§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if, in view of the scarcity of professional staff qualified in the problems of building land acquisition, he will take steps, by legislation or otherwise, to encourage the training of such staff.
163W
§ Mr. RossThe training of professional staff is largely a matter for the professional bodies concerned, who are fully alive to the needs, and intervention by me through legislation or otherwise would not be appropriate.
My particular concern is to ensure that the educational facilities match the present and future needs of students during their professional training, and my Department consults the professional bodies about this as occasion demands.
§ Mr. Dalyellasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what action he proposes to take to speed up the acquisition of building land by local authorities;
(2) what machinery he has to help local authorities to plan three to five years ahead, and ascertain the availability of land.
§ Mr. RossI am sending my hon. Friend a copy of S.D.D. Circular No. 68/1965, in which following publication of the White Paper "The Scottish Housing Programme 1965 to 1970", all local authorities were asked to plan their housing programmes for five years ahead and were given advice on action needed to achieve these programmes. The programmes of major authorities are now being examined and discussed with them in detail in order to identify and deal with local problems such as availability of land. This is the start of a continuous process of consultation which will also embrace such matters as programming of development plan submissions and land purchases, use of Valuation Office services, and efficient operation of the statutory procedures for acquisition.