Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S2W-28478

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 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 SNP might save £80 million in write-off subsidy” (Official Report, c. 27527).

Question reference: S2O-11192

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 15 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Cathy Jamieson on 23 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contract for Addiewell Prison has been signed with the private consortium involved and, if not, on what date it is due to be signed and what the cost of the prison will be to the public purse over the lifetime of the contract.

Scottish Prison Service

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whetherthe contract for Addiewell Prison has been signed with the private consortium involvedand, if not, on what date it is due to be signed and what the cost of the prisonwill be to the public purse over the lifetime of the contract.

(S2O-11192)

Cathy Jamieson: The contract for Addiewell Prison was signed by the Chief Executive ofScottish Prison Service on 20 June. The contract value is estimated to equate toaround £369 million in total, which is £15 million per annum in net presentvalue terms over the 25-year life of the contract.

Question reference: S2W-29774

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive how it will promote the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 which will come into force in December 2006.

The Disability DiscriminationAct (DDA) 2005 is Westminster legislation. One of the principal provisions of the DDA2005 introduces a duty on the public sector to promote equality for disabled people;due to come into force on 4 December 2006.

To support the introduction of the public sector duty the Executive wrote to all Scottish public bodies subjectto the specific duties in December 2005 to inform them of their new legal obligationsunder the Disability Discrimination (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) (Scotland)Regulations 2005.

We are also supporting the DisabilityRights Commission’s (DRC) programme of conferences to raise awareness and supportpublic authorities in responding to the disability equality duty. To mark the introductionof the duty, I will be speaking at the DRC Scotland launch event on 4 December 2006.

The Executive is committed tocontinuing to work with the DRC, disabled people and public authorities in Scotland to encourageand support the implementation of the disability equality duty. As part of thiswe plan to establish a Public Sector Equality Forum and will use this as a routeto promote shared or joint approaches by public authorities.

Question reference: S2W-29776

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 10 November 2006
Current Status: Answered by Malcolm Chisholm on 22 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what guidance it will issue to local authorities to ensure that they take a co-ordinated approach against service providers who do not comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 2005 by regulation and refusal to grant licences.

Enforcement of the DisabilityDiscrimination Act (DDA) 2005 is a matter for the courts and the Disability RightsCommission (DRC). The Scottish Executive therefore has no plans to issue guidanceto local authorities about action against service providers who do not comply withthe DDA 2005.

However, the Executive is committedto continuing to work with the DRC, disabled people and public authorities in Scotland to encourageand support the implementation of the disability equality duty, introduced by theDDA 2005. As part of this we plan to establish a Public Sector Equality Forum andwill use this as a route to promote shared or joint approaches by public authorities.

Question reference: S2W-28073

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 01 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 2 November 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average indebtedness to the Student Loans Company is of Scottish-domiciled borrowers who graduated or otherwise ceased to borrow in 2006 but who had borrowed for at least four years.

Question reference: S2W-28469

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of graduates from Scottish higher education institutions gained employment in Scotland as a first destination in each year since 1999-2000.

Percentage of graduates gaining permanent employment in Scotland as theirfirst destination in relation to the total number of graduates that gain permanentemployment in the UK or overseas: 1999-2000to 2004-05

Year	Percentage Gaining Permanent Employment in Scotland
1999-2000	75
2000-01	76
2001-02	77
2002-03	80
2003-04	79
2004-05	80

Sources: Higher Education StatisticsAgency (HESA) and Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

The data above includes thosegraduating at sub degree, degree or postgraduate level in the given academic year.

Data on first employment destinationof graduates is collected by means of a voluntary survey of UK and EU domiciledgraduates around six months after graduation. Between 72% and 76% of full time graduatesresponded to the survey in the time period specified.

Question reference: S2W-28467

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 18 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to improve graduate retention in Scotland.

Scotland already has high levels of graduate retention and thesehave been increasing in recent years.

The most recent data on graduatedestinations from Scottish higher education institutions and colleges show that80 per cent of graduates going into permanent employment following graduation in2004-05 gained employment in Scotland. This compares to 75 per cent for 1999-00 graduates.The same data show that 91 per cent of the Scots-domiciled 2003-04 graduates inpermanent employment were employed in Scotland. This compares to 82 per cent in 1999-2000.

These figures demonstrate thatthere is already significant demand for graduates within the Scottish labour marketand that graduates from our institutions are successfully gaining employment inScotland.

Question reference: S2W-28481

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 10 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 and who were borrowers for at least (i) three and (ii) four years.

The following table shows the mean, mode and median student loan debt for Scottish borrowers who entered repayment in 2006 and who were borrowers for at least (i) three and (ii) four years:

Student Loan Debt for Scottish Domiciled Borrowers, as at 31 March 2006

	(i) Borrowers (3 or More Loans)	(ii) Borrowers (4 or More Loans)
Mode	£3,228	£3,228
Median	£9,713	£10,302
Mean	£9,907	£10,687

Source: Student LoansCompany

It should be noted that debtis calculated at the point of entering repayment (i.e. 31 March 2006)rather than at the point of graduation. Therefore, the majority of customerswho have ceased to be students in 2006 will not enter repayment until 2007 andwe cannot provide figures for these students as yet.

Question reference: S2W-28490

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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.

Question reference: S2W-28454

Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
Current Status: Answered by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006

To ask the Scottish Executive what sums it has paid to the purchasing banks in each year since 1998 in respect of the student loans sold by HM Treasury in 1998 and 1999 and what obligations were covered by these sums.

The information requested isgiven in the following table:

.	1	2	3	4	5	6	Total
.	(£000) Subsidy	(£000) Write Off’s	(£000) Loans Repurchased	(£000) First Loss Claims	(£000) First Loss Repayments	(£000) Adjustment	Total
1998-99¹	6,438	0	0	0	0	-1	6,437
1999-2000	10,754	114	104	1	0	1,236	12,209
2000-01	12,471	52	83	1,596	0	638	14,840
2001-02	8,595	93	22	3,229	-44	-551	11,344
2002-03	8,610	95	25	2,349	-108	-326	10,645
2003-04	5,611	162	95	1,495	-221	-90	7,052
2004-05	5,075	193	41	1,134	-217	999	7,225
2005-06	4,712	461	30	1,630	-289	0	6,544

Note: 1 – Scottish Office Figures.

Column 1 – The subsidy is thepayment made to the purchasing banks to cover the difference between the commercialrate of interest the banks would normally charge and the rate of inflation theyare required to charge by the regulations.

Column 2 – Payments are madeto the purchasing banks for loans which are written off due to age or death.

Column 3 – Shows payments madefor loans which are “repurchased” and returned to the government portfolio for reasonsof permanent disability or being medically unfit for work.

Column 4 - First loss claims,reimburse the purchasing banks for loans which become 24 months or more in arrears,as these loans no longer attract the interest rate subsidy.

Column 5 - First loss repaymentsare deducted from the total Executive payment as loan repayments can still be receivedafter the first loss claim is put in place, i.e. after the bad debt is written off.

Column 6 - Adjustments can bemade to the figures in respect of year-end reconciliations between what has beenpaid by the DfES and the devolved administrations. Adjustments can also be madeto reflect accruals and differences in spend across financial years.