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The Scottish Government acknowledges that the 2012 target is a challenging one for some local authorities. Progress will be measured against the interim targets set for 2008-09 during the course of this year - this will include a qualitative analysis of factors affecting progress as well as statistical information.

The Scottish Government and COSLA have agreed a four-point plan for moving towards 2012 “ focussing on investing in new supply; access to existing stock; preventing homelessness occurring in the first place, and more effective joint working.

There is currently no national routine testing of patients for healthcare associated infections when transferring between hospitals or on admission from the community. Boards do have screening protocols for those being admitted to certain specialties and these are determined locally.

The MRSA screening programme, currently being piloted, will provide direction on the phased national roll out of MRSA screening across NHS Scotland from April 2009. There is no routine test for Clostridium difficile. Patients are only tested when presenting with symptoms.

This data is not collected and there are no plans to do so.

Turnaround times, set by local laboratories in conjunction with their clinical users, are usually between 24 and 48 hours and are dependent on the organism being cultural.

The last quarter for which published data is available is January to March 2008. There were 798 applications during this quarter where a member of the household reported having slept rough the previous night, compared to 717 in the previous quarter and 891 in the same quarter in 2007.

Data for the following two quarters (April to September 2008) is scheduled to be published on 17 March 2009.

Preventing homelessness is a key aspect of the four-point plan agreed between the Scottish Government and COSLA for moving towards the 2012 homelessness target. The Scottish Government and COSLA are developing joint guidance on preventing homelessness which will be published shortly. This will cover the wide range of circumstances from which people can become homeless and the actions which can be taken by local authorities and their partners to prevent this.

Section 11 of the Homelessness etc (Scotland) Act 2003 will come into force on 1 April 2009. This will require that landlords and creditors notify the relevant local authority when taking proceedings for possession or calling in a mortgage, allowing local authorities to be more informed about the risk of homelessness and take appropriate action.

The Scottish Government has also established a £35 million Homeowners Support Fund to assist those facing mortgage default. £3 million has been provided to fund in-court and other legal advice services, alongside £230,000 for Shelter''s Housing Law Service and an additional £1million for advice provided through Citizens Advice Bureaux. An advertising campaign to encourage use of the National Debtline has also been funded.

The Scottish Government has established the Debt Action Forum and a sub-group to consider whether there is adequate legal protection for home owners in Scotland at risk of repossession and what other non-legislative measures might be taken to help those in danger of losing their homes.

The last quarter for which published data is available is January “ March 2008. There were six homelessness applications in Argyll and Bute and three in West Dunbartonshire during this quarter where a household member reported having slept rough the previous night.

Data for the following two quarters (April to September 2008) is scheduled to be published on 17 March 2009.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-20544 on 5 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

I refer the member to the question S3W-20544 answered on 5 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

The Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002 gave ministers powers to regulate charges for social care. However, the Scottish Executive made clear at that time that it would support self-regulation by the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) if it achieved consistency. It also made a commitment to hold these powers in reserve until implementation of COSLA''s guidance on charging was evaluated. In its Stage 1 Report on the Bill, the Health and Community Care Committee of the Scottish Parliament endorsed the approach of COSLA in preparing the guidance, and the reserve powers being taken by ministers.

The evaluation of the guidance began in 2004 and revised guidance was issued in 2006. Key stakeholders, including the Scottish Executive were involved in the consultation process. The guidance is currently under further review by COSLA. We continue to support the aim of the COSLA guidance to achieve consistency, whilst allowing for local authority discretion in ensuring that charges are reasonable for each individual client.

The Scottish Government has no plans at present to use its reserve powers under the 2002 act to regulate charges for social care.

Prior to 1 April 2008 petitions for bankruptcy were considered by both the sheriff courts and the Court of Session. Since 1 April 2008 it is no longer competent to raise a petition for bankruptcy in the Court of Session.

The information in the table below reports on petitions to the sheriff courts only. During the third quarter of 2007-08 some petitions will have been presented at the Court of Session however the data collated by the Court of Session cannot be broken down by source of petition for bankruptcy and can therefore not be included. Historically, significantly fewer petitions have been presented to the Court of Session than to sheriff courts.

Creditor-Led Petitions and Bankruptcy Awards “ Third Quarter

	2007-08	2008-09
Creditor-led petitions to sheriff courts	1,455	1,118
Awards of bankruptcy following creditor petition	823	616

Note: Information on numbers of petitions supplied by the Scottish Court Service. Information on awards of bankruptcy following creditors petition collated by the Accountant in Bankruptcy. Awards information includes awards following petition to the Court of Session in 2007-08.