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To prevent the repeated use of an out of date Home Report, regulations made in terms of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 specify that the documents in a Home Report must relate to a date no more than 12 weeks before the date on which the property is marketed. This is referred to as the report''s vintage at the point of marketing and is distinct from the shelf life of the report.

This period was discussed with representatives of stakeholders, including the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Law Society of Scotland, when it was agreed that 12 weeks was an appropriate period to include in the consultation on the regulations. A majority of respondents to the consultation supported this proposal. Some organisations felt that 12 weeks was too short, whilst some individuals felt it was too long.

In response to concerns from the Law Society of Scotland during the consultation process, the regulations included an additional provision that allows a property to be taken off the market and returned to the market within 28 days whether or nor the vintage of the Home Report exceeds 12 weeks at that point.

There were no objections raised on this subject during the parliamentary committee investigations.

Yes, a reduction in pregnancies in under 16s from 8.5 per 1,000 in 1995 to 6.8 in 2010 remains the Scottish Government''s target for teenage pregnancy.

A number of NHS boards are on track to meet this target. In addition, the Scottish Government is working very closely with health boards and local authorities to ensure that high quality sex and relationships education, information and services are available to young people throughout Scotland.

The Scottish Government also recognises the strong links between teenage pregnancy and deprivation and is working to address inequality and deprivation in Scotland through strategies such as Equally Well.

The latest figures from NHS Information Services Division, relating to the period 1 January to 31 March 2009, indicate that uptake of the pneumococcal vaccination in Scotland remains very high. Uptake of two doses of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV), which is scheduled at two and four months of age, was 97.2% for children reaching age 12 months during this period. 93.8% of children reaching age 24 months during this period had also completed the booster course scheduled at 13 months. Therefore, there are no plans for a catch-up campaign and the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has not recommended such a campaign.

MMR vaccine uptake continues to be carefully monitored through robust routine surveillance. Latest figures from Information Services Division of NHS Scotland, relating to evaluation period 1 January to 31 March 2009, indicate that 92.9% of children reaching age 24 months during this period had received MMR1, rising to 95.6% for children reaching five years of age during this period. 87.2% of the latter group had also received MMR2. For children reaching age six years, 90.4% had received two doses of MMR.

The number of women requiring medium secure facilities is much smaller than that for men. Accordingly, the national plan for medium secure services for women is to have twelve places available in Scotland.

Current provision includes six dedicated places at Rowanbank Clinic in Glasgow, whilst the Orchard Clinic in Edinburgh offers flexibility to accommodate six women. In the context of NHS Lothian''s Mental Health and Wellbeing strategy, the Orchard Clinic is further exploring the possibility of developing a dedicated female facility.

The new medium secure unit planned at Murray Royal Hospital in Perth will not have any dedicated female spaces; however, those women who require levels of medium secure care will be managed within the wider estate in Scotland. The Forensic Network Health Inter-Regional Planning Group is also currently leading discussions on Scotland-wide provision of medium secure services for women.

The Scottish Government continues to work with NHS boards, Regional Planning Groups and the Forensic Network to plan and provide appropriate medium secure services within the framework set out in Health Department Letter (2006) 48.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert advisory body which provides advice to ministers on matters in relation to vaccination and immunisation, has recently recommended that the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine should be offered to HIV infected people, individuals who receive bone marrow transplants and people who have chronic renal disease. Accordingly national guidance on immunisation for the NHS will be updated to reflect this fact, and routine communications to the NHS in Scotland in relation to the pneumococcal vaccination programme will reflect this change from this year forward.

As announced on 13 August 2009, the following priority groups have been prioritised to receive the influenza A (H1N1) vaccine:

People aged over six months and up to 65 years in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups;

All pregnant women, subject to licensing considerations;

Household contacts of people with compromised immune systems e.g. people in regular close contact with patients on treatment for cancer and

People aged 65 and over in the current seasonal flu vaccine clinical at-risk groups. This does not include otherwise healthy over 65s, since they appear to have some natural immunity to the virus.

Frontline health and social care workers will be vaccinated at the same time as the first priority group.

Vaccination of these groups will take place once the vaccine has been licensed by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). It is anticipated the programme will commence from around the middle of October.

Preparations are being made to extend the vaccination programme beyond these initial groups and further independent scientific advice will be provided to inform decisions.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert advisory body which provides advice to ministers on issues in relation to vaccination and immunisation, has considered the effectiveness of higher valent pneumococcal vaccines, including consideration of the estimated number of deaths that may be prevented in the form of quality adjusted life years (QALYs). This data cannot currently be released as a competitive tendering process is ongoing in relation to pneumococcal vaccines and releasing the data would unduly influence this process.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), the independent expert advisory group that provides advice to ministers on issues relating to vaccination and immunisation, has recently agreed that conditions such as Addison''s Disease should be considered for flu vaccination on an individual basis. However the JCVI also noted that it is difficult to define at what level of immunosuppression a patient could be considered to be at a greater risk of the serious consequences of influenza. Therefore the JCVI''s view was that such a decision was best made on an individual basis and should be left to clinicians.

Similarly, the JCVI also agreed that patients who are survivors of polio could be considered to have a serious neurological condition depending on their current condition, and could be considered for flu vaccination.

This advice is in line with existing national guidance, which sets out a range clinical conditions which can indicate that an individual may be at risk from seasonal influenza. The current list of clinical conditions includes immunosuppressed individuals and those with neurological conditions. As with all other at-risk conditions it is for the clinician to consider in each case whether or not an individual is at risk from the seasonal flu and would benefit from the vaccination.

There are no current plans to introduce vaccination with the pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine for health workers and additional individuals aged 15 to 65 who are not in the current clinical risk groups.