Development plans are the main vehicle for identifying land for development, including housing. Scottish Planning Policy 3 (SPP3) sets out the need for development allocation of land in plans to reflect assessments of housing needs in allocating land for housing. The White Paper, Modernising the Planning System proposes several measures for improving development planning, including, for the first time, a statutory requirement to update development plans every five years. This will help to ensure that the need for land for development, including housing, is properly reflected in the development plan framework.

Development planning provides a framework to deliver better outcomes, by coordinating economic, social and environmental factors and ensuring that long term consequences and short term effects of development and change can be addressed.

The white paper proposes that development plans will be updated every five years to ensure that they are relevant to conditions on the ground and able to take into account the latest policy and advice on the creation of more sustainable communities.

The report has not yet been published. We expect to publish it around the time the Planning Bill is introduced to Parliament. While the Executive will not be publishing a formal response to the report, it will assist in informing debate on the proposals for reform, in particular any financial implications.

The Executive recognises the difficulties faced by first-time buyers. We are investing £1.2 billion in affordable homes, for affordable rent and low cost home ownership (LCHO), over this and the next two years. This represents an 80% expansion in the LCHO programme, and will support the provision of nearly 5,000 homes for LCHO across Scotland by 2008.

The Homestake shared equity scheme, launched in March 2005, is targeted at first time buyers. Within three years, we expect to fund 1,000 Homestake houses a year across Scotland, making affordable housing available to those on low to modest incomes who aspire to home ownership.

The full extent of the Executive’s policies on affordable housing, including measures to assist first time buyers, is set out in our housing policy statement Homes for Scotland’s People, published in March this year. A copy is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 35778).

The suggested time limit for delivery of the first infertility treatment within 12 months is designed to be challenging, but achievable across Scotland as a whole. As part of the consultation exercise launched on 8 September 2005, any comments respondents have on this suggested timescale would be welcome.

The Scottish Executive supportsa ferry service across the Pentland Firth as part of a grant awarded following a competitive tenderprocess under European Union state aid rules and maritime guidelines. Successivegovernments have supported a ferry service on this route since the early 1980s.The current invitation to tender for the Northern Isles ferry service includes arequirement for passengers, vehicles and freight, which encompasses livestock, onthe Scrabster – Stromness route. The tender competition is being pursued under theEU rules involved, and to fulfil the Executive’s policy of securing this lifelineferry route for the benefit of the islands. The Executive has no plans to supportany additional ferry services on the Pentland Firth route to meet a similar requirement.

The number of graduates fromScottish higher education institutions in planning subjects in the past five yearsis given in the following table.

Academic Year	Total	Postgraduate	First Degree
2003-04	205	75	130
2002-03	180	90	80
2001-02	200	85	115
2000-01	270	140	130
1999-2000	265	125	140

Source: Higher EducationStatistics Agency; figures have been rounded to the nearest five.

The Executive operates apolicy of 100% recovery of costs incurred by planning authorities in handlingapplications from the initial registration to decision stage.

This information is not heldcentrally. The most recent Planning Establishment Survey carried out by the ScottishSociety of Directors of Planning in 2003 recorded a total number of 1,673 full-timeequivalent posts within Scottish local authority planning departments. Thisfigure included 84.5 full-time equivalent vacancies.

Since 2003 the Scottish Executivehas provided additional funding, through NHS Education for Scotland (NES), to supportthe expansion of pre-registration training capacity for psychological care. Thishas particularly been aimed at Masters level training, and has focussed primarilyon cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).

The Scottish Executive and NESrecognise that there is a wide psychological skills base available from graduatesthat could deliver primary care support to adult patients not requiring specialisttreatment. Scotland has pioneered modernisation of the training pathwaysto meet changing health service needs, establishing flexible paths for multi-professionaltraining in CBT for graduate psychology students, nurses and occupational therapists.This modernisation programme is unique to Scotland.

In addition to a Masters levelcourse in CBT in Glasgow, NES has developed, together with Stirling and Dundee Universities,a 1 year MSc in Psychological Therapy. This equips graduates of the Masters withthe competencies to deliver interventions for common mental health problems presentingin adults in primary care using cognitive-behavioural therapy. This means that patientsand the service benefit early from increased investment in training: for example,26 new graduates will enter the workforce in January 2006.

NES are addressing further gapsin psychological care provision by developing a parallel training development designedto address the need for early interventions in psychology services for childrenand young people with a view to a first intake by January 2007.

The Scottish Executive also sponsorsthe “Doing Well by People with Depression” Programme. The programme builds capacityin the use of cognitive behavioural therapy in the treatment of people affectedby depression. The programme is working in partnership with 10 NHS boards on deliveringCBT to appropriate patients and has undertaken staff training in CBT on a pilotbasis, in each area to enable this service to be delivered. In addition the programmeis developing web-based training packages for practitioners.