6. To ask the Scottish Government what it is doing to encourage more women to regularly participate in sport. (S5O-00772)

The Scottish Government is committed to increasing rates of physical activity for everyone in Scotland, and our ambitions for a more active Scotland are underpinned by a commitment to equality. My strategic guidance letter to sportscotland emphasises the importance that the Scottish Government attaches to equalities. Our programme for government has a number of commitments, including a £300,000 sporting equality fund that is aimed at increasing the number of women and girls who participate in sport. Details of the fund will be announced shortly.

Scottish governing bodies of sport are doing good work on the equality standard for sport. Cricket, snow sport and karate provide excellent case studies of governing bodies taking steps to increase diversity on their boards, opportunities for women to participate, and support for coaches and role models. I am delighted that sportscotland is the latest public body to achieve gender equality on its board following last month’s appointment of five new members.

I am sure that the Minister will be aware of the findings of a survey that the Health and Sport Committee carried out as part of its sport for everyone inquiry that show that, across all age categories, rates of non-participation in regular sport and physical activity are higher among females than among males. I therefore urge the minister to focus on the barriers to participation that the survey uncovered, including caring and family commitments, the feeling of self-consciousness and negative experiences of physical education at school. What consideration will she give to how more women can get involved regularly in sport?

How we get women and girls more active continues to be a challenge and, as Jeremy Balfour rightly points out, non-participation rates are higher among those cohorts. He is also right to point out that we need to work hard to unpick, understand and overcome the multiple layers of potential barriers.

Sportscotland has identified equalities and inclusion as a key priority in its corporate plan. It is progressing our programme for government commitment and it is establishing an equality in sport and physical activity forum to take forward the recommendations on broader equality issues from the equality and sport research.

The member is right to raise the issue and to continue to apply pressure. My strategic guidance letter also emphasises the importance that we attach to equalities.

What impact does the Minister expect on women’s sporting participation levels, and particularly parasport participation levels, from the £12 million—half of which is from the Government—that is being invested in the unique state-of-the-art sports facilities at sportscotland’s Inverclyde national centre in Largs, which we both recently visited?

The national centre in Largs will be a first for Scotland and across the United Kingdom. It was good to get an opportunity to visit the centre, along with the Constituency member, and to see how much attention to detail has been applied to ensure that the facility will be for everyone, regardless of their physical abilities. We should all feel proud of it.

The centre will open soon. I hope that it will increase activity levels for disabled people who have an interest in sport and activity. The centre is also determined to be a community asset and resource and to provide opportunities for girls, boys, men and women—young and old—across North Ayrshire and beyond.