 Fawr ddaeth flynydd. Fawr ddaeth liflu bhwngifredig ar gyfer bwysig i gweithgrifion gyfer y posibl, ac yn fydor o gyda ni'n gallu ddweud ei pan fyddai meddwl, yn gallu gwneud roi gweithio llwyr ac yn leirio hirdeidig cofwysgor. Argymddai ein bod yn rhôl rôl. Rhyw gwsffordd yng Nghymru, am bob gweithgar ac yn gafodd gofyn yng Nghymru, os yng Nghymru wedi'i gwiseb i gweithio bod yr ysgolodau ymddangor. Llywaniaeth Cymru ond ein cwmwyllt a'r dynnau i gael ei ddosion yn sylwg. Mae'r ddaeth y cyngorol yn gwyllty o llawer yn Llywaniaeth Cymru yn ei ddalun. Mae'r berthynas iawn y gwynghwyl ar y cyfnodaethau yma yn ymolosio'r cyfrifol o'r tyw o'r ffordd o'r unrhyw ymwyllte i'w ddod allan iawn i'w ddweud. A o ran o blaen o'n amlwg? Mae'r ddaeth yn cyr iawn i'u ddynnau i'w ddod o'r cyfrifol o'r cyfrifol o'r gyda'r cyfnodd rhai o clygio Llanfer, CDE A andsadwr, byw'r cyfrifio sydd y clyfrio Llanfer i Gwolfodolol am gyfrifio Llanfer o'i cyfrifio Cylwg Dymu productrach honni yn brosir o phim hwn cofodd o scleesol, yn gwneud o'r cyfrifio Llanfer fel y cyfrifio Llanfer am gyfrifio Llanfer. Ieiddiol gyffin o'i cyfrifio llanfer o ffysiaddydd dros y Cyfrifio Llanfer o'r cyfrifio Llanfer yna i wych yn gwneud yr unig o'r cyfleu yw'r cyflogaid eu prydnod yn y UK. 1.9 percent y peth yn y cyfleu i loterol inni yw yw yw'r cyfleu yw yw'r cyflogaid—y cael cyfrannu i 2.4 percent ar y cwmwyr. Felly, mae'r cyflogaid ers wedi bod wych yn y Llywodraeth llawer o'r cyflogaid i ddwy—i wnes ei ddwy arall. Rwy'n gwybod ddwy ei plioedd peiflwyr, i fewn i wneud i gwyllwctiUnion I employees to find new and better jobs and leave those firms who insist on using the forms of employment with high recruitment and retention costs and big productivity challenges. The business pledge is celebrating Scottish-based companies who want to engage and empower their employees and be exemplars for other workplaces. They recognise how fair work and innovation can make jobs attractive and rewarding, make recruitment easier, lower staff turnover and boost productivity and competitiveness? Those are all pluses for businesses, and I would hope that everyone in the chamber agrees that that was to be welcomed. The business pledge quite rightly has, at its heart, a requirement to pay the living wage. I am sure that we all want that to be a meaningful living wage that is not taken away by sharp practices such as some restaurant change that has been under fire for creaming off tips from their employees. That is something that has received significant attention in recent weeks. Can the cabinet secretary confirm that businesses employing such practices would not be eligible to sign up for the business pledge if it brings their employers down below an effective living wage after such money has been clawed back from them? The criteria for the business pledge are published on the website and are clear. They do not go into the detail of issues such as that. I will have a look at that question, which I think is a fair one. It does raise with us the possibility that some companies may find loopholes around it. Equally, from our perspective, the living wage that we are talking about is the true living wage and not any ersatz living wage that might be discussed in another place. To ask the Scottish Government what progress it has made in introducing the living wage to public sector workers in Rutherglen. Workers in Rutherglen, like those across Scotland, will be benefiting from the substantial progress that we are making on the living wage in the local area. South Lanarkshire Council and NHS Lanarkshire pay the living wage to nearly 27,000 employees in total. As Peter Kelly, director of the poverty alliance, has highlighted, Scotland now has the highest public awareness of the living wage and has a faster rate in terms of growth of number of accredited living wage employers than any other part of the UK. I commend accreditation to all employers whether in Rutherglen or anywhere else. I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer. Does the cabinet secretary agree with me that payment of the living wage in both the public and the private sector brings benefits in terms of motivating and retaining staff? Does the cabinet secretary support my call for the soon-to-be-open McDonald's restaurant in Rutherglen to ensure that all their staff are paid the living wage, ensuring that they are rewarded adequately and also giving the McDonald's business a bonus of motivated staff and staff that are more likely to continue working for the company? I would wholeheartedly join with the member in making that call, not just for McDonald's, but for every employer. The member will have heard my response to Roderick Campbell in respect of the big benefits there are if employers set about paying the living wage and introducing proper fair work practices, reduced recruitment, better morale, better productivity and an all-round far better workplace atmosphere, which, as I said, is something that we would all want. I ask the cabinet secretary her views on the Chancellor George Osborne's appropriating the language of the living wage for what is effectively a supplement to the national minimum wage. The member may have heard my use of the word ersatz in response to Patrick Harvie. She may have jumped to the conclusion that that was precisely what I was referring to. Indeed, it is. Obviously, we are going to welcome any rise in the national minimum wage, but what is being proposed is not a living wage, which ought to be calculated according to the basic cost of living and therefore taking into account the adequacy of household incomes for achieving an acceptable minimum living standard. Frankly, what is being proposed, regardless of what it is called, is not a true living wage. To ask the Scottish Government what steps have been taken to tackle youth unemployment in Glasgow province. The Government has invested in a wide range of employment initiatives that are directly helping to create sustainable employment opportunities for young people in Scotland, including in Glasgow province. Those include modern apprenticeships, Community Jobs Scotland and the Youth Employment Scotland Fund. Opportunities for all is the Scottish Government's commitment to an offer of a place in education or training for all 16 to 19-year-olds to ensure that all young people develop the skills that they need to progress into employment. I welcome the minister's response, but can I make the point that many of the challenges that my young constituents face is being provided with the financial support to get into work in the first place, in particular in relation to travel. I wonder whether the minister can be specific in what financial assistance is provided to those 16 to 19-year-olds. As I said to the member, there are a number of initiatives. One of them, of course, he will be aware of is the Glasgow guarantee that is delivered by Jobs and Business Glasgow, which provides every young person in Glasgow with support in the form of an apprenticeship training of work. It also provides financial support to help businesses to grow. Glasgow City Council is currently benefiting from a range of funding from the Scottish Government to help local people into employment and to support economic recovery. On the issue of travel, obviously, there are some options for young people, and I am happy to write to the member to detail those further. I would say, just in conclusion, that, of course, we are making progress with respect to tackling youth unemployment, but if there is more to do, that is why we are investing £16 million this year in implementing our youth employment strategy. Of course, the progress that we are seeing can be illustrated by the most recent Labour market statistics, where we see the highest levels of youth employment since the period from April to June 2005 and the lowest levels of youth unemployment since April to June 2008. We are making progress, but we recognise that there is more to do. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on the Youth Employment Scotland fund. Following the launch of the Youth Employment Scotland fund in June 2013, the Government has allocated up to 10,000 employer recruitment placements to local authorities. Further to the update that I provided to Mr Brown on 24 June by letter, we have recently commissioned an evaluation of the programme, and it is envisaged that the report will be available this autumn. I am grateful for that answer. 10,000 placements were funded over a two-year period approximately to the nearest 1,000. How many of those 10,000 are still in employment? I do not have the figure for the number who are currently still in employment. One of the reasons that we are doing a current evaluation is that there are some issues around how the fund has been working, not least of which we have discovered that a number of employers who have taken on individuals on the scheme have not claimed the money for the wages, which does not entitle them to be counted as part of the scheme. We are currently evaluating that particular position at the moment. The member will be aware that we have brought in a new employer recruitment initiative to deal with what was seen as some of the inflexibilities and bureaucracy around the original programme. The precise figures that Gavin Brown is looking for are not available at present. One of the issues around that is that it is up to local authorities to deal with that. I see the sceptical look on his face, but when we are being accused of being in Stalinist control of everything in Scotland, I am always slightly amused when we are being attacked for not being in Stalinist control enough. Can I ask the cabinet secretary how the number of young people in work or employment in Scotland compares to the rest of Europe? I think that, as was marginally referred to by my colleague earlier, we are doing extremely well in terms of youth employment in Scotland. In quarter one in 2015 Scotland had the third highest youth employment rate of the EU 28 countries at 54.3 per cent. Only Denmark and the Netherlands had higher youth employment rates than Scotland. The youth employment rate for the UK in quarter one was 47.8 per cent, so that was 47.8 per cent for the UK, 54.3 per cent for Scotland. Since everyone was extended to people aged 25 to 30, how many have been helped in total and in targeted groups such as working mothers, care leavers and disabled people? I will need to get back to John Pentland on the specific figures that he is asking for in respect of that. They would need to be ingathered from all of the councils that are currently dealing with this programme. To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the recommendation by the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce, how many secondary schools in Dundee are paired with an employer? The Scottish Government does not collate this information, but we know that there are good examples of partnerships between secondary schools and employers in Dundee, for example, Michelin's work with Braveview academy, which I expect Jenny Marra is already aware of. As part of developing the Young Workforce, we are making good progress in developing the infrastructure to encourage and support partnerships between schools and employers. DYW regional groups are being established across the country, and Dundee is part of this process. We have produced guidance for school employer partnerships with input from employers, and that is going to be available in September, later this month. Jenny Marra? I thank the minister for her answer. It is of slight concern to me that, if her ministry is putting so much effort into creating these guidelines and support for schools and employers pairing up that she has not sought that information from Dundee City Council about how successful this has been so far, we are now a year into the woods commission, the partnership between Michelin and Braveview predated the wood recommendations. I urge the minister to find out whether her efforts in this area are bearing fruit on the ground in terms of school and employer partnerships. What support is available for schools in areas of high deprivation and low employment to pair with employers where they may not be as ready or available to engage with the wood commission process? I indicated in my initial answer that there are DYW groups that are being rolled out across the country, and there is one that is currently being discussed for Dundee and Angus. They are employer-led groups that will be specifically looking at the local jobs market, and that will include the issues that the member is raising. I do not have a precise date for the Dundee and Angus regional group being brought on stream. It will be this year, but it is being currently discussed, and I would hope that the member would engage directly with that group when it is announced. To ask the Scottish Government, in light of recommendation 12 of the report of the Commission for Developing Scotland's Young Workforce, what progress it is making in ensuring that there is a focus on STEM subjects to help young people into employment. We are making excellent progress with our developing the Young Workforce programme, and I am encouraged by the focus on STEM that is emerging on the ground in colleges and in schools. We have seen increases in the number of science, maths and engineering full-time equivalent students in our colleges since 2006-07. Developing the Young Workforce reinforces the priority that colleges have long placed on responding to the need for STEM courses in their various regions. Interest and attainment in STEM subjects at school remains healthy. Maths, chemistry and biology are among the most popular subjects at higher, being in the top six, with physics only shortly behind. Meanwhile, Education Scotland and the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre provide a strong package of support for STEM in schools. The member may wish to be aware that the first annual report on developing the Young Workforce progress is due to be published later in the year when we will have a parliamentary debate. That is all very fine, but the minister will be aware that, despite the overall increase in entries to higher this year, there was a 4 per cent reduction in entries to STEM subjects, including maths, biology, chemistry, physics and computing science. Surely, this will hamper progress of the youth employment strategy. Surely, it will reduce opportunities in STEM careers for young people. If training opportunities are not improved rapidly, they will potentially damage a huge economic contribution that those industries make to Scotland. I would also say to the member that, if we look at the overall picture since 2007, there has, in fact, been a 12 per cent increase in the number of entries to STEM hires and a 15 per cent rise in numbers of passes over the same period. In terms of going forward with our seven-year youth employment strategy, having taken up all the recommendations of Serene Wood, I would say to the member that a focus of activity is taking place in our schools and also in our colleges. We will ensure, through our regular monitoring and our annual progress reports, that the progress that we all wish to see that we recognise and, as the member does, is so important for the future of our economy is, in fact, taking place at the rate that we foresee. To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its strategy for supporting access to work for disabled people. It is the Scottish Government's ambition that people with disabilities who can and want to progress towards and move into mainstream employment do this. We are very clear on that. We want everyone, including disabled people, to get fulfilling jobs suitable to their skills. To that end, we provide a variety of different support, for example, through the supported employment model, by helping supported businesses and by working to ensure that general employment services that are offered are flexible and integrated to support individuals with particular needs. As we look to the devolution of employment support services, what we will ensure that we do is that we will have a more people-centred approach with a focus on individual needs rather than the situation that pertains at present with respect to both the work programme and work choice. She will be aware that I had the pleasure of hosting the first intern, Katrina Johnson, in the Inclusion Scotland internship in the Parliament, which a number of my colleagues later on get involved in as well. It was clear from that experience that the way to help disabled people into work is to offer support and flexibility. Does the minister agree with me that those values should be at the heart of our welfare system rather than the heartless and punitive reforms that Ian Duncan-Smith is looking to introduce, which will load out additional anxiety and stress? On to those, the welfare system is designed to help and not hamper. I was very pleased indeed to be able to attend albeit briefly the reception that the member had to celebrate the success of the cross-party internship for young disabled graduates programme. I commend him and all those involved on the assistance that he provided with respect to that. On to the current support and employment model. It is a person-centred approach and identifies what the individual wants to do and can do, and that is at the heart of the support that is provided. We will continue to support and promote this evidence-based model, which supports people with disability into employment. We are clear that we will take these fundamental principles into our planning for the devolved employment support services. I say in conclusion that there is no place for the inhumane policies of Ian Duncan-Smith in Scotland that we on these benches wish to see. Briefly, John Lamont. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The minister will be aware that around 8 per cent of the population has a disability, but only around 1 per cent of people entering an apprenticeship have a disability. That proportion is far lower than in other parts of the United Kingdom. What will the cabinet secretary—what will the minister do—address barriers to access to apprenticeships for disabled people in Scotland? Yes. I agree that there is more work to be done and that we are determined to do it. I would say to the member that the member may be aware in terms of previous debates in the chamber that Skills Development Scotland is currently working on the Equalities Action Plan that we had discussed. It is anticipated that that action plan will be published very shortly, and then I would hope that we would have a debate on where we take matters from there. However, we are very determined to make progress, and the action plan will sign post the way forward to ensure that we see a far higher percentage of young disabled people being able to take up modern apprenticeships. We now have to move to the next set of portfolio questions on social justice communities and pensioners' rights. Question 1, Kevin Stewart. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To ask the Scottish Government how much it is spending in 2015-16 to mitigate the United Kingdom Government's social security reforms. The Scottish Government has provided £104.2 million in 2015-16 to mitigate the worst effects of the UK Government's welfare cuts. That funding is part of a total of £296.4 million provided across 2013-2016. I thank the minister for her answer. With nearly £1 billion more cuts to come from welfare benefits every year from the UK Tory Government, mitigating against the full brunt of those cuts cannot be borne entirely by the Scottish Government. Will the minister look at how we can seek to protect the most vulnerable and the poorest people in our society from those appalling austerity policies that are being inflicted on the people of Scotland? As I have outlined, the Scottish Government is providing significant mitigation resources but recognises that it is impossible to fully mitigate the cuts. The Scottish Government will always do what we can to protect the poorest and the most vulnerable people in our society, but responsibility must lie with the UK Government and its unfair austerity agenda, which we will continue to oppose. We will do all that we can with the new powers coming to the Scottish Parliament to improve outcomes for the people of Scotland. Welcome to the minister's comments, as well as mitigating the UK social security reforms. Will the Government promise to use the powers that it already has, as well as those coming to help, for example to help the disabled and the elderly in Scotland? Yesterday, the First Minister outlined her plans for legislation, a bill on social security in the coming year. Will the minister undertake to use that bill to abolish the care tax in Scotland, powers that it already has? The Scottish Government, as Ken Macintosh will be well aware, is currently having discussion with the stakeholders and the people of Scotland on how to take forward the new powers and also how to use some of the powers in terms of making things better for those who are disabled and in social security. We will continue with that discussion and we will report back at the beginning of the year and the outcome of the discussions on how we create a fairer Scotland to reduce inequalities across the country. To ask the Scottish Government whether it considers that enough is being done to tackle prejudice towards people with faith. The Scottish Government is clear that there is no place in Scotland for any form of religious prejudice. Statistics published in June 2015 showed that the number of religiously aggravated crimes is at its lowest level since 2004-2005, but we are not complacent. Even one incident is too many. The First Minister is hosting an interfaith summit this month, which will raise the profile of interfaith activity and recognise the importance of dialogue and building relationships between communities. The Scottish Government has provided funding of over £3.1 million to organisations working towards race and religious equality for 2015-16, and that includes £145,000 to enterfaith Scotland, which works across Scotland to develop and support interfaith relations and assist faith communities to engage with civic Scotland. I am very pleased to hear that the interfaith summit is going to take place this month. That is a very positive development. I wonder whether the minister can tell me whether the summit will deal with religious freedom in its broadest sense and whether he is supportive of my proposal to set up a cross-party group on religious freedom or faith in the Parliament. The agenda for the interfaith summit has been set in partnership with the participants. Religious freedom is not an item on there per se, but it is certainly implicit in the subject matter that the summit will deal with. With regard to CPGs, the Presiding Officer will wish me to be clear that they are creatures of Parliament, not government, but ministers are always keen to work constructively with CPGs, and we are always supportive of any efforts to highlight the important positive role that faith and belief can make in public life. To ask the Scottish Government what plans it has to use the additional welfare and employment support powers proposed in the Scotland bill. I congratulate you on your recent betrothal. I have not had the opportunity to do that, and I am sure that everybody else in the House would want to do it. As set out in our programme for government, we will take forward a comprehensive and ambitious programme to help to deliver our commitment to reducing inequality and stimulating sustainable economic growth. We do not believe that, as drafted, the Scotland bill delivers on the spirit or the letter of the Smith agreement. We are continuing to negotiate with the UK Government to amend the bill so that we have a fuller range of powers over welfare. In the meantime, we are consulting widely on what to do with the new powers, which is the right thing to do. But where we can, we are already moving quickly to implement them, and we are already working with the Department for Work and Pensions on changes to how the universal credit is paid in Scotland, and we are developing an alternative to the DWP's contracted employment support programmes in Scotland that will be in place from April 1, 2017. I congratulate the minister on the cheerful nature of the opening to his answer. However, it did go downhill, as he carried on. I would like to ask the minister if he will, at this stage, begin to flesh out the plans that he has, not only in the sense that the powers and how he would like to use them, but how he is likely to finance the changes that are coming forward. The clear impression is being given by this Government that additional welfare powers will be used to distribute significant additional levels of support within Scotland. If that is the case, and some doubt it, then there will be a cost. Will that be financed through cuts in other services or increases in taxation using the powers that are coming his way? Presiding Officer, as part of the overall package of implementing the Smith recommendations or less than the Smith recommendations in terms of the bill, there has to be a fiscal framework agreed between the Scottish Government and the UK Government. It is part of that discussion as to how we fund welfare in the future and whether we want to make sure that we do not end up in the same position as the UK Government is putting Northern Ireland, where it has been landed with responsibilities of £70 million, which have not been funded by the Treasury or in any other way. Therefore, the fiscal framework, which is to be agreed between the two Governments, will answer the question that Mr Johnson puts. To ask the Scottish Government when the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Communities and Pensioners writes, last met Citizens Advice Scotland and what was discussed. Presiding Officer, I met with Margaret Lynch, chief executive of Citizens Advice Scotland on 27 May as part of the Scottish Leaders' Welfare Forum. Previously, I had met with Cass along with the Secretary of State for Scotland on 11 March, after a meeting of the joint ministerial working group on welfare. At both meetings, I discussed progress to date with the Smith proposals, welfare mitigation and how Cass might get involved in discussions around the new powers. Can I thank the cabinet secretary for that answer and ask him whether next time he meets with him, he would discuss Cass's view, as published in August 2015, that some sections of the Scotland bill as currently drafted do not appear to meet the intent of the Smith agreement in relation to social security and tribunals? Is the cabinet secretary concerned that, without changes being made to those draft clauses, as they currently stand, there are clear risks of detriment to Citizens Advice Bureau clients right across the country? I absolutely agree with what Linda Fabiani is saying, Presiding Officer. The Cass response itself describes a concerning rise in the number of employment cases dealt with by the Bureau in Scotland on pay and poor off near legal workplace practices. The Cass report highlights in particular the situation with employment tribunals, where it says that new fees introduced by the UK Government have been causing problems for many people in low incomes who feel unable to challenge unfair treatment. However, as the First Minister outlined yesterday in the programme for government, Presiding Officer, we intend to abolish those fees for tribunals and therefore make access to tribunals much fairer for employees, as well as employers. To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on the recent admissions by the UK Government that it used fake quotes to promote its benefit sanctions regime in Scotland and across the UK. Sadly, that is unsurprising from the UK Government who brought in this discredited sanctions system. We know the problems that the current sanctions regime is causing. It is clear that the system is not working and that no number of made-up PR cases case studies can demonstrate otherwise. It further highlights the failings that are in the whole system and the flawed approach of the UK Government. That is why we believe that the current regime should be suspended pending an urgent review. It is a discredited system that needs a complete overhaul, and we support the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee call for a full and independent review of the system. I thank the minister for her response, but does she agree with me that the time is now to end the sanctions regime? Every MSP in the chamber will have his constituents in their offices telling horrendous tales brought about by those sanctions. Does the cabinet secretary agree that we need a welfare reform programme that helps people into work instead of penalising people of being out of work? I absolutely agree with the member, because, unfortunately, I have heard a number of those tales in my constituency office, and I am sure that there is not any member of the chamber who has not had similar experiences. They are not isolated cases, and that is what makes it so tragic. As I said in my previous answer, the current system is flawed and there should be an independent review of the entire system. We firmly believe that the Scotland Bill does not go far enough, and that all social security powers should be devolved to the Scottish Parliament. It is clear that, if we want a fair and effective social security system that teaches people with dignity and supports people into work, it should be in the hands of this Parliament. To ask the Scottish Government how it supports town centre regeneration in central Scotland. I agree with COSLA that, together with the measures that are set out in the town centre action plan, the conditions and underpin activity are designed to tackle the key issues in town centres across Scotland. Local authorities remain responsible for local regeneration and local economic development. They are best placed to respond to local circumstances, working with their communities to develop the right vision for their town centres in partnership with the wider public, private and community sectors. Furthermore, in 2015-16, we are providing £1.7 million funding directly to local community organisations through the town centre community's capital fund. New start rates relief is an important part of the town centre action plan designed to help businesses into vacant new-build properties. The information that I had to obtain through FOI showed that, of Scotland's 32 councils, only six granted new start applications in the first two years of the scheme. What is the Government's view about the level of successful applications? Do they share my concern that new start isn't supporting regeneration in the way that it should be? Everything should be done to encourage new start businesses as part of the regeneration strategy in all of our town centres. I particularly point out the work that is done by the Carnegie trust, which, in a number of towns up and down the length and breadth of the UK, has worked with entrepreneurs and young people who are setting up new businesses. They have deliberately located new businesses in vacant premises in town centres, and the Carnegie trust reports a success rate of reaching 80 per cent in terms of the survival and expansion of those businesses. That is a very good example of how we can use new businesses, particularly the dynamism of young entrepreneurs as part and parcel of the overall solution to dealing with the developing of town centres and making them fit for the 21st century. To ask the Scottish Government what processes communities should follow to apply for funding from the town centre community's capital fund. Presiding Officer, communities can access details and full guidance about the town centre community's capital fund on the Scottish Government website. The fund is open to community organisations to support capital projects in town centres across Scotland, and the deadline for applications is 29 September 2015. I thank the cabinet secretary for that response. He will be aware of my interest in town centre regeneration and my support for the previous scheme that the Scottish Government brought forward. While the funding for this scheme is, of course, welcome, I do worry that the amount of money available will be oversubscribed, as was the case the last time, but I wonder if he could perhaps give some more information today about the type of criteria that will be used in order to judge those applications and to make awards of money. Can I first of all say that, of course, this £1.7 million fund is not the only fund available for town centre renovation that you may remember. Over the last month, we have also announced a £4 million fund, specifically tailored to bringing a disused property in our town centres into use for the purposes of providing housing and flattied and other types of accommodation. In terms of the criteria, the main issue is that it has to be capital spend and the money has to be committed by the end of March 2016. It does not necessarily have to be spent by then, but it has to be committed under treasury rules by then. In terms of the more detailed criteria, the member will be able to access those in the website, because I would not have time here to go through those at present. Will the town centre community's capital fund encourage transport-based projects that will boost town centres? An appropriate application comes forward in principle. There is no reason why a transport project could not be supported, provided that it is in relation to capital expenditure and that it is clearly part and parcel of a town centre regeneration plan. Developers to build housing on brownfield sites rather than bring forward plans for using agricultural or greenbelt land. Scottish planning policy requires that development plans promote sustainable development and consider the reuse or redevelopment of brownfield land over greenfield sites. My constituency currently has a housing proposal on greenbelt that will turn a village into a suburb of a town. We need more private and social housing, but there are several potential brownfield sites that are not being developed. Will the minister consider what else can be done to encourage brownfield development? Clearly, as a member will be aware, it is up to local authorities in their local development plan how they zone the land for housing development. What we say in the guidelines is that they should look at brownfield sites first, but it is up to local authorities how they zone their land for housing development. The minister will be aware that there are many brownfield sites in the constituency that I represent in Clifrack Mwgai. What can be done to encourage the owners to release brownfield sites for development? The member raises a good point there, but brownfield sites may often have added complications that could delay their release for development. The Scottish Government and local authorities are working with the private sector across Scotland to find solutions to the challenges that have been faced. I know that progress, for example, in Western Barchonshire Council to secure infrastructure investment, to make significant brownfield sites in Clydebank, such as the Queen's Key, is more readily available for development. The progress has started but was still some way to go. As a central Scotland MSP, can I echo the concerns raised by John Pentland regarding green belt development in this area? How many brownfield sites have been redeveloped since 2007? What I can say to the member is that the 2014 Scottish vacant and derelict land survey showed that 319 hectakers, 250 sites of derelict and urban vacant land, were reclaimed since the previous survey in 2013. 30 per cent of derelict land and 54 per cent of urban vacant land land were reclaimed for housing. To ask the Scottish Government whether it plans to increase support for local participation and decision making in planning applications outside of the local development plans. Presiding Officer, through changes in planning legislation, opportunities are available for everyone to engage in the development decisions that affect them. We continue to support people's engagement in the planning system through the charrette mainstreaming programme and core grant funding for planning aid for Scotland. I ask the cabinet secretary for social justice when he last met... I haven't got a supplementary. That concludes portfolio questions for this afternoon. My apologies to those questioners I've not been able to take. We now move to the next item of business, which is the continuation of the debate.