The call-in was made underSection 46 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997. As the council had yet to issue notice ofits decision on the case the application was still live at the time when it wascalled in by the Scottish Government.

The Chief Plannerand I discuss planning issues on a regular basis. We met on 20 November 2007 to discuss the National Planning Framework. On 26November, we met at a meeting of local authority planning directors. On 5 December,we met to discuss the Forth Replacement Crossing and we both attended a dinnerwith SNH that evening. We met on 6 December todiscuss the Asset Management Review.

On 3 December, Icontacted the Chief Planner to receive a general update on the eventssurrounding the proposed golf resort at Menie Estate. And during a telephoneconversation on 4 December the call in of the Menie Estate planning applicationwas discussed and approved.

We discussplanning matters regularly by telephone but a formal record of every telephonecall is not kept.

The First Ministermet Mr Mackinnon to discuss the National Planning Framework on 20 November 2007and the Forth Replacement Crossing on 5 December. On 7 December they discussedby telephone the current position with a development proposal for Aviemorewhich had been the subject of enquiries to him from a number of MSPs. Mr Salmondhas only spoken to Mr Mackinnon on the question of the Menie Estate proposal inhis capacity as MSP for Gordon.

We are giving immediateconsideration to the publication of information alongside requests made underFreedom of Information legislation. I will write to advise when this has beenmade available.

Mr Salmond took part in thismeeting in his capacity as the MSP for Gordon. It is therefore not appropriatefor the Government to answer. I refer the member to the Official Report,column number 4433, on 13 December 2007. The official report is available on the Parliament’s website at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/index.htm.

The request wasmade in Mr Salmond’s capacity as constituency MSP.

As a result of the unusualamount of public interest in the First Minister’s travel to this meeting, the Permanent Secretary has personally considered what use was made of the Government Car Service on this occasion. He has noted that it is commonplace for civilservants, including special advisors, to travel with ministers in governmentcars, in order to assist ministers to use time spent travelling to progressgovernment business; and that it is also common for the minister’s governmentcar to convey such civil servants to their destination, where it is differentfrom the minister’s destination. He is satisfied that the use made of the Government Car Service in this case was consistent with such general practice and was bothappropriate and pragmatic.

It is Scottish Government practiceneither to confirm or deny whether legal advice has been received.

The review is expected to beconcluded in the near future and a revised version of the code will be publishedby the First Minister soon after.

Some weeks prior to the meetingof the Infrastructure Services Committee of Aberdeenshire Council I advised theFirst Minister that I intended to determine the Menie Estate planning applicationif it required ministerial input as Mr Stevenson represented an Aberdeenshire constituency.On 4 December 2007, I advised the First Minister that the application hadbeen called in.