Questions and answers

Question reference: S6W-25746

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government when it will fulfil the 2007 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to abolish student debt.

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.

Question reference: S6W-25739

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what proportion of students are currently in debt due to student loans.

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.

Student Loans in Scotland: Financial Year 2022-23 (Table 3) 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.

Question reference: S6W-25744

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment it has made of any impact of student debt on the wider economy and society.

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 published in 2009 , 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.

Question reference: S6W-25741

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what the current average amount of student debt is per student.

Question reference: S6W-25743

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 23 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 8 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on any recent changes or developments in student loan policies and regulations.

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.

Question reference: S6W-25665

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 8 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government what its position is on whether it has fulfilled the 2021 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to create a system of "wraparound childcare".

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: www.gov.scot/publications/school-age-childcare-delivery-framework/

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.

Question reference: S6W-25666

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 21 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Natalie Don on 8 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether free wraparound childcare is available to all low-income families.

Question reference: S6W-25675

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Patrick Harvie on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on its work to deliver on the 2021 Scottish National Party manifesto commitment to "ensure every child in Scotland leaves school with the ability to cycle safely", and how much it has spent on this work in each year since 2016.

Bikeability Scotland is the national cycle training programme for school children which supports the next generation of confident and responsible people travelling by bike. A record 60,000 children benefited from cycle training across all levels of the programme in 2022-23, and 66.7% of all primary schools delivered essential life skills through Level 2 on-road training.

Ensuring that every child leaves school with the ability to cycle safely, is not only about training. It’s also about providing a safe environment through the development of active travel infrastructure. We are committed to supporting many more people to walk, wheel or cycle for everyday journeys and are allocating record funding for that purpose.

The Active Travel budget for 2023-24 increased to a record £189.2 million. This is a nearly £40 million increase on the active travel budget from the previous financial year providing scope to greatly expand and expedite the delivery of active travel infrastructure, behaviour change programmes and access to bikes across the country. We are investing in ambitious on and off-road segregated walking and cycling routes, safer junctions and improved design of place.

Question reference: S6W-25679

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government how its International Education Strategy will facilitate the recognition of Scottish qualifications and degrees internationally.

Question reference: S6W-25681

Asked by: Martin Whitfield, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 February 2024
Current Status: Answered by Graeme Dey on 7 March 2024

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide a timeline for the implementation of the key actions in its International Education Strategy.

Tell us your views

Seòmar agus comataidhean