Current Petitions

PE594, which is about the health and safety of amateur boxers in Scotland, calls on the Parliament to ask the Executive to fund the medical requirements of the AIBA—the international amateur boxing association—to eliminate abuse of amateur boxers in Scotland. The committee's predecessors agreed in February to write to both Amateur Boxing Scotland Ltd and the AIBA to seek their comments on the issues raised in the petition. ABS Ltd strongly refuted the petitioner's claims that amateur boxers are being abused and explained that while all boxers are medically examined by a medical officer prior to a boxing competition, a number of particular examinations that are recommended but are not obligatory are not carried out due to the costs involved.The AIBA explains that although it sets the medical standards that are to be followed by its 200 member organisations worldwide, it is not practical for it to monitor and regulate their application. That is left to the appropriate national boxing organisations. Further comments were sought from the Executive, which has now responded and made clear that it has no intention of providing funding of approximately £534,000 per annum to cover the cost of the non-obligatory tests.The salary of an administrator who monitors boxers' compliance with the obligatory medical requirements is already covered by a grant from sportscotland. The Executive considers that the combination of the carrying out of the obligatory tests, the requirement that protective head gear be worn and the limited length of bouts reduces the risk of serious injury to amateur boxers in Scotland.

From my reading of the papers, a lot of safeguards appear to be in place. Boxing is a dangerous sport and, presumably, people go into it knowing those dangers.

As a matter of information, was it not the Executive that made that point rather than ABS Ltd?

If everyone is content, are we agreed that we will take no further action?