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The First Minister discussed the Aviemore planning applications with me on 7 December 2007, at approximately 12.40 hours. The Principal Private Secretary to the First Minister was present during this conversation. The discussion centred on the representations submitted by cross-party Parliamentarians expressing concern over the Aviemore applications which suggested that Scottish Government agencies might be responsible for delaying matters. I told the First Minister that, as minister responsible for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), and in the light of representations made to me on the previous evening by Rhoda Grant MSP, Mary Scanlon MSP, John Farquhar Munro MSP and Fergus Ewing MSP, I had already checked with SEPA that morning in order to ascertain if there were any misunderstandings or matters of process that were unnecessarily holding up the Agency''s proper consideration of the applications and that I was awaiting an update on those issues from the Chief Executive of SEPA. When he provided that at approximately 13.30 that day I then spoke to the First Minister again to inform him of my conclusions.

The First Minister has had no discussions with Mr Donald Macdonald about the Aviemore planning applications.

No.

In requesting information from the Chief Planner, the First Minister was acting in his ministerial capacity.

No.

Representations concerning the Aviemore planning applications were received in the First Minister''s Office from:

- Mary Scanlon MSP in a letter dated 6 December 2007, delivered by hand and received electronically on 6 December, and notified to the First Minister immediately, and

- Rhoda Grant MSP in a letter dated 6 December 2007, received electronically on 6 December, and notified to the First Minister immediately.

The First Minister discussed these letters on 6 December with the constituency member, Fergus Ewing MSP, who also made representations.

In addition Danny Alexander MP wrote to the First Minister in a letter dated 11 December, received by fax on 12 December, and notified to the First Minister on the same day.

Each of the above also made representations direct to other ministers and to others.

On 6 December 2007 Mary Scanlon MSP made written and verbal representations to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment and to the Minister for Environment, as did Rhoda Grant MSP. On 6 December John Farquhar Munro MSP made verbal representations to these ministers.

Mary Scanlon, Rhoda Grant and Danny Alexander wrote to other individuals and agencies including SEPA whose then chairman, Sir Ken Collins, was contacted by mail in letters dated 6 December 2007. Rhoda Grant drew attention in her letter to Sir Ken Collins to the fact that she had also written to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, and to the Chief Executive of SEPA, Campbell Gemmell.

Mary Scanlon MSP and Danny Alexander MP were also in direct contact with Tom Inglis, SEPA''s Head of Environmental Protection and Improvement (North) concerning the Aviemore development and SEPA''s processing of the flood risk assessments.

As the constituency MSP Fergus Ewing MSP wrote to Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment on 29 November and 6 December and was in touch with the various agencies involved.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) withdrew its objection to the planning application for the development of the Horse Field site at Aviemore on 12 December 2007. SEPA was able to withdraw its objection after it had completed its review of the Flood Risk Assessment, received from the developer on 10 December, and satisfied itself about the potential impact of the development on adjacent properties. The National Park Planning Committee met on 14 December 2007.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency prioritises responses to planning consultations primarily according to environmental risk, but also takes into account sustainable development considerations. To meet planning authorities'' deadlines, SEPA will also deal with some consultations more rapidly than others.

SEPA gives high-priority to flood risk assessments for developments of a scale and nature such as that proposed at Aviemore in an area already prone to flooding. In the case of the Aviemore planning applications, SEPA also took account of the Cairngorms National Park Authority''s deadlines and the need to provide for the sustainable development of the region, including the particular financial and employment imperatives involved, as part of SEPA''s overall consideration of the applications.

Mental health services for those with sensory loss continue to develop and improve. For example, a new dedicated community service and a deaf counselling service are now operational and have been well received by service users in Lothian. National access to specialist in-patient services when needed is long established through referrals to the John Denmark Unit in Manchester with attention to transitions a feature of the care pathway.

We are examining with partners the merits of a Scotland-based in-patient facility and how to further improve regional specialist community services.

I refer the memberto the answer to question S3W-8096 on 22 January 2008. All answers to written parliamentary questions are availableon the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.