Questions and answers

Question reference: S3W-13911

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time students will receive full financial support from government in each of the next three years if earnings rise at the average rate for 2007-08.

The following table shows the number of students receiving full support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) in academic year 2006-07. It also shows the approximate number of students in both 2007-08 and 2008-09 who would receive full support if earnings rose by the 2006-7 average of 3.1% (based on the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, ASHE).

Academic Year	Students Receiving Full Support from SAAS
2006-07	35,310
2007-08	35,267
2008-09	35,154

Source: Students receiving support, SAAS, higher education students, Higher Education Statistics Agency and Scottish Funding Council. Student numbers are rounded to the nearest five and percentages to the nearest whole number.

Notes:

1. “Students receiving any support” includes Scottish students studying at institutions elsewhere in the UK and EU domiciled students. “Any support” refers to tuition fees, tuition fee loans, awards or maintenance loans.

2. Constant student numbers are assumed from one year to the next.

Students receiving full support have been defined as those who are:

1. Receiving the maximum Young Students bursary,

2. The maximum Young Students Outside Scotland bursary,

3. The maximum Students Outside Scotland bursary,

4. Aged 25 or over and are receiving maximum maintenance loan, or

5. Aged less than 25, are exempt from parental or spousal contribution to their support and are receiving maximum maintenance loan.

Nursing and midwifery bursary scheme students are not included in the numbers receiving support from SAAS. Figures on student numbers for academic year 2007-08 are not yet available. Similarly, earnings data beyond 2006-07 are not yet available. Also, income thresholds for 2009-10 have yet to be determined.

Question reference: S3W-13914

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the income thresholds for young student bursaries, student loans and additional student grants.

Question reference: S3W-13918

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that the £192 million of Scottish Funding Council efficiency savings do not lead to cuts in services at universities and colleges.

As noted in its Efficiency Delivery Plans - May 2008, for the 2008-11 Efficiency Programme, the Scottish Government plans to deliver cash releasing efficiencies by delivering an actual resource efficiency through colleges and universities which will provide the same service at a reduced cost.

These arrangements will ensure that there are no reductions in the volumes or quality of learning and research associated with funding for universities and colleges as a result of the efficient government programme.

This measure will contribute to Scottish ministers overall target of delivering a 2% increase in cash-releasing efficiencies each year amounting to £1.6 billion in 2010-11.

Question reference: S3W-13904

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

The following table shows the number of students receiving full support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) in academic years 2004-05 to 2006-07. This number is also shown as a percentage of all students who receive any support from SAAS and as a percentage of all higher education students at Scottish higher education institutions and colleges.

Academic Year	Students Receiving Full Support from SAAS	% of Students Receiving Any Support from SAAS [1]	% All Higher Education Students at Scottish Institutions [2]
2004-05	28,370	24	10
2005-06	35,460	29	12
2006-07	35,310	29	12

Source: Student receiving support SAAS, higher education students Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and Scottish Funding Council (SFC). Student numbers are rounded to the nearest five and percentages to the nearest whole number.

Notes:

[1] “Students receiving any support” includes Scottish students studying at institutions elsewhere in the UK and EU domiciled students. “Any support” refers to tuition fees, tuition fee loans, awards or maintenance loans.

[2] “All Higher Education students at Scottish institutions” include part-time students, international students and all postgraduate students studying in Scotland, not all of whom are eligible for funding from SAAS.

Students receiving full support have been defined as those who are:

1. Receiving the maximum Young Students bursary,

2. The maximum Young Students Outside Scotland bursary,

3. The maximum Students Outside Scotland bursary,

4. Aged 25 or over and are receiving maximum maintenance loan, or

5. Aged less than 25, are exempt from parental or spousal contribution to their support and are receiving maximum maintenance loan.

Nursing and Midwifery bursary scheme students are not included in the numbers receiving support from SAAS. Figures for academic year 2007-08 are not yet available.

Question reference: S3W-13905

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how much financial support was provided to students in (a) 2007-08, (b) 2006-07, (c) 2005-06 and (d) 2004-05, broken down by (i) household income and (ii) numbers of students in each income band.

The following table shows a breakdown of the number of higher education students receiving any form of support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) and the amount of support received by parental/spousal income for academic years 2004-05 to 2006-07.

Academic Year	2004-05		2005-06		2006-07
Income Band	Number of Students	Amount £000	Number of Students	Amount £000	Number of Students	Amount £000
Income not Declared/Required	37,740	68,494	39,200	70,822	40,135	77,415
< £10,000	12,105	60,897	11,690	59,535	11,180	58,768
£10,000-£19,999	14,360	69,137	14,160	70,713	13,735	71,754
£20,000-£29,999	13,200	54,555	12,700	54,251	12,115	54,262
£30,000-£39,999	10,740	36,499	10,345	36,215	10,005	37,234
£40,000-£49,999	7,050	18,831	7,305	20,460	7,160	21,696
£50,000-£59,999	3,555	8,034	3,700	8,421	3,865	9,604
£60,000-£69,999	1,635	3,332	1,905	4,026	2,075	4,854
£70,000-£79,999	740	1,490	810	1,582	940	2,092
£80,000-£89,999	290	561	400	771	485	1,032
£90,000-£99,998	180	347	215	414	270	587
£99,999 and above	455	884	570	1,128	655	1,408
Exempt from Parental/Spousal Contribution	18,475	94,451	18,240	95,310	19,365	100,123
Total	120,525	417,511	121,235	423,648	121,990	440,829

Source: SAAS. Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five and monetary amounts to the nearest 1,000.

Student are included in the table if they receive any form of support i.e. tuition fees, (or tuition fee loans if they study outside Scotland) and/or awards and/or maintenance loans. Income bands are based on residual parental or, in the case of students who are married or in a civil partnership, spousal income. This is income after deductions allowed by SAAS have been subtracted.

This table does not include students on the nursing and midwifery bursary scheme. Academic year 2006-07 is the latest for which figures are available.

Question reference: S3W-13923

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the efficiency savings planned for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council will be made in either the next three financial or academic years.

Question reference: S3W-13912

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of full-time students who will see reductions in the financial support that they receive from government in each of the next three years due to efficiency savings in SAAS eligibility.

Question reference: S3W-13909

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students will receive any financial support from government in each of the next three years if earnings rise at the average rate for 2007-08, broken down by household income.

The latest year for which data are available for students receiving some form of support is for 2006-07. Similarly, 2006-07 is the latest year for which data are available for average earnings. The data show that median weekly earnings rose by 3.1% in the year to April 2007.

Irrespective of how earnings may rise in the next three years, the number of Scottish students receiving support would be unaffected as under current funding rules all eligible students are entitled to at least a non-means tested loan. The table below provides data on the number of Scottish students receiving SAAS support in 2006-07 by parental/spousal residual income after allowable deductions. The table also shows how these data would look if average earnings rose by 3.1% (figure based on growth in average median weekly earnings in the year to April 2007) in each of the subsequent three years. In 2006-07, 114,610 Scottish students received some form of support.

Income Band	2006-07	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Income not Declared/Required	34,300	34,300	34,300	34,300
< £10,000	11,180	10,635	10,140	9,755
£10,000 - £19,999	13,735	13,390	13,170	12,940
£20,000 - £29,999	12,115	11,815	11,255	10,820
£30,000 - £39,999	10,005	10,030	10,270	10,220
£40,000 - £49,999	7,160	7,250	7,365	7,565
£50,000 - £59,999	3,865	4,285	4,640	5,005
£60,000 - £69,999	2,075	2,240	2,450	2,545
£70,000 - £79,999	940	1,115	1,310	1,485
£80,000 - £89,999	485	540	555	710
£90,000 - £99,998	270	305	375	385
£99,999+	655	880	945	1,050
Exempt from Parental Contribution	17,830	17,830	17,830	17,830
Total	114,610	114,610 =SUM(ABOVE)	114,610	114,610

Source: SAAS

Notes:

Constant Student Numbers are assumed.

The total number of students in the system has not changed.

Student numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Question reference: S3W-13925

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimates it has made of rising rates of earnings over the next three years when calculating its £12.748 million of efficiency savings under the SAAS Eligibility budget line.

Question reference: S3W-13919

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 05 June 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many staff were employed in (a) universities and (b) colleges in (i) 2007-08, (ii) 2006-07, (iii) 2005-06 and (iv) 2004-05.

The number of staff at Scottish higher education institutions (HEIs) and colleges during the past three academic years is shown in the table below. The table includes both academic and non academic staff.

Number of Staff at Scottish Institutions

Academic Year	HEIs	Colleges
2006-07	38,295	21,586
2005-06	37,865	21,504
2004-05	37,000	21,615

Sources: HESA – excluding “atypical” staff; Scottish Funding Council.

The academic year 2006-07 is the latest year for which this information is available.

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