This is a matter for Glasgow City Council.

The option of transfer to community ownership involves extensive consultation and provision of advice to tenants as well as option appraisals and stock condition surveys. Outturn expenditure on these activities in 1997-98 and 1998-99 was £101,000 and £2,201,000 respectively. In 1999 up to £33 million was earmarked over the period 1999-2002 for possible transfer feasibility and option appraisals, including consultation with nearly 500,000 tenants.

People with mental health and learning difficulties qualify for legal aid in the same way as any other person - by satisfying a number of statutory tests, one of which is financial eligibility. Regulations will be laid in this parliamentary session to enable those involved in certain mental health proceedings to be exempted from the financial eligibility and contributions tests in relation to assistance by way of representation.

The Adults with Incapacity (Scotland) Bill will make provision for legal aid to be available to adults with incapacity and anyone else who wishes to use the measures provided for in the Bill, subject to the usual statutory tests being met.In addition, the Central Research Unit is undertaking a number of studies which look specifically at access to legal advice and services for people with mental health and learning difficulties and the results of these studies will be carefully assessed by the Scottish Executive Justice and Health Departments in the context of policy development on Adults with Incapacity and on mental health.

I refer Mr Gibson to my parliamentary statement of 26 January.

Water and sewerage charges next year are to be agreed between the water authorities and the independent Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland, following Ministers' determination of a charges cap. That determination will take place once advice from the Commissioner has been presented and fully considered. I am not, therefore, in a position at present to comment on the level of charges.

The Executive's policies on the location of housing and retail development are set out in National Planning Policy Guidelines 3: Land for Housing and 8: Town Centres and Retailing. NPPG3 indicates that priority should be given to the re-use of urban brownfield sites wherever possible and that the release of sites in the Green Belt should be considered only in exceptional circumstances. NPPG8 contains a firm commitment to the protection and enhancement of existing town centres in preference to sites outwith town centres. This guidance indicates that new retail developments should not conflict with Green Belt policy.

Grant-Aided Expenditure (GAE) allowances are not intended to be spending targets or limits for individual services, but contribute towards the assessment of councils' relative total expenditure needs within the distribution system.The information requested is not available centrally. The allocations to each authority are contained in Grant-Aided Expenditure 2000-01. It is available in SPICe.

Arrangements for charging for car parking are currently in place at Yorkhill NHS Trust, the Victoria Infirmary, which is part of South Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust, and Glasgow Royal Infirmary which is part of the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. GGPCT has advised that there are no plans to extend these current arrangements nor to introduce charges at hospitals forming the Greater Glasgow Primary Care NHS Trust.

The table below shows the average length of time, in days, spent in hospital after the birth of the first child and subsequent children in the years 1990-91, 1994-95 and 1998-99.There has been a gradual reduction in the length of time spent in hospital by post- natal mothers, which reflects changed practices. This has also responded to the wishes of mothers to leave hospitals earlier and to the change of policy in providing more post- natal care by midwives in the community. However the provision of care is based on a flexible approach and mothers who feel they would benefit from a longer stay can do so.Length of post-natal stay (days)

	1990-91	1994-5	1998-99
All maternities	3.9	3.3	2.9
First maternities	4.6	4.1	3.6
Other maternities	3.2	2.7	2.4

Notes:

1. Maternities are defined as pregnancies which result in a live or stillbirth, multiple pregnancies counting only as one.

2. Excludes maternities delivered at home or at non-NHS hospitals.3. The figures for 1998-99 are as yet provisional.

Figures for the calendar years 1997, 1998 and 1999 are shown in the table below.

Health Board Area	1997	1998	1999 3
of Treatment	Percentage of births induced
Argyll and Clyde	28.9	27.7	30.1
Ayrshire and Arran	20.5	23.2	27.0
Borders	16.3	19.0	22.2
Dumfries and Galloway	16.5	22.0	21.0
Fife	24.4	24.0	23.8
Forth Valley	29.5	30.0	36.1
Grampian	18.9	22.7	25.2
Greater Glasgow	26.7	31.5	34.0
Highland	27.9	26.6	27.7
Lanarkshire	23.1	21.6	21.8
Lothian	23.0	24.0	24.0
Orkney	2.2	0.8	1.6
Shetland	8.7	9.9	14.1
Tayside	19.9	19.9	23.3
Western Isles	24.8	30.3	28.6
Scotland	23.7	25.5	27.1

Notes:

1. The figures exclude Home births and births at non-NHS hospitals.
2. From 1998, where four or more babies are involved in a delivery, birth details are recorded only for the first three babies delivered. Prior to 1998, birth details were recorded only for the first two babies delivered.
3. The 1999 figures are as yet provisional.

Year end is 31 March.