneth Gibson, after which I move to closing speeches. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It's clear that every member in this chamber has the opinion that the 2014 Commonwealth games in Glasgow was nothing short of a massive success of which both Glasgow and Scotland can be rightly proud. The games truly brought out the best in our largest city, the best in our friendly and welcoming citizens and the best in our incredible athletes. Scotland took to the world stage and from start to finish it did not disappoint those who are watching. Many competitors will have been inspired to victory by a supportive crowd that cheered all but roared on Scotland's own. Finishing forth on the medal table amongst nations with a much larger population of their own is a hugely impressive achievement by Team Scotland. Of course, it organised the event Glasgow 2014 Glasgow City Council in the Scottish Government plus all others who were involved in the games from the voluntary sector, the private sector, the volunteers—all have to take tremendous credit for helping to co-ordinate the biggest sporting and culture events that Scotland has hosted, both seamlessly and without issue. It was great, for example, at the closing ceremony to see the dancing Lollipop ladies and a parade of Glasgow City Council's workforce round the track. Indeed, when Alan Cochran of the Telegraph headlines his article, I'll admit it, the SNP deserves a medal for pulling this off. You know that something has gone exceptionally well. Cabinet Secretary, Shona Robison deserves special praise for our 24-7 leadership, hard work and commitment. The Commonwealth Games is unique in many ways and anyone who watched the opening, closing and ceremonies will attest the spirit that is one of family and friendly sporting rivalry. The Games also provided an opportunity for the host nation to evoke its culture and promote its values, sometimes very tongue-in-cheek. I was proud that Scotland chose to show and demonstrate that they were a nation that is tolerant and inclusive to all, regardless of faith, race, gender or sexuality. In the year in which Scotland passed the same sex marriage bill and in the knowledge that many competing nations still criminalise homosexuality, I believe that it was important that Scotland sent a message that we are a tolerant and inclusive society, and my colleague Marko Biagi expanded on that tremendously through his excellent speech that focused on that particular aspect. I believe that what we have seen in the Commonwealth Games is a very welcome expansion of parasports events. With the medals that were won, that reflects the ethos of the Games and its legacy. Sporting, inclusion and equality in and through sport and its vital use of the success of the Games to build on that achievement, ensuring that people of all abilities and backgrounds can access sport, thereby enhancing the chance of even greater success for team Scotland at future events. Of course, funding and planning is essential to ensure that people across the country of varying abilities and in different disciplines can benefit from access to the appropriate facilities. I am pleased that the legacy 2014 active places fund will help to make this a reality in the months and years ahead. Sport Scotland National Centre for Clyde and Largs, on my own constituency, needs funding to devolish its 1950s accommodation block and build 60 new state-of-the-art fully disabled access twin rooms. Sport Scotland National Centre and Clyde is internationally renowned. Jose Mourinho gained his coaching badges there, for example, and home to envial facilities for golf, football, hockey, squash, tennis and gymnastics with recent enhancements through generous donations, not least from the Largs lottery winners, Colin and Chrissy Weir. The accommodation block is no longer fit for purpose, with only a small percentage of rooms suitable for those with accessibility issues. I am therefore delighted that the cabinet secretary announced today that the Scottish Government will provide £6 million on top of funding from Sport Scotland to transform the accommodation at Largs and help to ensure that this facility is unique in the United Kingdom. Scottish Disability Sports annual summer camp will be held at the national centre in Verklyde this year. Although it will not benefit from the new facility this summer, I believe that in Verklyde will become the para sport centre, not just for Scotland in the years to come, but the rest of the UK also. That will be a truly great Commonwealth Games legacy for the national sport centre for the people of Largs, Serenian communities and Scotland and beyond. Of course, away from the sporting fields of Games legacy, it is already being realised that many of the volunteers have discovered new talents and gained experience. I do not want to comment further on John Mason's experiences or, indeed, Patricia Ferguson's. It is of huge significance to those who have previously not been in employment and are now of confidence and skills that they need to find work. The UNICEF partnership, launched by Ewan McGregor on opening night, raised a fantastic £5 million, which will allow work to take place on children's rights in all Commonwealth countries. Of course, we know of the 700 new mixed 10-year homes in East End of Glasgow. In the hundreds of thousands of visitors who descend upon Glasgow, we are warmly welcomed, experienced a carn of a atmosphere, took in the sights and sounds and were even treated as Hanzala pointed out to nice weather at least most of the time. It is beyond comprehension to think that a large number of them will not be back as tourists in the near future. I not only am convinced that they will come back, I know they will. But there is, of course, one legacy that perhaps cannot be measured. The pride and self-confidence felt by the people of Glasgow and Scotland have undoubtedly just hosted the best games of the week. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I speak first and foremost as a Glaswegian, as someone who was born, educated, raised, employed for most of my life, as someone who invested in and around the city of Glasgow. And what a joyous three weeks for every Glaswegian it has been. And I couldn't help reflect, even as the bunting still flew and as the cheers died, that the Commonwealth returned to Glasgow to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the commencement of the Second World War and let us not forget that Glasgow in Scotland contributed disproportionately to the British effort in that war and to the sacrifice that was endured. And how apposite was it that 100 years later, instead of leaving Glasgow and Scotland, our finest to fight on the battlefields of France, 100 years later our finest were competing on the sporting battlefields of our own home city, the second city of that now long-forgotten empire. And I also thought, as you watched the lawn bowls at Kelvin Grove, that behind that sporting arena, there stood the legacy of a previous international exhibition in Glasgow in 1901, itself paid for by the international exhibition of 1888 to which 5.8 million people came. In 1938, Glasgow hosted the great exhibition to which 12.5 million people came over that year. And I remember, as a schoolboy, looking at the pictures of that, it was meant to be a celebration of empire, but instead it was a celebration of technological advance with pavilions that reminded me then of Walter Pigeon and the Forbidden Planet movie and of Dan Deyr comics. I only wish I had been someone who was able to be at that exhibition. Its hopes, of course, cruelly dashed within months as we went to war. 50 years later, I recall vividly, the garden festival in Glasgow, to which 4.3 million people came. 40 per cent more than were anticipated of the Coca-Cola ride of the Clydesdale bank tower, which worked rather more efficiently than its successor, of the Bell's bridge of the McTaggart and Meekle milk bar of the Rotundas, brought back into the life of the city at that time. Finally, of the 1990 year of culture, 10,000 performances to which some 9 million visitors came. I remember singing along to Neson Dorma with Pavarotti and crooning along to the songs with Frank Sinatra's i-box. I remember, as the band left the stage saying that Mr Sinatra doesn't do on-course for one of the very few occasions in his career, he came back and did one. Such had been the welcome of Glasgow. He sang The Summer Rains by this time in a soaking dinner suit with the Glasgow Summer Rains. I mention all of this, both to point to Glasgow's ability throughout its long history to rise to the occasion, whatever its difficulties—and we still have terrible public health difficulties in Glasgow—but to rise to the occasion when one of those big events is presented to it and to dwell on the concept of legacy. Why was it ever in doubt, given the success of all those other great exhibitions and events that Glasgow could host an event? I don't know, but the interesting thing about them all is that they were exhibitions and events foremost directed to the rest of the United Kingdom. What was unique about this event is that Glasgow sold itself to the rest of the world. Do you know what they found? They found that they had family, friends and neighbours who were already living as part of the city of Glasgow. For my money, it is the most harmonious, integrated and multicultural city within the United Kingdom, with a tremendous track record of welcoming people not as strangers but as family when they come to the city and participate and enjoy these great events. I hope that there is talk of us bidding for the European Games at a future date. I hope that we do, and I hope that we have that success. Looking at the legacy, I suppose that you do not measure it in terms of bricks and mortar of that old exhibition. Only the Kelvin Hall and the Glasgow Museum remain of the empire exhibition. I went once looking for the buildings and found one. I tried to read what it said. My wife was bewildered because when I read it out, it said, Lais-au-Fart. She pointed out to me that if you restored the letters that were missing, it said, Palace of Art. That took me time to work out. It will be measured not in bricks and mortar but in the confidence and stride of the city, in the energy, passion and commitment and goodwill that we bring to ensuring that the legacy of those games is to tackle the public health record of the city of Glasgow itself. I came back to the games from Switzerland, where I patted myself on the back for going up in a cable car and enjoying a very nice lunch and walking down the hill, only to find Swiss families and their children walking back up the hill passing me on the way. I think that we too often take the easy option, whether it's the lift in this building or whether it's the soft rather than the physically attractive or unattractive route. That's what we've got to try and encourage in the primary school children to which Liz Smith's amendment refers. I hope that there is a legacy for Clyde, Beth Gilmour's wonderful creation. I'm not a big fan of mascots, but this one certainly captured the heart of the city and I hope that Clyde can continue to play a part in it. I also thank the 10 people who hosted the Clyde costume, including Brian Borland, who I was delighted to see was given one of the UK Points of Light award for his efforts by the Prime Minister. Of course, the legacy exists in the medals for individuals, for families, for communities, two invidious to name any and of course in that golden cone rather than post boxes on top of the Wellington statue. Surely that actually represents an award to the people of Glasgow, to all those volunteers, to the organisers, to the public services, to the armed forces. I want to thank three politicians, Jack McConnell, for his inspiration in bringing the games to the city. Sir John Major, who I was delighted to see at the gymnastics event, who instituted the national lottery, which, for a generation of young athletes, has given them the consistency of sustained funding in their sports. The reward for that must have given him great pride. Of course, to the cabinet secretary herself, it's been many years in which she's had to wait for the success to unfold. Like Tessa Jowell, who earned the affection and respect of the whole of the United Kingdom for her contribution in the Olympics, I hope that she feels rightly proud of herself for the job that she did, because I know that we all do as well. As you draw to a close. Finally, I just want to say that politicians in sport, it was great to see that banner, Tattie Marshall for First Minister. Was there an MSP here who wouldn't like not just to have Charlie Flynn's boxing skills, but his ability to coin all those bon-mose? As a Glaswegian, Presiding Officer, I've always known I come from a city without a castle. Rather, I come from a city with a heart bigger than any other. What a heart? What a city? What a games? What a people? What a team, Kenny Stewart? What a country? Is there anyone here who doesn't stand taller and prouder of our city this summer? Let that be the legacy and the commitment and drive that we bring to ensuring that that legacy produces a success. Thank you very much, Colin. Patricia Ferguson. Eight minutes please. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Follow that, if you will. Jackson Carlaw's comments, though, about the experience of Glasgow and Glasgow being an inclusive city, is of course right. He is also right to say that we need to begin in our primary schools. In fact, I would go further and say that we need to begin in our nursery schools and in our homes in allowing our young people to be physically literate and to be able to take that skill forward for them. For those of us of a certain age, in case we feel left out, I can tell you that my father, who is now 90, won a bronze and a silver in the Erskine Homes Commonwealth Games and proudly told me that he was aiming for gold in four years' time, so there is hope for us all yet. I was struck by a comment that Elaine Murray made because it reminded me of something that I had been thinking about last night. That is that, in effect, the games this year are a legacy of the 2002 games, because it was the inspiration that it gave to Jack McConnell and to Elaine Murray as the Sports Minister at the time to think that this is something that we could do. This is something that perhaps one of our cities could do, because at that point it was still not decided where the games would actually be held. There was actually a competition, if we recall, between Edinburgh and Glasgow for that honour, but not only were those games a legacy directly of the 2002 event in Manchester, but also the Commonwealth Endowment Fund was a legacy of the 2002 games in Manchester. It struck Jack McConnell at the time that he was so impressed by our athletes and by the hard work that they had done and the dedication that they had shown, but when he discussed with them the biggest challenges that they faced, some of it was about their facilities and some of it was about coaching and other issues, but the thing that they all identified was that there was no money to help them to get to and from again. There was no setup that allowed them to be properly kitted out for the events that they were going to do. He thought that was wrong and established an endowment fund that has continued to accrue over the years and which is still the money that helps our athletes to get to the games and to be able to compete to the best of their abilities. I think that that legacy is an important one, one that is perhaps not often talked about, but one that continues with that original sum of money to this day. It is also what helps us to take the size of the team that we do. It is easier for us to have a big team when it is home games. I think that it will be a bit more challenging for us to take a team of the same size to the Gold Coast in a few years' time, but let's aim for it and let's see if we can do it. Liz Smith is absolutely right to say that it is very difficult to define what the legacy should be and to query whether or not politicians should be part of that. I think that, as I say, that the idea of our primary skills having to be where skills and interest is nurtured is absolutely right, but I was also taken by the point that Liz Smith made about the broadcasting of sports and how the Commonwealth Games allowed sports that perhaps are not on our television on a daily basis to be broadcast into homes across the Commonwealth, which will no doubt do those sports a real service, but I think that it actually goes further than that because many of those sports were sports in which women participate, some in which only women participate, but some where women participate as well as men. I think that, for young women who, as we know, do not tend to pursue their interests in sport and activity beyond puberty, as often as their male counterparts would, that is a very important element of it. Indeed, we talk a lot about football being the fastest growing sport for women in Scotland, but it is still not regularly broadcast except on BBC Alpa, for which I am very grateful because it allows me to catch up with Glasgow City women who, by the way, are usually the only Scottish team at that point competing in Europe, and long may that continue. I think that, in that sense, the broadcasting of those games around the Commonwealth has been a great success. I must admit that I did not share John Mason's scepticism about whether or not Glasgow should or could or would be able to pull this event off, and I think that Drew Smith was right not to ever be in any doubt about that. I think that we saw that at a very early stage with the number of people who went online and backed the bit, and the number of people who signed up from Glasgow, from Scotland and beyond to say that we want those games to come to Glasgow because we think that it is Glasgow's time and that Glasgow can deliver. Then, of course, that was followed up by the thousands of people, the 50 odd thousand people who applied to be volunteers. In the course of my volunteer journey, I met people from literally around the world. It took me aback that there were people from America coming to volunteer in our games and people coming from Slovenia. In the team that I was working in, there were a number of people who had also volunteered at Manchester, some at London, and, interestingly, some of them are now on a Facebook page because they are going to volunteer to go to the Gold Coast as well. They might get more consistently good weather in the Gold Coast, but I doubt that they will get as much of a welcome as they did. John Mason was right to say that we have to think about the demographic of the volunteers, but we have to recognise that, if people are travelling a distance to be a volunteer, as many of them did, the likelihood is that they will be in a particular bracket of people who can afford to take on that kind of enterprise. I noticed from some of the information that we were given as volunteers that there was one person travelling every day from Lancaster. I cannot imagine doing that, but someone was. In my team, there was a young man who had come up from down south without accommodation and had no accommodation for two days, literally slept on sofas for two days where he could find one, until one of the other volunteers said, come and stay with me, and he did for the rest of the game. People were making real sacrifices and doing things that perhaps they should not have been required to do. I wonder whether the free travel that came with the uniform and the accreditation that was afforded to those of us who were travelling in and around the city would have been welcome if it had been extended beyond Glasgow. For those volunteers who were travelling perhaps from Ayrshire and Edinburgh, I realised that that is a difficult ask, but it is maybe just something that could be looked at if we do anything like that again. I think that the idea of providing that kind of initiative was a very good one. One of the things that has always struck me about the Commonwealth Games, besides the fact that it always integrates the Paris sport with able-bodied sport, is that it is also very careful not to include events that require the host nation and the host athletes to have a great outlay of money in order to be able to participate in sport. It does not require custom-made kayaking, for example. It does not require countries to have that level of infrastructure and expertise. It is the kind of events where, more or less, countries are able to participate with a relatively small amount of facility, and I think that that is absolutely right and is part of what we should be doing. Colin Kear, when he was talking about the £100 trainers hit the nail in the head, and that was really the point that I wanted to make about that, because the barriers that are sometimes in place are things that we should not allow to be there. I do think that Drew Smith had a point. Today's debate naturally has been one where we all want to praise and thank people for their efforts, and so we should. It may be that we should have some regular but not necessarily frequent debates about the legacy going forward. Jackson Carlaw mentioned that Glasgow used to be the second city of the empire. After those games, I think that we can safely say that it is now the first city of the Commonwealth. Thank you, Ms Ferguson. I now call on Shona Robison to wind up the debate. Cabinet Secretary, you have till five o'clock. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It's been great to have complete agreement in the chamber on the success of the games. Just to thank members for their kind words has been very much appreciated. I want to respond to as many points as possible that have been made during this afternoon's debate. Patricia Ferguson made a number of points. I just want to touch on one or two of them. I think that she is absolutely right about the community endowment fund. It has been really very important in helping athletes to compete. I think that also her comments about the games in the bigger picture of multi-sports events being probably more on the affordable side than perhaps other comparatives of recent. I think that that is really important because if we are going to see future bids come in perhaps from new cities and new countries that have not hosted before, the costs have to be reasonable. The legacy of what is achieved in hosting the games has to be visible. We are very keen, as the most recent host, to tell that story. Although yes, it was a significant amount of public money that has been spent on the games and the infrastructure. In terms of value for money and what has been returned, it has been a very good story to tell. When you look at what we did with Hamden, we did not see that there was a business case for a brand new, all-singing, all-dancing athletic stadium. Therefore, the engineering solution to convert a football stadium to an athletic stadium was a very much a cost effective solution. That engineering solution is now there out on the market, potentially for other cities to use. I think that that is really important because in this day and age of difficult financial situations, not just here but across the world, I think that those types of solutions are really important in taking the games forward. On the issue of volunteers, we did provide support for those who were less well-off volunteers, although I recognise that, even despite that, there were a lot of personal sacrifices by a number of people who wanted to take part in these games. John Mason asked about the profiling of the volunteers. I can tell him that there is research being taken forward by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health around the demographic of games volunteers, and that will be published in due course. Liz Smith talked about the better usage of the school estate. We are working very hard on that, as I am sure that she is aware. The quality of PE provision is not just the quantity, but the focus of the most recent investment in PE. She made a point that it is worth reiterating to pay tribute to the BBC, because the presentation of sport was excellent, not just on the field of play but on the wraparound programmes. It made it very accessible. For some of the minority sports that do not get that profile very often, they have had a tremendous opportunity to profile and sell their sport. I know that the clubs around those sports have been working very hard to build capacity and anticipation of an increased level of interest from people of all ages in taking up and trying those sports. Sandra White, quite rightly, paid tribute to the wider people who made the games a success, the bus drivers, the people who worked in the hotels, the pubs and clubs, all working hard to deliver a very friendly atmosphere. That counted for a lot in how people enjoyed themselves. Drew Smith, quite rightly said, will all miss Kenny Stewart's emails that we will, and that Glasgow had been gallous and generous in putting on a good show. That is absolutely right. He asked about further debates. I am very happy to have further legacy debates. It is quite right and proper that we do that to monitor where the progress that is being made. I can certainly give that commitment today. John Pentland asked about the social capital and that of the volunteers in my statement. On Tuesday, I made reference to the sharing of data that we had asked volunteers when they applied, whether they were unsuccessful or successful in becoming cloudsiders, whether they would be prepared to have their data shared with Volunteer Scotland. Very happily, most people did. That means now that Volunteer Scotland will be working to signpost volunteers into local volunteering opportunities in their community. I am sure that we will get a huge boost, not just in sport, but perhaps in other areas of life, as well as those volunteers want to continue the journey that they have started for the first time at the games in Glasgow. James Dornan mentioned the celebration city. Again, the community events that went on around the games were really important in creating a buzz, but also reaching out to people who perhaps were not going to be touched by the games in the traditional sense of going along as a spectator or being a volunteer. The work that went on at the Oakheath Carch Parish Church by Reverend Galbraith was a great example of that. I had the pleasure of visiting the Saturday club, and I have to say that the way that those young people were engaged in trying sports, some of them, with very, very profound disabilities, was quite remarkable and a fantastic thing to witness. Tavish Scott was quite right to mention some of the other Shetlanders who, as well as Erie Davies, have made their mark, Linda Flaws and Andrea Strach. I think that it shows that, throughout Scotland, we are producing fantastic athletes, and we need to make sure that that continues. We certainly will do that. Bob Doris mentioned the opportunities in the community empowerment bill, being an opportunity for sport. I should mention that there is, of course, the legacy 2014 sustainable sport for communities fund, which is a £1 million fund that aims to support communities to realise their ambitions of owning and running their own sports facilities and, again, one of the national legacy projects that will hopefully see sports facilities take on a new lease of life locally. Elaine Murray, quite rightly, paid tribute to Louise Martin, as I did in my statement on Tuesday, very instrumental in bringing the games to Scotland. I think that it was through people who were very visionary, like Louise Martin, that they could see the potential for Glasgow, Scotland and for sport from hosting that event. Michael Biagi talked about the success of Pride House and the fact that Pride House gave a voice in a platform to people whose voices are not always heard. I thought that that was embraced very much by the city. A huge number of visitors visited the John Barrowman kiss, adding to the very clear, but not lecturing message about where we were coming from in terms of equality. Going forward, we have some real opportunities. Sports Scotland will, of course, support and promote the LGBT sports charter. We have leapsport, of course, which we are continuing to work with to make sure that barriers are removed from participation in sport, whatever those barriers are. Colin Kear, quite rightly, also paid tribute to Mike Whittingham from the Sports Scotland institutes. That high performance model is very technical and scientific these days. No one could argue other than that it has been a tremendous success. Going forward, the analysis of performance in terms of future funding plans will, of course, be undertaken in an equally scientific proper manner. George Adam talked about Paisley, as we would expect him to do, but, importantly, he mentioned the sports hub at St Myrin. Again, a great example of people embracing the opportunity to come together and make sport more accessible. Richard Lyle reminded us, of course, that we have some more to come because we have the Rider Cup at the end of September, when we can once again bask in the glory of hosting a huge event, but more importantly, in, of course, Roseanna Cunningham's constituency, she is just reminding me. Importantly, again, the opportunity to promote Scotland on the world stage, those images of Scotland and of Glasgow that we have had over the last two weeks. We have an opportunity to again promote those fantastic iconic images of Glen Eagles and of Scotland to the rest of the world, and that is a huge opportunity for us that we will not miss. Hanzala Malik paid tribute to parents, and I think that he is absolutely right. Every elite athlete starts their career by being taken from club to competition, and that huge sacrifice that parents and families make seeing someone through from an interest in sport right through to the elite performance cannot be underestimated. I think that it was quite right and proper that we remember the role of parents in that. Just finally, to end on with Kenny Gibson's comments about the Parasport Centre, I think that it is a great opportunity for us to add to our fantastic array of national centres and state-of-the-art facilities that we now have in Scotland that we can add a Parasport centre on to that. When you look at the network of local 150 plus community sports hubs that will be delivered, the opening up of the school estate through to the regional facilities that are providing both communities and athletes with really good facilities right through to the state-of-the-art national facilities, if we think back to 10 years ago, there was very little of that. I think now we have a picture there of sporting infrastructure that is there with the best of them. What is important is what we make of that and keeping using it and making sure that we get the best out of those assets, and I for one will be leading that to make sure that we do so. Thanks again to everybody who took part in this very constructive and good debate this afternoon. Thank you cabinet secretary and concluding the debate on the legacy of the 20th Commonwealth Games in Scotland. Can I remind members that they are all invited to join me and the First Minister along with representatives of all the organisations involved with the Commonwealth Games in the garden lobby from six o'clock to eight o'clock on Wednesday the 13th of August? That's Wednesday coming. It will give us an opportunity as a Parliament to celebrate the games and to thank those that work so hard to make these games the best ever. We now move to decision time. There are three questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is at amendment number 1076.2 in the name of Patricia Ferguson, which seeks to amend motion number 1076 in the name of Shona Robison on the legacy of the 20th Commonwealth Games be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The amendment is there for agreed to. The next question is at amendment number 1076.1 in the name of Liz Smith, which seeks to amend motion number 1076 in the name of Shona Robison on the legacy of the 20th Commonwealth Games be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The next question is at motion number 1076 in the name of Shona Robison as amended on the legacy of the 20th Commonwealth Games be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The motion as amended is there for agreed to. That concludes decision time and I now close its meeting.