Chamber and committees

Information on the number of social housing units built each year, is published in the Scottish Executive Housing Trends Bulletins. The information, by local authority area, was published for the years 1998, 1999 and 2000 respectively in the following publications, all of which are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. numbers: HSG/1999/4, HSG/2000/3, HSG/2001/2). Information for 2001 will be available, and published, in June 2002.There are no centrally produced projections on future new build levels.

It is a matter for local consideration and agreement, as to whether council-owned refuges and supported housing schemes for victims of domestic abuse, are included as part of a council housing transfer to community ownership. Where residents of refuges are assessed as homeless, the homelessness provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987 will continue to apply after transfer. In addition, regulations to be made under the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 will strengthen the rights of people living in hostels.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:No figures are maintained, to show the frequency with which CCTV systems are used. However, prior to using such systems, the prosecution or defence must first make application to the court. While, in the event the CCTV system may not be required to be used, the number of such applications in the last three years are given in the following table:Applications made to the court for the use of CCTV

	1999	2000	2001
Sheriff Courts	23	11	12
High Court	26	29	27

The Executive is in regular contact with VisitScotland and the area tourist boards on this issue. VisitScotland have stated that Scotland's tourism businesses should be receptive to the needs of their customers. They therefore encourage businesses to accept the euro as a method of payment, although it is not legal tender in the UK, and are distributing suitable material and information, on request. In conjunction with the Treasury, Scotland Europa have implemented a detailed programme to provide advice and raise awareness of the need by all businesses - including in the tourist industry - to make appropriate preparations for the introduction of the currency. This includes the Trading in euro symbol which indicates that an organisation is willing and able to deal with the euro currency.

On 21 January, the Deputy First Minister had a short briefing from the Chief Constable of Grampian Police on the incidents of disorder that occurred at the Aberdeen versus Rangers Scottish Premier League match the previous Saturday. Also, a Scottish Executive official attended a meeting on 11 February between representatives of the Scottish football authorities and the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland where a range of issues relating to the policing of football matches was discussed.

All NHS boards have been asked to report on progress towards the Executive's target of eliminating mixed sex accommodation by 1 April 2002. A copy of the report of this review will be placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.

Validated figures on numbers, causes and duration of delayed discharges are contained in Information and Statistics Division's quarterly census, Patients Ready for Discharge in NHSScotland. There are no monthly figures which are validated and quality assured in the same way. Latest figures relate to Information and Statistics Division's census of 15 October 2001 (a copy is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre: Bib. number 19993). These figures show that, at the census point, a total of 235 people were delayed in Renfrewshire Council area and a total of 109 people were delayed in Inverclyde Council area.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22220 on 6 February 2002. Our Delayed Discharge Action Plan, which was launched on 5 March 2002, will require all local authority and NHS partnerships to produce joint action plans to deliver specific, targeted reductions in their areas. A copy of our action plan is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 20007).

A report on the first year of a Great Britain speed camera pilot scheme, published by the UK Government in August 2001, can be found at:http://www.roads.dtlr.gov.uk/roadsafety/costrec/index.htm. This confirms that cameras are playing a significant role in reducing accidents and the severity of injuries. The report shows that, compared with the average over the previous three years, the number of injury collisions at the camera pilot sites fell by an average of 35% and the number of people killed or seriously injured fell by an average of 47%.

I have asked John Ewing, Chief Executive of the Scottish Court Service to respond. His response is as follows:The four largest courts have a CCTV system permanently installed. All others have access to mobile systems which can be deployed to the courts as required. The information is given in the following table.

Name of Court/ Sheriffdom	CCTV System Installed	No. of Mobile CCTV Systems available
Glasgow Sheriff Court	1
Edinburgh Sheriff Court	1
Lothian and Borders		1
Grampian Highlands and Islands		2
Tayside Central and Fife		2
South Strathclyde Dumfries and Galloway		2
North Strathclyde		2
High Court, Lawnmarket Edinburgh	1
High Court, Saltmarket Glasgow	1