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Any breaches of regulatory consents are a matter for the relevant consenting authority.

Enforcement action is primarily a matter for the relevant planning authority.

Planning enforcement is primarily the responsibility of the planning authority within whose area development takes place. Monitoring and enforcement of planning conditions are therefore matters for Aberdeenshire Council as the relevant planning authority.

I am not aware of any such discussions as the monitoring of planning conditions is a matter for Aberdeenshire Council.

Monitoring and enforcement of planning conditions are matters for the relevant planning authority. The Scottish Government does not hold centrally information on breaches of planning control.

As part of the wider work to implement civil courts reform following the recommendations of the Scottish Civil Courts Review, an options paper on establishing an environmental court will be published during this administration.

Provision is already made by Scottish Statutory Instrument to widen standing for any non-governmental organisation bringing a case within the scope of the EU Public Participation Directive (2003/35/EC).

We are currently considering the judgment of the Supreme Court in the AXA General Insurance case and whether this may require further legislation to widen standing in public interest cases more generally.

The Scottish Government has been working toward consulting on proposals for court rules on Protective Expenses Orders alongside the other UK jurisdictions. Scottish Ministers are currently considering the detail of proposals for consultation and intend to submit a paper on options to the Court of Session Rules Council in early 2012.

I delivered a speech on homophobic hate crime at a vigil organised by the NUS Scotland LGBT Campaign. The vigil was to mark International Day Against Hate Crime and it was held outside Edinburgh City Chambers on the evening of 28 October 2011.

There are a range of actions that have been and that are being taken forward.

I attended the launch of the ACPOS Hate Crime Guidance Manual. This manual was launched by ACPOS in September 2010 and provides operational guidance to the police service on all aspects of dealing with hate crime. The manual has also highlighted the importance and raised awareness of hate crime and encourages reporting of all types of hate crime.

I also delivered a speech at a vigil organised by the NUS Scotland LGBT Campaign on 28 October 2011. The vigil was to mark International Day Against Hate Crime.

We supported an application from the University of Stirling to the Royal Society of Edinburgh to fund a series of seminars to improve understanding of what drives race and hate crimes. Those seminars are now underway.

We are also working with the police service through the Scottish Policing Performance Development Group to broaden the data currently reported on hate crime.

We intend to hold a one day event either later this year or early next year which will be designed to build on the findings of the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s research report on the “Rehabilitation of Hate Crime Offenders”. We hope that by bringing together policy makers, academics and service providers from across the criminal justice sector, the foundations can be laid for the design of a new rehabilitative programme for hate crime offenders in Scotland.

All of the above actions demonstrate our efforts to help to increase awareness and encourage reporting of hate crime.