The HM Treasury discount rateused to calculate the resource cost of student loans in the Scottish Executive accountswas six per cent prior to the 2003-04 financial year; 3.5 per cent in 2003-04 and2004-05, and 2.2 per cent from the 2005-06 financial year onwards.

Yes. I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-24259 on 23 March 2006. 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 Scottish Executive is currentlyinvesting overall approximately £93 million per year in the employment of additionalsupport staff in schools through the core local government finance settlement. Thiscomprises of £36 million from 2002 for the classroom assistants initiative, £50 million from 2003 for additional support staff underthe Teachers’ Agreement and £6.9 million additional funding for support staff in2005-06. It is for local authorities to determine how these funds are used in thelight of local need.

In addition, officials wrote to all Directors of Education on 24 January 2005 advisingthem that additional funding of £7.5 million in 2005-06, £11.3 million in 2006-07 and £17.1 million in 2007-08would be made available to local authorities through the National Priorities ActionFund to employ additional support staff to improve discipline and behaviour in schools.The letter also offered guidance on the ways in which this funding could be used.I am arranging for a copy of this letter to be made available in the Scottish ParliamentInformation Centre (Bib. number 39197).

The information is set out inthe following table:

Year	Average Age (In Years)
January – December 2001	34.72
January – December 2002	33.29
January – December 2003	32.51
January – December 2004	31.76
January – December 2005	30.52

 

The Leadership for Learning programmeis run by Learning and Teaching Scotland. It began in January 2004 as a developmentof the ICT Masterclass programme aimed specifically at head teachers and now hasover 700 participants. The programme is paid for out of the grant provided to Learningand Teaching Scotland for the operation of the ICT Masterclass programme.

I have made clear to the EducationCommittee, in both written and oral evidence, my view that the statutory frameworkdoes not inhibit education authorities from adopting eligibility criteria that theyconsider appropriate to local circumstances.

It is for education authoritiesto decide whether, on what routes and how to provide such attendants. The ScottishExecutive’s school transport guidance makes clear the expectation that authoritieswill keep these matters under review.

I acknowledged to the EducationCommittee on 26 October that there is a lot that we can do to highlight what hasworked well in improving the situation on school buses, and said that we will workwith local authorities to identify and disseminate best practice across a rangeof school transport issues, including the use of attendants.

Over the last year and a halfwe have significantly increased the level of our teacher recruitment activity. Thishas included targeting students and graduates. Our recent advertising and promotionalwork has been in addition to the work of our teacher recruitment team that regularlyvisits careers fairs and universities to publicise and promote teaching in Scotland as acareer. Indicators of the effectiveness of our campaign include:

The average number of hits onthe Teaching in Scotland website has increased from 10,500 per month (Januaryto March 2005) to over 33,100 per month (October to December 2005) - an increaseof approx. 216%.

There has also been a significantincrease in the number of enquiries posted on the Teaching in Scotland mailbox- up from 20 per month in early 2005 to 182 per month in December 2005.

In 2005, 1,465 teachers fromoutwith Scotland registered with the General Teaching Council for Scotland, comparedwith 1,051 in 2004.

There are no current plansto carry out such research.

Nursing and Midwiferystudents were not included in the Higher and Further Students’ Income,Expenditure and Debt in Scotland 2004-05 survey because there are different studentsupport measures in place for them as compared to the majority of HigherEducation Students support by the Students Awards Agency for Scotland.

The survey aimed atcollecting comprehensive data on full-time students’ income, expenditure anddebt, and to identify any differences by students’ socio-economic and institutionalcharacteristics. The focus of the survey is on the condition of students receivingsupport under the mainstream arrangements that came into place in 2001.