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: S3W-13466

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all equality impact assessments on draft single outcome agreements will be made publicly available

Question reference: S3W-13680

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how information is gathered on the financial circumstances of people who become lone parents after they graduate.

Question reference: S3W-13677

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 29 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 9 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive in what circumstances disabled students are not eligible for the disabled students allowance.

Students who are not eligible to apply for the disabled students allowance (DSA) are:

· those who do not meet the residence conditions as set out in the Students’ Allowance (Scotland) Regulations 2007 (as amended);

· those who are studying a course that the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) does not support;

· part-time students undertaking less than 50% of a full time course;

· Open University students studying less than 60 credits;

· students undertaking a course below HNC level (except those doing a SAAS funded adult education course at one of the UK’s adult education residential colleges);

· students who are receiving funding from their local education authority, and

· postgraduate students who are receiving funding from a research council or the social work department.

However, these students can receive support via other means. For example, students undertaking a further education course can apply for an additional support needs learning allowance. Colleges and universities also have a responsibility under the Disability Discrimination Act to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that students with disabilities are not at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled students when attending their institutions. This can include providing, within reason, equipment, services, appropriate access to buildings and that adjustments are made to teaching practices and assessments. This duty means that the needs of all disabled students should be met whether or not they receive the DSA or the additional support needs learning allowance. In addition, institutions are also allocated additional funding through the disabled students premium and extended learning support to support disabled students. This funding can also be used to support students who are not eligible for the DSA.

Question reference: S3W-13470

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in the event of there being no written evidence that equality impact assessments have been carried out by community planning partnerships on their draft spending plans, these plans will be referred back for this process to take place.

Question reference: S3W-13468

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is written evidence that community planning partnerships have carried out equality impact assessments on their draft spending plans.

Question reference: S3W-13467

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether community planning partnerships have carried out equality impact assessments on their draft spending plans.

Responsibility for the implementation of community planning sits with the partnerships themselves and it is up to individual partnerships to decide how they consider financial planning, within the overall context of Scottish Government priorities.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003 provides a statutory framework for best value and community planning and provides a statutory underpinning for the mainstreaming of equal opportunities in the implementation of these duties.

Question reference: S3W-13469

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 June 2008

Question reference: S3W-13471

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 4 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all equality impact assessments on the draft spending plans of community planning partnerships will be made publicly available.

Question reference: S3W-13234

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 2 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students from families with incomes below £16,000 per annum will benefit from the abolition of the graduate endowment scheme.

The exact figure is not held centrally, because liability to pay the graduate endowment was dependent not only on current circumstances but on future events, such as academic success or becoming eligible for loan parents’ grant in the future. If the student chose to add the graduate endowment to their loan then actual repayment would depend on the students own current and future income, which is not known.

A broad estimate of the number of students enrolled in higher education in 2006-07 from families who had declared incomes below £16,000 when applying for student support and who would have been liable to either pay the graduate endowment or add it to their student loan is around £9,000. This is the number of students from low income families who benefit from the abolition of the scheme.

Question reference: S3W-13235

Asked by: Johann Lamont, MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Tuesday, 20 May 2008
Current Status: Answered by Shona Robison on 2 June 2008

To ask the Scottish Executive how many people with incomes below £16,000 per annum will benefit from the abolition of prescription charges.