- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will expand on the statement by the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on 14 September 2006 that “The Treasury in effect pays the loans” (Official Report, c. 27527).
Answer
Expenditure on student supportcan be split into two main categories. Expenditure from the Scottish Executive Budgetand expenditure from outwith Total Managed Expenditure i.e. funds which come directlyfrom HM Treasury and are outside the Scottish Executive Budget.
Expenditure from within the ExecutiveBudget includes the payment of tuition fees, grants, bursaries, SAAS running costsand costs associated with running the student loan schemes. This includes the studentloan subsidy, unwinding of student loan provisions and Student Loan Company administration.
Student Loan advances were madefrom outwith the Scottish Executive Budget and paid by HM Treasury and were outwithTotal Managed Expenditure.
Treasury has now re-classifiedstudent loan advances and repayments as Annual Managed Expenditure (AME) as from1 April 20006. This brings this net expenditure within the Scottish Executive’sTotal Managed Expenditure. All AME expenditure is met in full by Treasury.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of time is to pay off a student loan debt.
Answer
It is not possible to providedetails on the actual time taken for graduates to repay their loans. A forecastof the average time to repay can however be estimated using the Student Loan Modelan estimate using this model was provided in answer to question S2W-20429 on the16 November 2005. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.The estimate calculated at thattime was 13 years. This is still the most up to date estimate. The Scottish Executivewill be updating the model before the end of the year at which point it will bepossible to provide an update on this figure.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to improve the quality of its statistics on graduate destinations.
Answer
The data that the Scottish Executivecurrently holds on graduate destinations comes from two sources. Information ongraduates from Higher Education Institutions is provided by the Higher EducationStatistics Agency (HESA) from their Destination of Leavers from Higher Education(DLHE) survey. Information on graduates from Further Education Colleges is providedby the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and their First Destination of Graduates (FDG)survey.
The destination information currentlycollected gives details of graduates activities and location approximately six monthsafter graduating.
HESA have successfully piloteda longitudinal survey that aims to find out what graduates have been doing, overa longer period of time, since completing their studies. It will survey graduatesthree and a half years after graduation has been completed. The first full DLHELongitudinal survey will take place this winter. A sample of graduates from the2002-03 leaving cohort will be surveyed.
The FDG survey is currently carriedout by Scotland’s Further Education Colleges. The Scottish Funding Councilhas indicated that they are looking to implement a more standardised approach. Thiswill include internet access for students undertaking the survey. It is hoped tohave this structure in place next year, which would mean that students graduatingin 2007-08 would be the first to be influenced by this change.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning’s statement on 14 September 2006 that “Since devolution alone, the number of Scots entering degree-level studies has increased by 12 per cent” (Official Report, c. 27507) took into account changes made in 2003-04 to the way in which Open University students are recorded.
Answer
The number of Scottish entrantsto degree-level study in Scottish institutions in 1999-2000 was 27,460. The numberin 2004-05 was 30,780, representing a 12 per cent increase. These figures were fromtable 13 of the Scottish Executive National Statistics publication
Students inHigher Education at Scottish Institutions 2004-05, which can be found at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/28100117/16.0For the purposes of this publicationthe Open University is not classed as a Scottish institution. Therefore, the changesmade in 2003-04 to the way in which Open University students are recorded wouldnot have affected the numbers that the Deputy Minister for Enterprise andLifelong Learning was referring to.
The above publication also containsinformation on the number of students at the Open University in Scotland in aseparate table, table 9, which can be found at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/04/28100117/12.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how graduate endowment income has been spent since it became available.
Answer
Graduate Endowment income becameavailable in 2005-06 and in accordance with section 2 of The Education (GraduateEndowment and Student Support) (Scotland) Act 2001 has been applied in the provision of studentsupport.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what factors have caused the fall in the Age Participation Index since 2001-02.
Answer
The fall in the Age ParticipationIndex is likely to have been influenced by a number of factors. The Executive intendsto engage with the Scottish Funding Council and with colleges and universities todiscuss the issue in detail and will take appropriate action in light of these discussions.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to Consolidated Resource Accounts for the Year Ended 31 March 2005, why £38 million was received in student loan repayments when £29 million is shown as income applied for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland.
Answer
There is no correlation betweenthe two figures. The £38 million is student loan repayments whereas the £29 millioncomprises capitalised interest (£29.3 million) and repayment of awards (£21,000).
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 22 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tavish Scott on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Healthlink service bus link between West Lothian and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh will be registered under the Executive’s concessionary travel scheme so that pensioners can travel free for appointments and to visit relatives in hospital.
Answer
Although the Healthlink servicebus link runs two daily trips between West Lothian and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,passengers must pre-book before travelling or the service will not run. It is notan eligible service under the terms of the Scotland-wide free bus travel schemefor older and disabled people and we have no plans to include non-registered servicesin the scheme.
While concessionary cardholdersare therefore not entitled to free travel on the service, they are eligible fora reduced return fare, which is currently £2.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the (a) mean, (b) mode and (c) median student loan debt is for Scottish borrowers who ceased to be students during 2006.
Answer
The following table shows themean, mode and median student loan debt for Scottish borrowers who entered repaymentin 2006:
Student Loan Debt for ScottishDomiciled Borrowers, as at 31 March 2006
| | Student Loan Debt |
| Mode | £4,214 |
| Median | £4,259 |
| Mean | £5,891 |
Source: Student Loans Company.
It should be noted that debtis calculated at the point of entering repayment (i.e. 31 March 2006) ratherthan at the point of graduation. Therefore, the majority of customers who have ceasedto be students in 2006 will not enter repayment until 2007 and we cannot providefigures for these students as yet.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average indebtedness to the Student Loans Company is of all Scottish-domiciled borrowers who graduated or otherwise ceased to borrow in 2006.
Answer
It is not possible to providean answer as those who graduate in 2006 and those who cease to borrow in 2006 enterrepayment in April 2007, therefore the figures are unavailable at this time. However,the following table shows the figures for graduates and others who entered repaymentin April. 2006.
| | Product | Customer Count | Total Debt | Average Debt |
| All Borrowers | Income Contingent Loan | 38,797 | 228,541,774.65 | 5,890.71 |
