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The Scottish Executive has launched an extensive public information campaign which will inform older people, their families and carers of what the policy will deliver from 1 July.

I am publishing today a consultation paper which contains proposals for wide ranging reforms to the diligence system. The consultation period will run until 16 July 2002.The paper is available on the Scottish Executive website at: www.scotland.gsi.gov.uk/consultations/justice/CivOb-00.asp.

We have just issued Beyond Trauma: Mental Health Care Needs Of Women Who Survived Childhood Sexual Abuse to the health and social care agencies, asking them to respond positively to its recommendations for service improvements. It is a research report on current service provision for survivors of sexual abuse published by the Edinburgh Association for Mental Health.Signalling the importance I attach to this issue, I announced on 19 February a grant of £120,000 over three years to the Moira Anderson Foundation to help raise awareness of the needs of survivors and to expand local self help groups. I also announced £53,000 over two years to the Edinburgh Association for Mental Health to evaluate the operation of a national telephone helpline service for survivors of sexual abuse. We have also published guidance on the best organisation of psychological interventions services. This recognises the importance of "talking treatments" for survivors, a need highlighted in the Beyond Trauma research report.

The Homelessness Task Force has undertaken a major review of the causes and nature of homelessness in Scotland. The Task Force's final report, which makes wide-ranging recommendations on how homelessness can best be prevented and, where it does occur, tackled effectively, is now available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 19472). The Executive has endorsed the Task Force's recommendations and will be taking these forward in partnership with local authorities and other relevant agencies. In doing so we will focus particularly on preventing homelessness, on using resources in a more effective manner and on changing current practice in responding to homelessness.We will be making £11 million available over the next two financial years to support the report's recommendations - this is in addition to the £27 million provided to fund the implementation of the homelessness provisions of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001. Local authorities' homelessness strategies will provide the framework for ensuring that these resources are used in the most effective manner. A Monitoring Group will also be established to oversee the implementation of the recommendations.

I am pleased to be able to announce that the expert group's report, entitled Adding Life to Years, is published today. We are also publishing in association with it the results of a specially-commissioned MORI survey on public attitudes to the healthcare of older people and a report prepared by the Information and Statistics Division of the Common Services Agency which takes the form of a comprehensive examination of the demography, health and social circumstances of Scotland's older people over the next 30 years. Copies of each of these documents have been placed in the Parliament's Reference Centre.The work of the expert group will help us to take forward a key commitment, set out in Our National Health, a plan for action a plan for change, about addressing concerns regarding the healthcare of older people. Today's report tells us how we can make the shift in emphasis needed to put older people at the top of NHSScotland's agenda.

We started a review of domestic adoption and fostering policy and legislation in April last year. Just before Christmas, I received the report of the working group undertaking phase one, which was looking, amongst other matters, at the place of adoption in local authority services. I intend to publish the report and the Executive's response shortly.We have also strengthened controls over intercountry adoption. Prospective adopters must have a home study report by an approved adoption agency and must inform their local authority when they bring a child into this country. As agreed by Parliament, we are pursuing further measures to tighten up controls on internet advertising with UK ministers in the context of the Adoption and Children Bill.

The planning system does not seek to duplicate controls in other legislation. A grant of planning permission does not remove the need for a developer to comply with other legislation dealing with environmental protection or public safety. General advice on the role of the planning system in controlling pollution and its relationship with a number of environmental control regimes is given in Planning Advice Note 51 - Planning and Environmental Protection. It includes advice on planning proposals which raise environmental protection issues and the considerations which a planning authority might regard as material. A number of requirements are placed on planning authorities in relation to these matters including:The Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) (Scotland) Order 1992 governs the processing of applications, including the bodies which should be consulted by the planning authority in particular circumstances. These bodies include Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA); the Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 1999. Planning authorities must also consider whether an environmental impact assessment may be required. The Scottish Executive Development Department's Circular 15 of 1999 contains guidance on the legislation and Planning Advice Note (PAN) 58 contains advice on best practice in this regard; the Conservation (Natural Habitats &c.) Regulations 1994 also place obligations on planning authorities when considering proposals affecting European sites, as defined in the regulations. The Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department has also published guidance in this regard; directions issued under planning legislation also require planning authorities to consult Scottish Natural Heritage regarding certain development in National Scenic Areas (Development Department Circular 9/1987) and aerodrome interests if developments are proposed in public safety zones or safeguarded areas (Development Department Circular 16/1982). These directions contain notification requirements so that in specified circumstances the planning applications may require to be notified to the Scottish ministers should the planning authority wish to grant planning permission;general notification directions (Development Department Circular 4/1997 as amended refers) set out the circumstances in which applications must be notified to the Scottish ministers. These directions include notification requirements in certain circumstances where SNH, SEPA or HSE have objected to a proposal. Notification allows the Scottish ministers to consider whether or not a planning application requires to be called in for their determination.The Executive produces National Planning Policy Guidelines (NPPG) on a variety of topics. Such guidance may constitute a material planning consideration when determining a planning application. For example, the NPPGs on Flooding and on Opencast Coal and Related Minerals contain information on environmental impact and minimising impacts on the public. Planning Advice Notes also provide advice on best practice and further information on a number of subject areas. Lists of NPPGs and PANs, and the text of many of these documents are available at www.scotland.gov.uk/planning. The National Planning Policy Guidelines, Planning Advice Notes and circulars (including the guidance on the Conservation (Natural Habitats etc.) Regulations 1994) referred to in this answer can be obtained from the Executive.

The information requested is not held centrally. However, one of the recommendations in the Sensing Progress report was that local authorities should review their assessment arrangements for people who have a sensory impairment to ensure that assessments are carried out speedily and that wider needs are considered whenever necessary.Social Work Services Inspectorate will monitor the recommendations in their next round of visits, and the Chief Inspector of Social Work Services will record what progress has been made in his next Annual Report.

The Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland is conducting an enforcement campaign, focussing on drink-driving, from 10 December to 7 January. The Scottish Road Safety Campaign has arranged complementary publicity. Research, commissioned by the Scottish Road Safety Campaign and published by the Executive on 10 December, found that young male drivers are the key risk group. Publicity during the festive safety campaign is therefore being targeted at this group.

Significant progress has been made. Figures relating to injury road accidents and casualties in Scotland in 2000 were published on 22 November in Road Accidents Scotland 2000, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 17733). The figures show that the number of injury road accidents in Scotland in 2000 was 2% lower than in 1999 and 26% lower than the average for 1981-85. The number of people killed and seriously injured in 2000 was 56% lower than the average for the early 1980s, compared with the target for a one-third reduction in all casualties by 2000.