Image source, Getty Images

That's all from Holyrood Live on Tuesday 29 May 2018.

MSPs passed the general principles of the Planning Bill, with only the Lib Dems voting against.

However all the opposition parties expressed concerns about the legislation, which ranged from the centralisation of powers, the lack of a statutory purpose on the face of the Bill to the 'Orwellian rebranding of jargonistic gobbledygook'!

Local Government Minister Kevin Stewart gave a pledge to carefully consider putting the purpose of planning into statute.

Good night, join us in the morning for coverage of the Rural Economy Committee as it takes from the managing director of Calmac Ferries.

Image source, bbc

Communitye Safety Minister Annabelle Ewing says the government is happy to fund a partnership between the Missing People charity, Barnardos, Shelter Scotland and Glasgow University to develop and deliver return discussion training across Scotland.

Ms Ewing tells the chamber that through the government's framework support for families is being prioritised.

Police Scotland provides support to families when a loved one goes missing, she explains.

The minister accepts there is more that needs to be done, citing the importance of education and the need to highlight the risks of going missing to the young.

More than 730 people in Scotland are classed as "long-term" missing, according to figures published last year..

Police Scotland's new national missing person unit has taken on the task of analysing missing person data.

Last year, almost 22,000 missing person investigations were made in Scotland, 62% of them involving children.

The report, seen by BBC Scotland, shows that 99% of people have since been found safe and well - including all the children who went missing.

A total of 91 adults were found dead and 16 are still missing.

Once someone has been missing for more than 28 days they are categorised as long-term missing.

• 'It still hurts every single day'
• Read more here

Community Safety Minister Annabelle Ewing confirms she met with Police Scotland earlier today, following the publication of the missing persons statistics.

She says it is comforting to know that the majority of people return safely but agrees with members that support must be available to these people.

In 57% of missing person investigations, the person missing had been missing before, Ms Ewing states.

Turning to the National Framework for Missing Persons, the minister says it brings together experts in the field and recognises the work of many services in the field.

Prevention is central to the approach Ms Ewing explains, but she points to the challenges of this.

Image source, Missing People

From the website Missing People, external.

Labour MSP Daniel Johnson says 80% of adults who go missing have underlying mental health conditions.

These people are vulnerable and are taking a last resort, he suggests.

Mr Johnson commends the police for their efforts in locating missing people.

He calls for services to be put in place to find out why people are going missing, highlighting that around half of missing people have been missing before.

• 21, 989missing people were investigated by police in 2016/7

• 99% were traced alive
• 91 were traced deceased (87% of these were men)

• 75%of people missing from hospital had mental health vulnerabilities

Image source, POLICE SCOTLAND

• 540(2%) had dementia

• 6 hours- 35.8% of investigations concluded within six hours
• 93%were concluded in three days and99%of people return within two weeks

Image source, bbc

Tory MSP Edward Mountain tells the chamber that when you look at the reason for why people disappear they are complex and varied.

"Some forget where their home is, some make a choice to go missing and some people feel that they have no choice at all."

When a person first goes missing the sooner the search begins the better, he says.

Community Safety Minister Annabelle Ewing intervenes to point out that Police Scotland's website calls on people who are concerned about a missing person to report it immediately.

Mr Mountain welcomes this, agreeing people should contact the police as soon as possible.

SNP MSP Kenneth Gibson tells the parliament about his uncle Leonard Lawson who went missing in the 1960s and was never seen again.

The family simply stopped mentioning him as a way of coping, he explains.

We must recognise the suffering of thousands of families and also of those who feel forced to leave home, Mr Gibson says.

From the Daily Record: The heartbroken parents of Sean McKenna have hailed the Coatbridge community for its support and kindness after the body of their “brilliant boy” was discovered.

An intensive near three-week search for Townhead man Sean came to a tragic end on October 27 2016, when police found his body at Woodend Loch.

Around 1000 people attended a candlelit vigil in memory of the 24-year-old, walking from the La Ronde pub to St Bartholomew’s Chapel.

Sean’s young nieces, Ellie, Nicole and Abbie, carried cards and candles and tributes have been left outside the family home.

Read more here., external

Image source, bbc

Mr MacGregor says when speaking to the family of Sean McKenna, the lack of support for those with a loved one missing was highlighted.

The SNP MSP calls for emotional, psychological and practical support for those going through this.

He welcomes the Scottish government's National Framework for Missing Persons, external.

He cites three simple steps Missing People UK are asking MSPs to take:

1. Check there is a multi-agency group in place with responsibility for implementing the National Framework in your constituency
2. Ensure the multi-agency group has considered its response to families as well as the missing person
3. Ensure the council has made provision for return discussions and if the person is not found alive support must be offered

The police database goes back to 1957 and many people have been missing for decades.

Ch Insp Lex Baillie, the head of Scotland's new National Missing Person Unit, said that every single case remained open.

He said they were hoping to gather the DNA of those still missing in order to cross-check it with the UK missing person database and, in some cases, those databases abroad.

Collecting familial DNA also helps the unit to rule out links to unidentified human remains.

Ch Insp Baillie said: "We have looked at the long-term missing people very closely dating back to 1957 and the Moira Anderson case and as a result of that we have found 61 people safe and well," he said

Image source, Police Scotland

"There are 41 people who we have found to have died in the past few years, unfortunately, but that gives a little bit of closure to the families."

He said: "We will do what we can to bring in all the information we can to find individuals.

"We are seeking to get the DNA where we can but the families are spread around the world.

"Moira Anderson's sisters are in Australia for example. So it's not as easy as you would think but we are trying to identify DNA sources and samples where we can. Each of the 732 is an individual story."

SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor welcomes charities Missing People and the Moira Anderson Foundation to the gallery.

He says little is more devastating than realising a loved one is missing.

It is important that when this becomes the horrible reality for families, they are offered the right support he states.

Mr MacGregor tells the chamber about the case of Sean McKenna, who was sadly found too late.

He also recalls the case of Moira Anderson, who went missing at the age of 11 in 1957 and is still considered a missing person today.

More than half of children who go missing in Scotland are in care the SNP MSP notes.

He also highlights a link between mental health and those who go missing, particularly young men.

Image source, POLICE SCOTLAND

The body of a young man who went missing in North Lanarkshire in October 2016, was found in Wooden Lcoh, Coatbridge.

Sean McKenna, 24, from Coatbridge, had been missing since leaving a friend's house in the early hours of 10 October 2016.

Police Scotland said confirmed Mr McKenna was found in the loch.

A post mortem examination was to be held to establish the cause of death, which is not being treated as suspicious.

Mr Macgregor uses his motion to state, despite the excellent work of Police Scotland in searching for missing people, the families who are left devastated receive little or no emotional, practical and legal support in coping with the disappearance of their missing loved one.

The SNP MSP will use the debate to highlight the campaign of the family of Sean McKenna, who went missing in Coatbridge in 2017, for more support for families of missing loved ones.

Mr Macgregor also points to the National Missing Person’s Framework, which was published by the Scottish Government in 2017 and calls for it to be implemented in every local authority area.

Image source, POLICE SCOTLAND

The number of missing people reports investigated by police in Scotland has increased by almost 1,000 in the past year.

Police Scotland said it investigated nearly 23,000 cases in 2017-18, relating to about 12,500 people.

The figure was 4.4% higher than the previous year.

About a quarter of the investigations - 5,833 - involved just 300 people, each of whom had been reported missing at least 10 times.

Police figures showed that of those reported missing, 64% were children, while 24% of investigations involved someone with a mental health issue.

More than 99% of people reported missing were traced alive. About 0.4% were found dead, while 0.1% were not traced.

Read more here.

SNP MSP Fulton MacGregor will now lead a member's debate calling for support for families of missing people.

Image source, bbc

MSPs back the general principles of the Planning (Scotland) Bill, external, with 107 MSPs backing it and four against.