Yes. Care home service providers can choose the type of care they provide - personal care, personal support or nursing care.

Since January 2003, NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) has established a Scotland-wide review programme of health services for users of mental health services and for people with learning disabilities. Further, NHS QIS is introducing a mental health framework and action plan that includes a number of support functions to underpin reviews. The main aim of this framework is to introduce integrated care pathways (IPCs) that cover the whole patient journey. A number of audits are also being carried out to establish a baseline. These include an audit of postnatal depression, an audit of inpatient psychiatric units and an audit of services for those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD).

Every health board in Scotland has been reviewed against the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland (NHS QIS) standards for schizophrenia (for the second time). A Scotland-wide review of services for people with learning disabilities is underway and will be completed in August 2005. All health board areas will be visited.

I have asked Dr Paul Stollard, Chief Executive of the Scottish Building Standards Agency, to answer. His response is as follows:

The Scottish building regulations set mandatory standards for energy efficiency in new homes. These cover:

Thermal insulation to building fabric (currently the most demanding standards in the UK);

Efficiency of heating and hot water systems;

Heating controls;

Insulation of pipes, ducts and hot water tanks, and

Commissioning of the heating and hot water services equipment.

The energy efficiency levels that are set at present will be re-examined in the recently commenced review of these standards, to be consulted on in spring 2006.

The pilot was scheduled to run for eight to 12 months from July 2004. It aimed to test both the single survey concept and whether it would be viable on a voluntary, market-led basis. It was hoped that the market could deliver 1,200 surveys.

We believe that the rationale for the single survey remains strong, providing in-depth information on property condition to both sellers and potential buyers. But as only 74 surveys have been commissioned it is clear that the potential marketing advantages do not provide sufficient incentives for house sellers to take part. We have therefore concluded that the market will not deliver the single survey on a voluntary basis and that we should now evaluate the outcomes of the pilot with a view to designing a mandatory scheme.

The position remains as set out in the answer to question S2W-10890, on 8 November 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at:

http://www.scottish.parliament/webapp/wa.search.

I opened the Glasgow specialist unit and service in October last year which provides perinatal mental health in-patient and support services to mothers living in the west of Scotland. The facility allows mothers to be accompanied by their babies. Other NHS boards and partners are considering local or regional arrangements, progress with which is reviewed regularly as part of the on-going attention to a successful implementation by October 2005.

In Scotland, the National Care Standards for Independent Hospitals were published in March 2002. The National Care Standards for independent specialist clinics, which cover independent clinics providing cosmetic surgery and treatment, lasers and weight management treatments were published in February 2004. The standards are used to monitor the quality of services offered and their compliance with the act and the regulations.

There is no statutory time limit on the overall time from application to a completed sale, however there are statutory time limits on key stages of the process:

• Where the landlord is satisfied that a valid application has been received and that all information has been provided, the formal offer to sell must be served on the tenant within two months of the application to buy being received.
• Where an offer to sell is served on the tenant and the tenant wishes to proceed, they will have up to two months from the most recent offer to accept the landlord’s offer.

Once offer is accepted, there is no timeframe within which conveyancing must be completed.

The time taken to complete sales will be affected by the time taken for each of these stages in the process. The overall fall in % of sales completed within 26 weeks in 2003-04 reflects a mix of improved and reduced performance by individual councils compared with 2002-03. The report shows that 14 councils improved performance while 14 completed a lower percentage of sales within the period. The Executive expects councils to achieve and maintain high standards of performance in all the services they provide.

It is the responsibility of local health systems and local authorities to work in partnership to ensure that appropriate mechanisms are in place for the identification of children with communication impairment.

Health visitors, speech and language therapists and nursery school teachers may identify children with communication difficulties through their routine contact with families. There is an open referral system for speech and language therapy so anyone, including parents, can refer directly to their local speech and language therapy department for assessment.