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An independent review of Community Learning and Development (CLD) was launched in December 2023 and is expected to conclude in June 2024. This review aims to assess the impact of CLD on learners across Scotland and is likely to consider the regulatory framework alongside other aspects of the current approach to CLD, taking the original commitment further and providing valuable insights for the future.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information . The Student Loans Company (SLC) collects and publishes data on student loan outlays, repayments, and borrower activity for Scottish SLC customers each year.

) provides the Total amount of Income Contingent Repayment Loan outstanding (including loans not yet due for repayment) at the start of the financial year, including interest, of borrower who received loans as Scottish domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in Scotland.

Note: These statistics only include information on loan products and do not include information regarding grants and bursaries which make up part of the student support package offered to students in Scotland.

The latest Student Loans Company figures published in June 2023 show that the current average student loan debt for Scottish borrowers on entry into repayment is £15,430. This compares to £44,940 in England, £35,780 in Wales and £24,500 in Northern Ireland.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information. The Student Loans Company (SLC) collects and publishes data on student loan outlays, repayments, and borrower activity for Scottish SLC customers each year.

provides (i) the number and (ii) the percentage of borrower who received loans as Scottish domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in Scotland by repayment status.

Note: These statistics only include information on loan products and do not include information regarding grants and bursaries which make up part of the student support package offered to students in Scotland.

Our commitment to free tuition means that unlike elsewhere in the UK, Scottish students studying in Scotland do not incur additional debt of up to £27,750, and average student loan debt for Scottish students is the lowest in the UK at around a third of the level seen in England.

In Labour-run Wales, the cap on tuition fees is to rise from £9,000 to £9,250 per year, which will only increase student debt levels.

The Scottish Government does not hold this information . The Student Loans Company (SLC) collects and publishes data on student loan outlays, repayments, and borrower activity for Scottish domiciled SLC customers each year.

), provides (i) the number of borrowers with cancellations, write-offs or refunds and (ii) the average amount cancelled, written-off or refunded of borrowers who received loans as Scottish domiciled students studying in the UK or as EU domiciled students studying in Scotland each financial year.

The Scottish Government uses Student Loans Company (SLC) statistics to inform a number of workstreams.

The Scottish Government is currently undertaking a Student Finance and Wellbeing Study (SFWS) for Scotland for academic year 23/24 to gather evidence on students’ experiences of finance – their income, expenditure debt and financial wellbeing. This will be used to provide up-to-date data on the financial situation of students in Scotland and provide evidence to inform the delivery of student support policy.

This research is due to be published in a Scottish Government Social Research Report in late summer 2024. Its outputs will inform, together with wider evidence available, future policy development and reform in the student support landscape.

The last study of this type was the Scotland specific Student Income and Expenditure Survey , which examined Scottish-domiciled higher and further education students’ finances, particularly their income, expenditure, debt and savings, and their attitudes to the financing of study in Scotland.

We have recently announced that from the start of the 2024-25 academic year we will introduce a Special Support Loan across the main undergraduate and postgraduate packages of support.

The Special Support Loan will be equivalent to £2,400 and will be for the purpose of covering costs related to travel, childcare and study equipment – costs which are disregarded by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) when assessing benefit entitlement. This means that students in higher education who remain entitled to welfare benefits whilst they study can access this additional support without any further reduction in their benefit entitlement.

The student loan repayment threshold will also increase from £27,660 to £31,395 from April this year as per the terms set out in the Repayment of Student Loans (Scotland) Regulations 2000.

The Scottish Government remains committed to building a system of school age childcare which will be funded for those families who need it most.

Our "School Age Childcare Delivery Framework", published in October 2023, sets out the action areas for the next 2 to 3 years and outlines our person-centered and place-based approach to designing this new system, learning from what works at a local level. The Framework can be found on the Scottish Government website at:

In 2023-24, we invested £15 million to design and test an all-year-round system of school age childcare, including in four Early Adopter Communities and nine Access to Childcare Fund projects across Scotland, where families are accessing funded services. It also included a partnership with the Scottish Football Association to fund breakfast, after school and holiday clubs across the country for targeted children and families.

In addition, we have invested over £25m to deliver targeted summer programmes of funded activities, childcare and food provision for eligible children from low-income families across Scotland since 2021.

The Scottish Government set out plans to build a system of funded school age childcare for low-income families in our "School Age Childcare Delivery Framework", published in October 2023. The Framework can be found on the Scottish Government website at: