- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 16 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 28 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether local authorities are required to record expenditure on consultancy, using the standard guidance on the definition of consultancy applied across the United Kingdom or otherwise, separately from other categories of spending.
Answer
Local authorities are not required to record expenditure on consultancies separately from other categories of spending in the financial returns they provide to the Scottish Executive.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 21 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish students have studied at foreign universities under the Erasmus programme in each of the last five years for which figures are available.
Answer
The following table shows the requested information for students from Scottish higher education institutions for each year between 1998-99 and 2002-03.
Number of Students from Scottish HEIs Undertaking an Erasmus Study Period
| 1998-99 | 1999-2000 | 2000-01 | 2001-02 | 2002-03 |
| 1,235 | 1,210 | 1,085 | 1,119 | 951 |
This information has been provided by the UK Socrates-Erasmus Council which coordinates the Erasmus Programme within the UK.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 18 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Communities will reply to my letter dated 30 April 2004 regarding Mr A Hepburn of Peterhead.
Answer
Your letter was passed to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland who are responsible for the delivery of student support. The agency received your letter on 24 May. The agency’s customer services manager replied to you on 8 June.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 04 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 17 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many grants have been awarded under the Nitrate Vulnerable Zones grant scheme; how much funding has been awarded in such grants; what the average value of each grant awarded has been, and how many grants have been awarded in (a) Banff and Buchan (b) Gordon and (c) Moray.
Answer
Of the three tranches opened for applications under the NVZ Grants Scheme, information is available for applications approved under tranche 1:
Total number of grants approved: 39.
Total value of funding approved: £396,170.76.
Average value of grants approved: £10,158.22.
Number of grants approved in:
(a) Banff and Buchan: 3.
(b) Gordon: 10.
(c) Moray: 1.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 12 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will reply to my letter of 20 March 2004 to the Minister for Transport regarding the A90 junction with the unclassified Gask Road, south of Longhaven.
Answer
I replied to your letter on 21 May 2004.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Margaret Curran on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will exercise its power under section 7 of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2001 and publish regulations to establish minimum rights for homeless people living in hostels and other types of short-term accommodation.
Answer
We will publish draft regulations later this year.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 01 June 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 15 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7990 by Mr Andy Kerr on 27 May 2004, how much was spent on external consultancy in each department and agency in each of the last five years.
Answer
Information for 2002-03 and 2003-04 as recorded on the Scottish Executive’s finance and accounting system, reflecting standard guidance on the definition of consultancy applied across the United Kingdom, is set out in the table. It is not possible to provide such detailed information for earlier years, before the Scottish Executive’s new accounting system was introduced.
| Department/Agency | 2002-03 | 2003-04 |
| Scottish Executive | | |
| Corporate Services | 306,090 | 378,494 |
| Finance and Central Services Dept | 584,301 | 173,764 |
| Education Dept | 88,892 | 175,930 |
| Development Dept | 132,516 | 2,199 |
| Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Dept | 142,179 | 550 |
| Health Dept | 60,177 | 28,557 |
| Justice Dept | 129,997 | 50,102 |
| Environment and Rural Affairs Dept | 103,319 | 108,177 |
| Scottish Public Pensions Agency | 132,020 | 10,064 |
| Student Awards Agency for Scotland | 338 | 1,145 |
| Scottish Agricultural Science Agency | 15,689 | 5,720 |
| Fisheries Research Services | 33,274 | 217,646 |
| Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency | 91,596 | 51,103 |
| Scottish Courts Service | 145,626 | 242,826 |
| Mental Welfare Commission | | 15,803 |
| HM Inspectorate of Education | 10,856 | |
| General Register Office for Scotland | 113501 | 141,387 |
| National Archives of Scotland | | 23,832 |
| | 2,090,371 | 1,627,299 |
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 05 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what evaluation it has made of the Rural Voices: Action Research Competition.
Answer
The rural research team of theOffice of the Chief Researcher in the Executive has conducted an interim evaluationof the operation of the first year of the pilot Rural Voices programme. This willbe made publicly available in autumn 2004. We intend to undertake a longer termevaluation to measure capacity building amongst rural communities participatingin the programme.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 24 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 11 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive when the Minister for Environment and Rural Development will respond to my letter dated 11 February 2004 regarding the quality of private water supplies.
Answer
A reply to the member’s letterwas issued on 3 March 2004.
- Asked by: Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banff and Buchan, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 13 May 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 June 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-7886 by Mr Jim Wallace on 12 May 2004, what the average level of debt held after leaving university by former students was in each year since 1999.
Answer
The average student loan debt for Scottish domiciled borrowers starting repayment in each year from 1999 onwards is shown in the following table:
| Year | Average Loan Debt |
| 1999 | £2,863 |
| 2000 | £3,174 |
| 2001 | £3,876 |
| 2002 | £4,294 |
| 2003 | £4,924 |
This data is from the Student Loans Company (SLC) and is for borrowers entering repayment in April of each year.
Between 1994-95 and 1997-98 students were supported through a combination of grant and student loan. The level of loan support was increased over that period to make up 50% of the total support available. In 1998-99 this system of support was replaced by income contingent repayment student loans. Given these changes to the student support arrangements it is inappropriate to compare each of the figures in the table on a like-for-like basis.
