- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 27 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19186 by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2009, what savings will be made in the Education and Lifelong Learning budget, and to which budget lines, to pay for the additional £12.4 million cost associated with unwinding provisions for student loans.
Answer
The additional £12.4 million cost associated with the unwinding provisions for student loans are being met from other non-cash budget savings associated with the provision of student loans within the overall Student Awards Agency for Scotland''s budgets.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19181 by Fiona Hyslop on 15 January 2009, whether the recent decision to uprate student loans by 2.6% to maintain their real-terms value required negotiations with HM Treasury due to the budgetary implications; if so, what discussions took place and what the outcomes were, and, if not, for what reasons discussions were not considered to be required.
Answer
No negotiations with HM Treasury were required in the recent decision to uprate student loans by 2.6%. This is because the uprating figure of 2.6% is based on the Treasury''s mid-May forecasts of the rise in RPI-x during the calendar years 2009 and 2010. These figures are published in the Treasury document: Forecasts for the UK economy “ A Comparison of Independent Forecasts, which is available at .
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 26 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what it would cost to extend the Young Students’ Bursary scheme to (a) independent young students and (b) mature students using the scheme’s current income thresholds.
Answer
We have costed how much it would cost to extend YSB to independent students and this is set out in the consultation paper as option 1b. The consultation paper does not consider the option of extending the Young Student''s Bursary scheme to (a) independent young students and (b) mature students using the scheme''s current income thresholds. As a result, no costings have been prepared. These would be prepared in due course if the Scottish Government decided to examine those options in more detail, based on the responses we receive to the consultation.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 19 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 23 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-19180 by Fiona Hyslop on 15 January 2009, at which year the Student Income, Expenditure and Debt survey will look.
Answer
The Scottish Survey of Income, Expenditure and Debt 2007-08 will provide data for Scottish domiciled students for the academic year 2007-08.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts it is making to ensure that there is provision of effective justice services throughout Scotland.
Answer
Protecting Scotland''s Communities: Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice published on 17 December 2008 sets out our plan for delivering a coherent offender management strategy building on effective justice services. Our plan incorporates the improvements in train through Summary Justice Reform, the findings of the independent Scottish Prisons Commission and the 2007 Review of Community Penalties.
Tangible examples of our achievements are the £11 million invested in a range of projects for young people through the Cashback for Communities scheme; the £200,000 invested to support the collective violence initiative; £4 million record level of funding to Victim Support Scotland enabling them to support 180,000 victims and witnesses, and the publication of the first national drugs strategy in a decade.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive when it estimates that student loan repayments will match student loan new lend and what its yearly estimates of new lend and repayment levels are to that date.
Answer
The Scottish Government estimates that, based on current trends being maintained in the future, it will be 2020-21 when we reach the point of new loans issued matching annual repayments. Estimates of repayments and loans issued can and do vary year-on-year due a number of factors, such as, for example, graduate wage levels and projections of the student population. As a result the projections provided should be viewed as indicative only.
Table 1 illustrates expected loan issues and repayments until 2020-21:
Projected Loans Issued and Repayments (£ Million)
| | Loans Issued | Repayments |
| 2008-09 | 180.3 | 56 |
| 2009-10 | 190.7 | 66 |
| 2010-11 | 200.7 | 76 |
| 2011-12 | 196.8 | 86 |
| 2012-13 | 193.0 | 96 |
| 2013-14 | 189.2 | 106 |
| 2014-15 | 185.5 | 116 |
| 2015-16 | 181.9 | 126 |
| 2016-17 | 178.4 | 136 |
| 2017-18 | 174.9 | 146 |
| 2018-19 | 171.5 | 156 |
| 2019-20 | 168.1 | 166 |
| 2020-21 | 164.9 | 176 |
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many independent students (a) qualified for and (b) received an additional loan in each of the last five years.
Answer
The number of students qualifying for the additional loan is not held centrally. The number of full-time independent students entitled to the additional loan is shown in the following table:
Independent Full-Time Students Entitled to the Additional Loan
| Academic Year | Number of Students |
| 2003-04 | 330 |
| 2004-05 | 390 |
| 2005-06 | 370 |
| 2006-07 | 400 |
| 2007-08 | 475 |
Source: SAAS.
Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.
Independent students are only entitled to the Additional Loan if their status has changed during their course i.e. they get married or have a child and are therefore classed as independent AND they had been entitled previously to the additional loan, provided the income of their partner (if they married) remains below the threshold. Therefore only a small number of independent students receive the additional loan.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish students studying in the rest of the United Kingdom received (a) income assessed and (b) additional loans from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, broken down by (i) income, (ii) independent and dependent status and (iii) amount received.
Answer
The number of full-time Scottish students studying in the rest of the United Kingdom that were assessed for income assessed loans in the academic year 2007-08 is shown in table 1.
Table 1: Scottish Full-Time Students Studying in the Rest of the UK Supported by Income Assessed Loans
| Parental/Spousal Income | Independent | Dependent |
| Number | Amount £000 | Number | Amount £000 |
| Income not declared/required | 5 | 8 | 45 | 106 |
| less than £10,000 | 30 | 56 | 355 | 733 |
| £10,000 - £19,999 | 15 | 33 | 390 | 803 |
| £20,000 - £29,999 | 10 | 27 | 370 | 902 |
| £30,000 - £39,999 | 0 | 5 | 305 | 708 |
| £40,000 - £49,999 | 0 | 3 | 260 | 378 |
| £50,000 and over | 0 | 1 | 145 | 136 |
| Exempt from Parental/Spousal Contribution | 510 | 1,150 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 575 | 1,283 | 1,870 | 3,766 |
Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland.
Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.
Table 2 shows the number of full-time Scottish students who have been assessed for the Additional Loan in the academic year 2007-08.
Table 2: Scottish Full-Time Students Studying in the Rest of the UK Supported by Additional Loans
| Parental/Spousal Income | Independent | Dependent |
| Number | Amount £000 | Number | Amount £000 |
| Income not declared/required | - | - | 20 | 12 |
| less than £10,000 | - | - | 175 | 102 |
| £10,000 - £19,999 | - | - | 200 | 105 |
| £20,000 - £29,999 | - | - | 10 | 1 |
| £30,000 - £39,999 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| £40,000 - £49,999 | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| £50,000 and over | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| Exempt from Parental/Spousal Contribution | - | - | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 5 | 2 | 410 | 220 |
Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland.
Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.
Independent students are only entitled to the additional loan if their status has changed during their course i.e. they get married or have a child and are therefore classed as independent AND they had been entitled previously to the additional loan, provided the income of their partner (if they married) remains below the threshold. Therefore only a small number of independent students receive the additional loan.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2009
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount was of additional loans to independent students in each of the last five years.
Answer
The total amount of additional loan support assessed for full-time independent students is shown in the following table.
Amount of Additional Loan Support Assessed for Full-Time Independent Students
| Academic Year | Amounts £000 |
| 2003-04 | 168 |
| 2004-05 | 204 |
| 2005-06 | 200 |
| 2006-07 | 222 |
| 2007-08 | 271 |
Source: SAAS.
Independent students are only entitled to the additional loan if their status has changed during their course i.e. they get married or have a child and are therefore classed as independent AND they had been entitled previously to the additional loan, provided the income of their partner (if they married) remains below the threshold. Therefore only a small number of independent students receive the additional loan.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of discussions it has had with HM Treasury regarding its plans to service Scotland-domiciled and resident-graduate debt.
Answer
The Scottish Government has not been able to allocate the resources required to service Scotland-domiciled and resident-graduate debt and we have therefore held no discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer or other HM Treasury Ministers.
The recently launched consultation paper on higher education student support: Supporting a Smarter Scotland seeks views on the principles of the methods we wish to explore to service debt should funds be made available in the future.
