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Preliminary findings from the Executive’s review of affordable housing were published on 7 July 2004. This included work undertaken by Professor Bramley of Heriot Watt University, to assess the national picture of affordable housingneed. Details of the findings and the Bramley Report can be found at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/about/DD/H3/00019504/page1661430580.aspx.

Our plans for future investment in affordable housing will be announced following the outcome of the Spending Review.

2003-04 reports have been collated by Keep Scotland Beautiful and have been issued to local authorities following completion of the first year operation of LEAMS. However, it has been decided by Audit Scotland that as the first year was run essentially as a pilot, the final overall marking for each local authority taken from their first year reports will not be formally published as Performance Indicators. It will be up to each individual authority to decide if they make their own report public.

The first performance indicators to be published by Audit Scotland will be the  2004-05 figures and these should be available in autumn 2005.

The Commission proposal to amend the welfare conditions of animals during transport did not receive sufficient EU-wide support and was not adopted, therefore the proposal to ban the commercial transportation of puppies and kittens under eight weeks of age unless accompanied by their mother has not been implemented. The current legislation remains The Welfare of Animals Transport Order 1997 which prohibits the commercial transportation of new-born animalswhose navel has not completely healed.

As the length of time someone has to wait for such an assessment is directly related to the person’s condition, the average waiting time would not be meaningful.

A total of six patients with a Scottish postcode have been placed on the waiting list for a heart-lung transplant since 1999. Because of the small number of patients involved, it is not possible to give the figure for each year on grounds of patient confidentiality.

It is not possible to give an average waiting time because of the small number of patients involved. The length of time a person has to wait for a transplant is dependent on a suitable donor organ becoming available.

The SKIPPER package was originally developed by ISD Scotland, in the mid 1990s, as a means of supporting NHSScotland in planning and performance management. It is based on old pre-web technology and is expensive to maintain, distribute and support. Difficulties have increased with the introduction and use of more modern operating systems (e.g. Windows 2000) where the successful installation of SKIPPER requires much more effort.

Finally, the knowledge that the system needed substantial development to reflect changes in information requirements and organisational changes in NHSScotland led ISD Scotland to conclude that it was not viable to continue to support SKIPPER.

The final release of SKIPPER was at end of May 2004. Before reaching a final decision ISD Scotland reviewed to what extent there were alternative sources to the SKIPPER screens. In some cases SKIPPER duplicated information published on the ISD Scotland website. Indeed, ISD Scotland found that the majority of SKIPPER screens had an alternative source, although not necessarily with the same level of detail. ISD is committed to continual improvement of the contents of its website and is confident that, in time, much of the useful information, previously on SKIPPER, can be made available through the web.

Information is provided by practices themselves. Any patient who has moved to a new location and wishes to join the list of a practice, or who wishes simply to change doctor, is free to apply to any local practice. A practice is required by the National Health Service (General Medical Services Contracts) (Scotland) Regulations 2004 to state the reasons for the refusal of any application. A patient whose application is made to a practice with a closed list will be informed accordingly. The procedure for the closure of a list is set out in the regulations and a practice is required to give notice to its health board prior to consideration of the proposal.

The information requested is not available centrally.

However, emergency admissions, within 28 days of discharge, can be identified and are presented in a table Emergency readmissions, within 28 days, to Scottish hospitals a copy of which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (Bib. number 33792).

It is not possible to provide the information requested, as people are not required to register their decision to carry an organ donor card.