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Neither the legislation nor the guidance issued by the Scottish ministers prescribes what constitutes a priority need. It is a matter for local authorities to judge whether the amenity to be provided is essential to the needs of a disabled person and to determine what lawful factors they use in setting any criteria for this purpose. The guidance for local authorities on implementing the relevant provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 emphasises that local authorities should take a corporate approach to setting their criteria, since the provision of adaptations is affected by legal and financial frameworks relating to both social work and housing provision.

The budget allocated to Private Sector Housing Grant for 2009-10 is £67.335 million.

Funding for 2010-11 will be confirmed later in the autumn when final decisions have been taken by the Scottish Government on the impact of the UK Government''s decision to impose a cut in the Scottish Budget. From 2010-11 onwards, ring fencing of Private Sector Housing Grant ceases and it becomes rolled up into the overall local government settlement.

I wrote to the Financial Services Authority on 13 May and 7 July to press them to introduce collection and publication of regional data on repossessions, including separate data for Scotland. In my second letter, I highlighted the Repossessions Group''s recommendation on this issue.

If we are unable to make progress with the Financial Services Authority, we will pursue the matter further with the UK Government.

The Knowle Burn Flood Prevention Scheme 2007 was confirmed, without modification, by the Scottish ministers on 18 June 2009. The reasons for our decision and the report of the public local inquiry were published on 30 June 2009 and can be found at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Water/Flooding/Flood-prevention.

The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) report that there were 17 deaths in 2008 as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning. No deaths in 2008 were due to gas explosions being mentioned on death certificates.

According to Information Services Division (ISD) Scotland, part of NHS National Services Scotland, there were 29 patient discharges from hospital during year ending 31 March 2008 where the main diagnosis was toxic effect of carbon monoxide. No information is available on hospital admission following a gas explosion.

The Health and Safety Executive publish information on incidents relating to the distribution or supply of flammable gas. This can be found using the link below:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/tables/gs1.htm.

Mandatory surveillance of Clostridium difficile in the over 65 age group by NHS board was introduced in September 2006. This information is collected by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) and published in quarterly reports on their website. The latest Clostridium difficile Associated Disease (CDAD) report for the fourth quarter of 2008 (1 October to 31 December 2008) was published on 8 April 2009; and the next report for quarter ending March 2009 is due to be published on 8 July 2009.

Official data on the number of Clostridium difficile related deaths, by NHS board and by hospital, are published by the General Register for Scotland (GROS) on an annual basis. Validated data for calendar year 2008 will be published by GROS in August 2009.

All NHS boards are now required to collect real time data on infection rates by hospital and specialty. These reports are published on NHS board websites, and from autumn 2009 will be extended to include information on HAI related deaths.

The data provided in the following table are provisional and should be treated with caution. Encouragingly, this unvalidated data of Clostridium difficile cases for the period May 2008 to May 2009 would appear to indicate a significant downward trend in the number of incidences over the same period the previous year. The information obtained from NHS boards reveals that there were 6,264 Clostridium difficile cases between May 2007 to April 2008. The total in the following table reveals that between May 2008 and May 2009 the number fell to 4,789 cases of Clostridium difficile. This is a fall of 1,475 cases (a 23.5% reduction).

The date of each incidence has not been given to preserve the anonymity of patients.

Board	Hospital	Numbers of Positive Cases per Hospital
Ayrshire and Arran	Ayrshire Central	39
	Ailsa	4
	Arran War Memorial	4
	Ayr	185
	Biggart	60
	Crosshouse	261
	Davidson	9
	East Ayrshire Community	11
	Kirklandside	5
	Lady Margaret	3
Borders	Borders General Hospital	102
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries Royal Infirmary	92
	Galloway Community Hospital	20
	Lochmaben	13
	Crichton	3
	Allanbank	2
	Langholm	2
	Moffat	2
	Newton Stewart	1
	Castle Douglas	1
Fife	Queen Margaret	153
	Victoria	90
	Forth Park	3
	Lynebank	5
	Cameron	11
	Whyteman''s Brae	2
	Netherlea	1
	Adamson	0
	Glenrothes	4
	St Andrew''s Memorial	0
	Lynebank (Community)	1
	Queen Margaret (Community)	2
	Randlph Wemys	0
	Stratheden	0
Forth Valley	Stirling Royal	206
	Falkirk Royal	124
	Clackmannan	2
	Bonnybridge	7
	Bannockburn	17
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	Drumchapel	6
	Gartnaval	118
	Glasgow Royal	116
	Inverclyde Royal	62
	Lightburn	9
	Royal Alexandria	84
	Southern General	92
	Stobhill	102
	Vale of Leven	14
	Victoria	99
	Western Infirmary	64
Golden Jubilee	-	16
Grampian	Aberdeen Royal	438
	Woodend	205
	Dr Gray''s	47
	Inverurie	10
	Royal Aberdeen	5
	Seafield	6
	Aberdeen City	4
	Fraserburgh	4
	Roxburgh	4
	Kincardine	4
	Royal Cornhill	3
	Glen o''Dee	6
	Turiff	3
	Aberdeen Maternity	1
	Chalmers	1
	Leanchoil	1
	Peterhead	1
	Jubilee	0
Highland	Belford	10
	Caithness Central	28
	Raigmore	98
	County Community Hospital	3
	Lawson Memorial	2
	Ross Memorial	4
	Royal Northern Infirmary	6
	Dr MacKinnon Memorial	3
	Portree	1
	Migdale	1
	Ian Charles	3
	Lorn and Islands	7
	Dunoon	4
	Victoria	1
	Argyll and Bute	1
	Campbeltown	3
	Mid Argyll	1
Lanarkshire	Hairmyres	124
	Monklands	115
	Wishaw	194
	Carrickstone House	1
	Coathill	10
	Ladyholme	3
	Lockhart	1
	Roadmeetings	3
	Stonehouse	2
	Udston	3
	Wester Moffat	5
Lothian	Royal Infirmary	323
	Western General	273
	St John''s	81
	Liberton	36
	Royal Victoria	27
	Astley Ainslie	24
	Roodlands	10
	Other/not given	21
Orkney	Balfour Hospital	29
Shetland	Gilbert Bain Hospital	3
	Montfield Hospital	0
Tayside	Arbroath Infirmary	11
	Ashludie	0
	Blairgowrie	3
	Brechin	1
	Crieff Community	8
	Little Carnie	2
	Montrose Royal	1
	Ninewells	199
	Perth Royal	51
	Pitlochry Community	2
	Royal Victoria	44
	St Margaret''s	2
	Stracathro	8
	Sunnyside	2
	Whitehills	4
Western Isles	Western Isles Hospital	13
	St Brendan''s	0
	Uist and Barra	2
Total		4,789

 

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-25227 on 25 June 2009. 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.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The precise details of the number of coaches which will be used during the peak times of 7 am until 10 am on the line west of Airdrie to Edinburgh Waverley is still work in progress. The minimum number of coaches being planned during this peak time will be 54 providing 3,294 seats though this may be subject to further changes prior to implementation.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0618-01.htm

Gas safety, including the installation of gas fittings and the registration of gas engineers, is a reserved matter dealt with by the Health and Safety Executive.