All NHS boards provide information for patients, however, the provision of advice to visitors would be a matter for individual NHS boards. The Chief Medical Officer recently issued five top tips for the public on how to help bring Healthcare Associated Infection under control.

The medical certificate of cause of death completed by doctors in Scotland conforms to World Health (WHO) recommendations. In Part I of the form doctors record up to four causes covering the sequence of conditions that led to death. Other significant conditions contributing to the death, but not related to the disease or conditions causing it, may be recorded in Part II of the form. It is a matter for the doctor’s clinical judgement what conditions should be recorded.

The General Register Officer for Scotland (GROS) codes causes of death recorded by the certifying doctor following the Tenth Revision of WHO’s International Statistical Classification of Diseases ad Related Health Problems (ICD10). Currently there is no specific code for MRSA, though there are codes for less specific staphylococcus infections, including staphylococcus aureus. WHO has approved the use of more detailed optional codes to identify antibiotic resistance. These new codes will be introduced from January 2006 and will be usedby GROS.

We are aware that the buy to let market is sensitive to a range of matters including, in particular, the financial yield from this form of investment as conditions in the housing market change. We are also conscious that the requirement to register under the mandatory registration scheme could become one factor amongst others in landlords’ decisions. We therefore intend to minimise the bureaucracy and fees associated with the scheme, consistent with meeting the statutory requirements and providing local authorities with an effective tool against the worst landlords. Alongside work on the detailed implementation of registration we are examining the likely impact on landlords’ decisions in thelight of recent and current research related to the private rented sector and of the emerging options for the implementation of the scheme.

The cost of the administrative and IT systems for the registration scheme will depend on the detailed design of the scheme. This is being examined by a working group established to make recommendations on the implementation of Parts 7 and 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. The working group’s objective is to make the system as simple as possible for local authorities and applicants while meeting the requirements of the legislation.

Local authorities will use a variety of information about the way that individual landlords have acted in the past which will be available to them from a number of sources including, for example, people who present as homeless or seek assistance with tenancy problems. The working group that has been established to make recommendations on secondary legislation and guidance in connection with Parts 7 and 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 is examining the use of declarations by applicants and the services provided by Disclosure Scotland to obtain and check information on relevant convictions.

We expect local authorities’ running costs for the registration scheme to be covered by the fees for registration. The Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 gives ministers powers to make grants to local authorities in connection with the registration scheme. We expect to consider whether to use those powers to assist with the establishment of the scheme in the light of the recommendations of the working group established to develop the detailed implementation of Parts 7 and 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act2004.

We have established a working group to make recommendations on secondary legislation and guidance in connection with Parts 7 and 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004. This will include recommendations on the use of powers to determine how fees are arrived at.

An appeal against a refusal to register will be by summary application to the sheriff court and the normal arrangements for such an application will apply. The parties will require to meet court fees and their own costs including costs of legal representation. The sheriff has the power to make an award of expenses at the conclusion of the case and at intermediate stages if required. In normal circumstances, expenses will follow success and the unsuccessful party will be found liable in the expenses of the successful party. Expenses awarded by the sheriff will normally include court fees and solicitors’ fees. The level of expenses recoverable from the unsuccessful party is, however, restricted by statutory tables.

Legal aid is available to an applicant under a summary application provided the applicant is an individual and not a company or partnership, and subject to the normal tests for legal aid. Those tests are that the applicant is financially eligible, that the case is plausible and that it would be reasonable to make legal aid available in all the circumstances of the case.

During the development of the detailed implementation of the registration scheme we will contact a wide range of stakeholders to provide information and to seek views. We have established a website at www.betterrentingscotland.comas part of our current awareness-raising publicity campaign for landlords and tenants and will be providing detailed information about registration on this site as it becomes available. The campaign complements local activity by local authorities. We will consider in due course whether further publicity about the registration scheme is necessary at a national level.

An order or notice under the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 suspending the tenant’s liability for rent will not have any direct effect on the landlord’s other legal liabilities. If the house is a heritable security for a loan and the landlord defaults on the loan payments as a result of the suspension of rent liability or for any other reason, the lender holding the security will normally be entitled to sell the house to recover the debt in terms of the security and the relevant legislation. Most lenders would seek to avoid this situation by discussion with the debtor at an early stage on how to deal with the change in income.