- 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 what the total write-off of student loans debt has been since 1999.
Answer
Between financial years 1999-2000and 2005-06, a total of 1,206 Scottish domiciled borrowers have had their loanswritten off by the Student Loans Company, with a total value of £2,394,599.
- 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 many student loan borrowers domiciled in Scotland, now in repayment status, had their payments outweighed by interest charged on their loans in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answer
When considered in real terms,no student loan borrower in any stage of repayment will have payments outweighedby interest charged on their loans.
Thereal rate of interest on student loans is zero, as the interest charge simply coversinflation. Therefore, any repayment made, no matter how small, would always resultin a borrower owing less in real terms.
If no repayments were made, theborrower would still owe the same amount in real terms.
- 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: 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 what factors caused the fall in initial entry to degree level courses from 2004 to 2005.
Answer
The factors causing the fallin initial entry to degree level courses between 2003-04 and 2004-05 it are likelyto be complex. The Executive is engaging with the Scottish Funding Council and institutionsto discuss the issue in detail and will take appropriate action in light of thesediscussions.
- 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 how much is currently outstanding from the two tranches of student loan debts sold to banks in 1998 and 1999.
Answer
The outstanding debt from thetwo tranches of student loan debts sold to banks in 1998 and 1999 is £101.8 millionas at March 2006 for Scottish domiciled students.
- 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 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.
