Chamber and committees

Data on planning authority staffing have only been collected since 31 March 2013 as part of Planning Performance Frameworks. The information collected is staffing at all levels across planning authorities including planning staff, planning technicians and administrators. Not all authorities have provided information.

Infrastructure investment is central to the Scottish Government’s economic strategy and our vision for a prosperous, fair and well-connected Scotland. The Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015, published 16 December 2015, builds on the achievements delivered through our previous infrastructure plans and sets out a refreshed programme of long-term investment.

As set out in the Infrastructure Investment Plan 2015, the Scottish Government is fully committed to supporting and facilitating the delivery of infrastructure.

We are working closely with local authorities as part of the Strategic Housing Investment Plan process to identify strategically important projects that could be supported by the fund. The definition of what infrastructure can be supported is intentionally wide and could include on site and off site elements.

All of Scotland's 32 local authorities make annual service level expenditure and income statistical returns, which include planning, to the Scottish Government and these are published on the Scottish Government's website and are available via the following link: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Local-Government-Finance/PubScottishLGFStats

(a) None.

(b) I refer the member to the answer to his previous question S5W-01600 on 16 August 2016. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx.

It is for local authorities to put forward sites they consider to be a priority for support in line with the eligibility criteria for the fund: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/supply-demand/housing-infrastructure-fund.

We have no plans to require public bodies, or local authorities, to produce registers of brownfield land. A register of each urban vacant and derelict site surveyed by local authorities in the 2015 Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Survey is available on the Scottish Government website at

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Planning/SVDLSSiteRegister.

The Land Registration etc. (Scotland) Act 2012 prescribes the information that the Keeper is required and empowered to include in the map-based Land Register of Scotland. We have no plans to prescribe the inclusion of information about brownfield land.

We continue to support development on brownfield sites though our £7.835m Vacant and Derelict Land Fund provided to local authorities through the Local Government settlement.

The Scottish Government has committed to consider measures to tackle poverty across all ethnicities, reflecting our approach to social justice and our response to the report from the Independent Adviser on Poverty and Inequality. In the Race Equality Framework, we committed to filling evidence gaps on how and to what extent people from minority ethnic groups are accessing the benefits they are entitled to and to ensuring that all relevant policy and programme areas – such as benefits take-up policy and access to advice services (including financial advice) - are fully impact-assessed for equality, as is our legal duty.Our starting point is that services must be accessible and work for all. However, in some instances, there may be a need for targeted action that focuses specifically on minority ethnic communities. For example, we are aware that people from minority ethnic groups may be under-represented as applicants of the Scottish Welfare Fund: we are therefore looking to work with relevant organisations and to target publicity for these communities, so as to improve their access to the fund across Scotland. We will continue to look for opportunities to support people from minority ethnic groups, particularly those on low incomes, in all our work going forward.

The Scottish Government offers “unconscious bias” training for all its staff. This is part of comprehensive range of measures implemented to help us provide a fair and inclusive workplace and complement our fair and open approach to resourcing.