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The five areas of teaching expertise covering autism, dyslexia, visual impairment, hearing impairment and visual and hearing impairment were added to the General Teaching Council's Framework for Professional Recognition at the end of last year. Since then, 1 secondary teacher has applied for recognition, in the area of autism.

No guidance has been issued to either health boards or special health boards on the publication of medical negligence data.

Details are as follows:

	2000-01 £000	2001-02 £000	2002-03 £000	2003-04 £000	2004-05 £000	2005-06 £000	2006-07 £000
Contingent Liabilities	44,992	61,186	64,497	65,229	52,315	68,715	80,457
Provisions	52,120	52,644	59,842	60,481	81,689	106,126	127,735
Total	97,112	113,830	124,339	125,710	134,004	174,841	208,192

 

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-10232 on 4 March 2008. 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/webapp/wa.search.

The information requested is not held centrally.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), has advised that there are two UK licensed MMR vaccines available for use in the routine childhood immunisation programme in NHSScotland: Priorix and MMRII.

The MHRA further advised that two other vaccines are licensed via the centralised licensing procedure administered by the European Medicines Agency. These are M-M-RVAXPRO and ProQuad. These vaccines are not used in the routine childhood immunisation programme in Scotland.

None of the above vaccines have been withdrawn since 2002.

One of the aims of the Licensing (Scotland) Act 2005 is to encourage pubs to become more child and family friendly. The new act replaces the complicated system of children's certificates with mandatory conditions concerning premises' policies on access by children and a requirement for baby changing facilities in every on-sales premises allowing access to children under five. It will be a matter for operators to ensure that their premises are safe and suitable for those under 18 and this will be carefully assessed by their local licensing board in granting the licence on those terms.

We will implement provisions in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006 that enhance local authorities'' powers to enforce higher quality standards in the private housing sector as a whole, including the private rented sector. For example, a local authority will be able to require the drawing up and implementation of a maintenance plan for a house that has not been, or is unlikely to be, maintained to a reasonable standard.

For the private rented sector the recently announced National Voluntary Landlord Accreditation scheme will require landlords to confirm that they are meeting legal requirements in letting and will encourage a process of continuous improvement in both the physical condition and management of private rented accommodation. This builds on the steps already taken to ensure sound minimum standards through the requirement for private landlords to be registered and the introduction in September 2007 of the Repairing Standard for private rented houses. This standard extends the statutory responsibility of a private landlord to maintain a house in a reasonable state of repair. Tenants now have the power to enforce the standard by applying to the Private Rented Housing Panel, which can take action against landlords who fail to comply with the standard.

The latest figures for landlord registration show that the number of applications by landlords for registration is approximately 108,000, while the number of privately rented dwellings they operate is approximately 160,000. Landlords and agents are required to register in each authority where they own or manage property, so these figures include multiple registrations for some individuals or organisations.

The landlord registration system does not collect information on whether properties meet the Tolerable Standard or the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SQHS). However, on the basis of the sampling carried out by the Scottish House Condition Survey we estimate that at least 96% of privately rented properties meet the Tolerable Standard and between 13% and 25% meet the SHQS. There is no legal requirement for privately rented houses to meet the SHQS. However, since September 2007 private landlords have been required to ensure that their properties meet the Repairing Standard. If a landlord fails to comply with a Repairing Standard enforcement order, the local authority must take this into account when determining whether the landlord is fit and proper to let property.

None. Matters relating to capital investment are the responsibility of the Scottish Funding Council (SFC). I am aware that the SFC is currently in discussion with the college about its outline business case and that the matter is likely to be considered at the July 2008 meeting of the SFC's Capital Investment Committee.