Criticism for lack of school playing fields
● Labour claims figures reflect SNP cuts to local authority budgets in past decade
More than 1,000 Scottish schools have no outdoor sports facilities, new figures have revealed.
The data from Sportscotland, the country’s national sports agency, shows 40 per cent of schools are without any kind of outdoor provision.
Leaders at Scottish Labour criticised the figures and said they were the result of SNP cuts to local authority budgets.
More than 1,000 Scottish schools – including 8 per cent of secondaries – have no outdoor sports facilities, it has emerged.
Figures from Sportscotland, the national agency for sport, show 40 per cent of schools are without any kind of outdoor provision.
Scottish Labour said the figures reflected SNP cuts to local authority budgets, but the Scottish Government said that £168 million had been invested in sports facilities over the past ten years.
According to correspondence between Sportscotland and Labour, 1,040 Scot- tish schools have no outdoor sports facilities, including 43 per cent of primaries, eight per cent of secondaries and 77 per cent of schools for those with additional support needs.
Labour said Sportscotland had cut investment in school sport by £1.3m last year, down from £14.9m in 2014-15 to £13.6m in 2015-16.
The party’s education spokesman, Daniel Johnson MSP, said: “Having access to outdoor sports facilities isn’t just about finding the next Andy Murray, it’s about cutting the attainment gap with healthier children more likely to do well in the classroom.
“We also know that Scotland has made almost no progress in tackling childhood obesity in the last ten years. Access to outdoor sports facilities should be part of the solution.
“These figures show that the SNP government hasn’t been giving our schools the investment they need to deliver investment in the estate. The SNP should reverse the ten years of cuts it has made to Scotland’s schools.”
The Scottish Government said it was investing in a range of areas to encourage healthy lifestyles, including £149m in free school meals for all primary 1 to 3 children and £11.6m to support schools to meet manifesto commitments on PE. It has also made a commitment to roll out the Daily Mile initiative, which encourages schoolchildren to run for a mile each day.
Sports minister Aileen Campbell said: “Ninety-eight per cent of primary and secondary schools across Scotland are now providing at least two hours or two periods of PE a week. That is a key part of our sport strategy for children and young people.
“Since 2007, Sportscotland has invested £168m to support councils, sports governing bodies and other organisations delivering a wide range of new and upgraded sports facilities.
“We have now exceeded our target of delivering 150 community sport hubs across all local authorities by 2016, with 50 per cent based in schools. To date, a total of 157 community sport hubs are in place. Sportscotland has also announced a further £6m investment to create a total of 200 hubs by 2020.”
She added: “We have made a commitment for Scotland to become the first Daily Mile nation with roll out to nurseries, schools, colleges, universities and workplaces across the country.
“Every school will be offered help to become a Daily Mile school and over 800 primary schools have already started their own programme.”
If any reminder is required of the importance of sport in society, a look at the New Year Honours list and the number of sporting stars it contained, our own Sir Andy Murray among them, would settle any doubt. All those success stories and all those role models for the children of today.
Often now we think of sport as a specatcle – the amazing drama of the Olympics and top flight football matches which attract TV audiences of hundreds of millions. That level of interest enables the footballers at the top to make astronomical sums of money. It is estimated that the London Olympic Games boosted the UK economy by £9.9 billion, and it cost £8.9bn to host, so that is an awful lot of money changing hands.
A report for Sportscotland in 2010 said the latest economic data showed that sport continued to have a significant impact on the Scottish economy, and while many sectors were negatively affected by the 2008-9 recession, sport increased its contribution to the total value of the Scottish economy from 1.7 per cent to 1.9 per cent from 2008 to 2010. This equates to an increase in gross value added from £1.7bn in 2008 to £1.9bn in 2010.
It also said that analysis of other sectors in leisure-related industries show that sport’s contribution to the economy is higher than telecoms, and higher than the sum of accommodation, creative arts and publishing put together.
But sport’s biggest impact is not on the economy, it is also on the individual. Participating in sport has so many benefits. At a time of an obesity crisis, sport should play a huge part in tackling this because it helps people get fitter and it burns up calories in a way that can be hugely enjoyable, rather than just pounding along on a treadmill alone. Team sports help to build social and leadership skills.
As well as the obvious physical benefits that activity brings, there are huge benefits to mental health too. The charity Mind has said that sport helps reduce anxiety and stress. It can produce happier moods and clearer thinking, increased self-esteem and reduce the risk of depression.
The secondary benefits to the economy, through less illness, greater productivity and lower medical treatment costs, are also significant. But more importantly, sport can improve the quality of life of just about everyone. There are many sports to choose from and part of the fun is finding the one that excites you, and can engage and bring enjoyment like very few other aspects of life.
Key to this is getting children interested at a young age.
So it is extremely disappointing to discover that more than 1,000 Scottish schools – including 8 per cent of secondaries – have no outdoor sports facilities, according to new figures from Sportscotland.
It is accepted that the government has made some progress on PE provision for children, and the Daily Mile is a great idea, but spending money on school sports facilities is of such crucial importance it should always be a special case. The return on that investment is always worth it.