asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the Scottish Office has carried out, or intends to carry out, investigations or surveys into land use; and whether he will give details of such studies including information on the incidence of good farm land in Scotland being allocated for housing purposes.

Under the Planning Acts, surveys of land use, to the extent necessary for development planning, are a statutory function of local authorities. Figures which I obtain periodically on the loss of agricultural land for development are published in the annual volume of Agricultural Statistics for Scotland.