Scouting Centenary

Speech delivered on Thu 6th Dec 2007

Scout Motion

That the Parliament congratulates the Scottish Council of the Scout Association on the centenary of the Scout Movement being celebrated throughout 2007, on the level and commitment of volunteers to the delivery of the scouting programme in all 32 local authority areas and on the contribution made by scouting to the lives of young people in Scotland and worldwide; recognises the contribution of scouting to non-formal and outdoor education and applauds the commitment to engaging young people in decision-making through its Voice for Young People initiative and the participation of 120 young people in its recent annual conference; notes that the 1st Glasgow Scout Troop was the first officially recognised Scout group in the world; notes also the achievement of Carrie Gibson, a Scout leader from Greenock, on being the first person ever to have scaled Mount Everest through scouting as part of the Scottish Scouts 7 Summits Expedition; welcomes the work put into the £2 million centenary 7 on Appeal to help put scouting on a solid footing for the next centenary; is concerned at the difficulties that the major youth organisations have in accessing capital development funding; applauds the increase in membership across all sections of the Scouts in Scotland, and believes that scouting continues to make a major contribution to the development of citizenship and leadership and to life-enhancing opportunities for young people in Scotland and across the world.

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): It gives me great pleasure to open this debate, which celebrates the centenary of the scouting movement. I welcome to the gallery a number of scouts, volunteers and headquarters staff, including Carrie Gibson from Greenock, who is mentioned in the motion. Her achievement in being the first person to scale Mount Everest through scouting demonstrates that the ambitions of scouting and the achievements of scouts and scout leaders have no limits, even if it did take 100 years and the admission of girls to the scouts to do it. I also welcome Eleanor Lyall MBE, the Scottish chief commissioner of scouts, and Sally Pitches, the executive director of Girlguiding Scotland, which is the sister organisation.

We have had many debates on the contribution of the voluntary sector-in all its diversity-to Scottish civil life, but few voluntary movements have had the impact that scouting has had on the development, the motivation and the lives of so many young people. When I was convener of the Education Committee, I asked its members how many of them had been in the scouts or in kindred organisations. Every single one had been either a scout, a guide, or in the Boys Brigade or the Girls Brigade-apart from our former colleague Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, who had of course been in the cadets.

My family association with scouting goes back to 1908, when my granda was in the scouts in the movement's early days. He attended the second scout camp in Northumberland-the first was, of course, held on Brownsea island in 1907. As a member of the first Huntley scouts, I wore the old Baden-Powell hat until it was replaced by the beret, at which point the hat had a second life as a cowboy hat for my younger brother. For me and many others, scouting was a substantial and positive formative experience, and I pay tribute to the many scout leaders and volunteers who gave their time and their talents over the years to young people through scouting and through the other uniformed and non-uniformed organisations as well.

I also mention, as the motion does, the 1st Glasgow scout troop, which was the first officially recognised scout troop in the world. It was registered in January 1908-it still has a thriving scout group, and a scout hall in Dowanhill. Scouting has gone through a number of major changes over the years, in its uniform, programme, training programme and also its membership, with the admission of girls in recent years. It is perhaps no coincidence that this year saw the first increase in numbers for 20 years-an increase that is likely to be maintained this year-and an increase that was no less than 15 per cent in the crucial 14 to 18 age group. There are currently 450,000 scouts across the United Kingdom, and 35,000 in Scotland that operate through 594 local scout groups in all 32 local authority areas, covering an age range from 5 and three quarters to 25. The work is supported by 6,150-or thereabouts-adult volunteer members, and by many more thousands of parents and supporters. Members may be interested to know that there are nine professional staff at the Scottish Scout headquarters, and three national activity centres at Lochgoilhead in Argyle, at Meggernie in Glen Lyon in Perthshire, and Fordell Firs in Fife. In addition, there are some outdoor centres that are run by area scout organisations, such as the Greater Glasgow scout centre at Auchengillan-but if you visit, you have to be sure to take plenty of midge repellent, as midges are one of its more notorious features.

As part of the centenary celebrations, Scottish scouts have organised an appeal called 7 On. I am wearing the tie to celebrate that. The appeal aims to raise £2 million to fund local and national development priorities. I will tell members a little about the opportunities and the challenges in that area, and I will make some gentle but-I hope-important points to the minister. The key challenge, as with any organisation, is to recruit more volunteers and to reduce the waiting list-the current waiting list has no fewer than 2,000 people on it-as well as to expand opportunities for scouting into new areas. Scouting has a presence in many communities-there are, for example, scout troops in Springburn, Baillieston and Maryhill. In my area of Rutherglen and Cambuslang, there are no fewer than seven scout troops, and the M8 corridor project, which is currently being taken forward, aims to restart scouting in communities such as Easterhouse, Airdrie and Coatbridge, and to make it a viable option for young people in areas where it currently does not have a presence.

It is important to recognise the role of the HQ staff in youth organisations such as the scouts. There is a fashion-in many areas-of going for area provision through local authorities and the community planning process and so forth, and that is valid. However, in my experience, neither youth nor sport organisations fit very well into those structures. Headquarters organisations provide vital training and recruitment support that is tailored to the specific needs and programme of the scouts. What is needed is not generic training, although that has a role, but specific training that is best supported by HQ.

Earlier this year, as the then Deputy Minister for Education and Young People, I launched the national youth work strategy. I was glad to provide a little more HQ support in that area as well as to the other initiatives that are funded under the strategy's year of action-the youth work facilities improvement fund, the youth opportunities fund and the voluntary organisations support fund, in particular. I would appreciate hearing from the minister today whether and how those funding streams are being continued. In particular, I wish to be reassured about HQ support. Like many other organisations, the scouts are essentially self-funding, but the small assistance that we provide through those methods has disproportionately large benefits both to their agenda and to the Parliament's.

One of the fruits of the youth opportunities fund has been work that is designed to increase youth participation in policy development and decision making, backing up its voices for young people initiative and developing youth empowerment in the scout movement, which has been a notable presence in recent years.

I ask the minister about the future of project Scotland, the national support for which is going to be stopped. Volunteers supported by project Scotland have been invaluable, not least at Fordell Firs. I hope that the minister can tell us whether there will be on-going support or whether support will be provided in some other way. The lack of such volunteers would inhibit what we might otherwise be able to do in that connection.

I will conclude with a word about capital projects. Fordell Firs is not just a vital outdoor facility for scouting. The majority of its visitors come from outside scouting-from other youth groups and from primary and secondary schools-and it supports a number of organisations that work with marginalised young people. The Big Lottery Fund has ruled that Fordell Firs is ineligible for the current capital funding programme, growing community assets, because the Scout Association is a national membership organisation. The Scottish Government must ensure that, in one way or another, scouting and other organisations can access development funding for capital projects that also serve the wider community and provide a level of expertise that is often not available in a local organisation.

As the scouts start their second 100 years, it is worth saying that they are needed more than ever before. They are today a modern co-educational youth movement that provides-as it always has-excitement and adventure to young people from all backgrounds. It builds self-confidence, enhances skills and, not unimportantly, helps to anchor a moral compass in young people that encourages support for the community, emphasises obligations as well as opportunities and is based on giving something back. As I said at the beginning, scouting is boundlessly ambitious for young people. I am delighted to move the motion in my name on this auspicious occasion.

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