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The draft regulationswhich were the subject of recent consultation proposed that a seller would be allowed toalter the information contained in a property sale questionnaire.

The published Partial Regulatory Impact Assessment for the Single Survey (page 33) concluded that the provision of Single Survey by sellers would be unlikely to inflate house prices artificially. House prices are more likely to be influenced by macroeconomic factors such as interest rates.

The partial Regulatory Impact Assessment is available at:

http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/cs_014679.hcsp.

The rolling stockprocurement plan continues to be developed by Transport Scotland alongside the wider procurement plan to address the requirementsof both the Major Projects, including Airdrie to Bathgate, and the increasing demandsfor rail services. Transport Scotland is confident that it can successfully procurethe rolling stock needed to continue growing Scotland’s railways, and the procurement plan is on schedule to meet the deliverydeadline for the Airdrie to Bathgate project of December 2010.

The procurement ofrolling stock for the Airdrie to Bathgate project is an operating rather than capitalcost, and therefore has no impact on the £300 to £375 million capital cost projectionfor the Airdrie to Bathgate project.

Transport Scotland has the operational responsibility for this area andcan be contacted for more information if required.

NHS Quality ImprovementScotland published a national overview in 2006 thatreviewed services across the country against four Quality Indicators for LearningDisabilities selected as strongly representative of key elements of hospital closure.These were making sure services are in place to meet people’s needs when hospitalsare no longer there; in-patient services for those who need them, and ensuring thetransition into the community is planned in partnership with people with learningdisabilities, their carers and local communities and involving people in decisionsabout their lives.

They found improvementsto all of these areas and also set out a number of recommendations for continuedimprovements to offer better services for children and adults with learning disabilitiesand their carers.

Research carriedout by Tribal Consulting Limited titled The Potential Impact of the SingleSurvey on the Property Industry’ examined the ability of the surveyingsector in Scotland to handle the increase in demand for surveying services fromthe introduction of the single survey. The research concluded that the existingcapacity of the surveying sector would be sufficient.The researchreport is available at: http://www.communitiesscotland.gov.uk/stellent/groups/public/documents/webpages/pubcs_017893.pdf.

The offers subject to survey approach helps, in most cases, to address the issue of multiple valuations in the current buying and selling process. However, the approach also reduces the degree of certainty in the transaction process, which has been a key strength of the Scottish house buying and selling process over many years. It is important to consider the balance of arguments between the offers subject to survey approach and the single survey in deciding the way ahead.

The draft regulationswhich were the subject of recent consultation did not include proposals for specific legal liabilitiesfor a buyer or a seller in relation to a property sale questionnaire (PSQ), giventhat it was expected that PSQs would be referred to by solicitors acting on behalfof buyers in the missives of sale as a matter of conveyancing practice.

The draftregulations which were the subject of recent consultation provide forstrict criteria for approved providers and the intention is that they shouldmeet or match the professional standards, liability and redress provided bychartered surveyors. For a buyer to rely on a single survey, the provider’sterms and conditions of contract would have to make suitable provision and ifnecessary that would be ensured by legislation.

New national guidanceon self-directed support which issued in July tasks local authorities with developinglocal infrastructures and is designed to increase uptake. This can be accessed onhttp://www.scotland.gov.uk/181224.

Along with my CabinetSecretary and ministerial colleagues, I am in dialogue with a range of stakeholdersto gather evidence and views on how we use the strategic spending review to setplans that will enable us to fulfil our purpose and achieve our strategic objectives.Increasing the uptake of self-directed support will be part of that consideration.

I refer themember to the answer to question S3W-3626 on 6 September 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions areavailable on the Parliament's website the search facility for which can befound at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.