Seòmar agus comataidhean

The Scottish Government will consult members of The same as you? Implementation Group, the Users and Carers Group and other interested stakeholders later this year to inform the scope and remit of the research proposal.

I refer the member to the question S3W-21384 on 11 March 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 Accountant in Bankruptcy has never reported on numbers of petitions for bankruptcy as she does not collate this information herself.

The Accountant in Bankruptcy does, however, collate and report on the number of awards of bankruptcy following both petitions to the court and debtor applications considered by the accountant herself. Information on awards of bankruptcy can be found on the website at www.aib.gov.uk in the annual report or in the quarterly Insolvency Statistics press release.

Research already undertaken has shown that direct (patient to patient) and indirect (via contaminated environment or third party) contact represents the main routes of transmission of Clostridium difficile.

During October to December 2008, creditor-led petitions for bankruptcy were lodged by the following categories of creditors:

Councils	HM Revenue and Customs	Businesses	Private Individuals1	Money Lenders2	Other	Total
600	213	191	74	36	4	1,118

Notes:

1. May include creditors from other categories where a named individual has been cited as the pursuer in the Scottish Court Service''s electronic Case Management System.

2. Banks, building societies and credit card companies.

The information provided has been collected by the Scottish Court Service and cannot be searched electronically. A manual trawl of the 1,118 cases was undertaken in order to provide the figures quoted above, but more detailed information giving the names of individual creditors, where allowed under the Data Protection Act, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Not all petitions presented to the courts result in award of bankruptcy.

This information is not collected centrally. The Healthcare Associated Infection Task Force has identified targeted incidence surveillance of Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) as a priority area.

A protocol for CAUTI has been developed by Health Protection Scotland (HPS) for care of the elderly and for the long term care setting. This is being piloted in five boards during February to April 2009, and the findings will be used to inform the future approach taken for the surveillance of CAUTI.

The last quarter for which published data is available is January “ March 2008. There were 267 homelessness applications in Argyll and Bute during this quarter and 203 cases assessed as homeless. In West Dunbartonshire, 587 applications were made and 243 cases assessed as homeless during this quarter.

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

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.

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.