Seòmar agus comataidhean

On a point of order, Presiding Officer. I do not think that my app connected. I would have voted no.

I want to touch on facilities and their availability to communities, which is something that is raised with us frequently. There are the issues of the decline in stock, the availability—particularly in rural areas—and the need for funding to upgrade facilities so that people can access facilities that we would all enjoy using. Can anyone give us a little bit of a picture of how facilities out there are for people and whether any funding that has become available has been useful, which we might be able to think about in the context of other areas?

Will that review look at who is going to be responsible for that estate? Over the past years, because of financial pressures, there has been more community ownership, which we know puts a heavy responsibility on our communities because the costs are so high.

That would be helpful. Thank you.

Okay. I have two more questions. One thing that is raised with me repeatedly is that some things are quite expensive and they end up being down to local government to run, including swimming pools and access to swimming pools. I do not need an answer on that; I think that we just need to be aware that many people want to encourage their children to learn to swim, but, when we talk to local authorities, we know that it is extremely expensive. They do not make any profit and it is down to them to provide it. That is an important thing for us to consider.

The other thing that was raised with us is the cost of younger people’s participation in sport, which seems to be going up disproportionately compared to the cost for adults. Is that something that you are familiar with? Do you have any thoughts on why that might be?

We will find out—no bother. That is helpful to know. In terms of any capital investment that is under way, has that happened in recent years for community assets?

The cabinet secretary will know that Prestwick airport is in my region, South Scotland. Can he assure my constituents that sites such as Prestwick airport will not be used to facilitate attacks on Iran by the USA, nor to support Israeli aircraft, given that those efforts have no United Nations backing whatsoever? Will he also be clear about what US activity is currently happening at the Prestwick airport site?

To ask the Scottish Government what discussions it has had with the United Kingdom Government regarding the use of Scottish Government-owned infrastructure by the United States military, in light of US air strikes on Iran. (S6T-02608)

I appreciate the cabinet secretary’s response. I, too, take my responsibilities seriously. Will the cabinet secretary join me, as well as—I am sure—the majority of Scots and people across the world, in saying that we cannot engage in diplomacy through violence, that we must call for peace and that all our efforts towards peace must be peaceful. For our part, that must include not selling to the US or Israel weapons manufactured in Scotland that might be used to move the world closer to war.

I thank Marie McNair for bringing this important debate to the chamber. On behalf of Scottish Labour, I welcome action mesothelioma day 2025, which will be marked on 4 July. In my years in Parliament, I have been pleased to stand with Marie McNair and other members to play my part in raising awareness of this cruel condition, calling for further research and calling for the condition to be properly understood as an industrial injury.

Of course, as other speakers in the debate have said, we must ensure that proper compensation is afforded to sufferers and their families. Mesothelioma is a rare and hard-to-treat form of cancer. As stated in the motion, it is usually caused by exposure to asbestos. However, we also know, having debated the issue many times in the Parliament, that, despite asbestos having been banned more than a quarter of a century ago, many continued—and continue—to work in environments where it was and is present. Indeed, it is still found in buildings right across Scotland.

We must address the issue. With 2,700 new cases diagnosed every year in the UK, and 200 in Scotland, it remains of the utmost importance that we raise awareness of the symptoms of the illness and encourage people to be cautious and to get any symptoms checked. As with other forms of cancer, identifying the illness quickly can prolong life and ensure more pain-free management of a cruel disease.

I have known about the disease from a very young age, having grown up in a working-class mining community. According to the most up-to-date data that I could find about my home area in East Ayrshire, there were significant numbers of mesothelioma deaths between 1981 to 2019, as well as a continuation of deaths past that date, with the on-going impact of asbestos exposure. It is important that I, as a member who represents an area with a high rate of asbestos, ensure that we properly document the rates of illness and death, and I commit to doing so. The reality for the people in my area is that the industrial work—mainly mining—in the early part of the last century, and right up until the 1980s and 1990s, exposed men, in particular, to asbestos. However, as has been mentioned by other members, we know that secondary exposure through the washing of clothing, a job often undertaken by women, increased the risk to their health, too.

Many people who suffered exposure to asbestos during their working life have never received any serious compensation, often due to employers jumping through hoops to claim that the cause of their cancer cannot be properly proven. That is why the work of groups such as Clydebank Asbestos Group, Action on Asbestos and other community action groups is so important. Their fight against big business is second to none, and we must always recognise it. This condition, and others, have exposed the approach that big business and the insurance giants take to workers’ health, and we must make it clear that people are worth more and that working-class people—the men and women who have built and maintained our country—must be compensated, should their lives be impacted by or lost due to the nature of their work.

Of course, I welcome the Scottish Law Commission’s report, which was mentioned by Marie McNair. However, although it is an important step, I fear that there is more work to do, and I call on the minister to give us, as Marie McNair asked, some feedback so that we can keep fighting to get this right. It is important, too, that we keep fighting for proper compensation and—importantly—for proper health and safety in workplaces to ensure that the rights of workers are at the centre of all that we do.