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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.

Option 3 of the consultation paper suggests a hybrid of options 1 and 2. The details of the policy will be developed following consideration of the consultation responses.

The evidence base around individuals'' participation in higher education (HE) has identified a range of financial, cultural, institutional and dispositional factors that influence individuals in their choice of pursuing HE. This evidence does not specifically refer to hardship in isolation but rather that the costs associated with study and a fear of debt generally can impact on individual choices to participate in HE. Costs and fear of debt are identified as key themes in the growing research evidence conducted with current and prospective students.

Ongoing Scottish Government research (Student Income, Expenditure and Debt survey) will provide more up to date information of students'' perceptions of debt and costs and assess the extent to which these are determining factors in students'' decisions to enter HE. This may provide more specific information relative to student hardship, however, will be unavailable until April 2009.

The consultation paper gives a number of principal options for investing £30 million. Option 1b suggests extending young students'' bursaries to more of the 23,315 independent students. The details of the policy, including number of students benefiting and the amount provided in each income category, will be developed following consideration of the consultation responses.

The level of graduate debt repayment is expected to increase by £10 million per annum from 2008-09. The budgeted debt repayments for 2008-09 are £56 million compared with budgeted student loan issues of £180.3 million and student loan subsidy costs of £71.4 million.

There are no legal restrictions in either primary or secondary legislation on the maximum amount of student loans which the Scottish ministers may award to students in higher education.

Increasing the levels of student loans would have budgetary implications which would have to be discussed more with HM Treasury. However, this is not Scottish Government policy.

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These statistics have been published for the years 2002-03 to 2007-08 in table 8 of Higher Education Student Support in Scotland 2007-08 available on the internet at:

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No legislative action would be required to implement Option 1, 2 or 3, but given the consultation is seeking the widest views possible, some respondents may suggest different changes to the student support system which would have legislative implications.

Option 2 of the consultation paper suggests an increase of the minimum income available. An investment of £30 million could for example provide for an increase to a level of £5,500 for those from the lowest incomes. The details of the policy, including the number of students and the amount of support provided in each income category, will be developed following consideration of the consultation responses.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-19000 on 8 January 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at .