Chamber and committees

This information is not collected centrally.

This information is not generally collected centrally. It was collected in 2007 to measure progress against the previous administration''s target.

The information is published on the government website at the following link:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/11/19125551/6.

Higher Education Discretionary Fund allocations for each year are intended to provide institutions with a source of additional funding which they can then use to assist students in financial difficulty and who are at risk of not completing their course. The funds are intended to be spent within the year in which they are allocated, thus providing the maximum sum available to students in each individual year. Any unspent funds are returned for redistribution in the following academic year and are thus put straight back into the discretionary funds system.

The vast majority of funds should therefore be exhausted in the academic year for which they are allocated.

Academic Year 2006-07

A total of five institutions exhausted both their Higher Education Discretionary and Childcare Funds. These were:

Ayr College

Barony College

Glasgow Metropolitan College

North Glasgow College

Reid Kerr College.

A further five institutions exhausted only their Discretionary Fund allocation:

Banff and Buchan College

John Wheatley College

Newbattle Abbey College

Edinburgh College of Art

St Andrews University

A further three institutions exhausted only their Childcare Fund:

Borders College

Queen Margaret University College

RSAMD.

Academic Year 2007-08

A total of three institutions exhausted both their Higher Education Discretionary and Childcare Funds:

Barony College

Dundee College

Reid Kerr College.

A further three institutions exhausted only their Discretionary Fund allocation:

Edinburgh''s Telford College

John Wheatley College

Newbattle Abbey College.

A further eight institutions exhausted only their Childcare Fund:

Borders College

Glasgow Metropolitan College

Oatridge Agricultural College

Stow College

Glasgow School of Art

Heriot Watt University

RSAMD

Strathclyde University.

The purpose of child care discretionary funds is not to meet every demand for the cost of child care from every student. They are intended to provide institutions with a source of additional funding which colleges and universities can then use to assist students with the costs of child care who are in financial difficulty and who are at risk of not completing their courses.

The purpose of discretionary funds is not to meet every financial demand from every student. They are intended to provide institutions with a source of additional funding which colleges and universities can then use to assist students in financial difficulty and who are at risk of not completing their courses.

I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-21496 on 10 March 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament''s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

An in-year reallocation of Higher Education Discretionary Funds takes place in late January or early February each year. This year the reallocation process was completed by 13 February 2009. This re-allocation of funds is for higher education students in both colleges and universities. The Higher Education Discretionary Funds consist of:

The Undergraduate Discretionary Fund

The Postgraduate Discretionary Fund

The Part-time Discretionary Fund

The Childcare Discretionary Fund.

Figures for drink driving convictions alone are not available. The following table provides information on drink or drug driving convictions from 2002-3 to 2006-07. Data relating to 2007-08 will be available in April 2009, following the publication of Criminal Proceedings in Scottish Courts 2007-08 statistical bulletin.

Persons with a Charge Proved for Drink/Drug Driving Related Offences^1,4 per 10,000 Head of Population² 2002-03 to 2006-07: Breakdown by Approximate Local Authority Area³

Local Authority	2002-03	2003-04	2004-05	2005-06	2006-07
Aberdeen City	26	27	26	25	21
Aberdeenshire	11	10	10	10	10
Angus	15	19	17	17	20
Argyll and Bute	14	15	16	17	13
Clackmannanshire	13	16	12	9	17
Dumfries and Galloway	15	17	17	17	19
Dundee City	21	23	19	18	19
East Ayrshire	25	25	26	26	25
East Lothian	13	14	16	12	12
Edinburgh, City of	21	16	16	16	15
Eilean Siar	23	26	28	34	30
Falkirk	29	16	17	12	14
Fife	23	16	14	15	16
Glasgow City	21	19	19	21	23
Highland	27	28	25	25	24
Inverclyde	16	14	12	10	10
Moray	21	21	22	18	15
North Lanarkshire	9	7	8	7	7
Orkney Islands	17	21	21	14	22
Perth and Kinross	24	19	17	17	17
Renfrewshire	23	15	16	17	19
Scottish Borders	14	17	15	16	13
Shetland Islands	22	28	29	20	25
South Ayrshire	23	20	22	19	20
South Lanarkshire	21	16	17	18	17
Stirling	31	19	16	16	17
West Dunbartonshire	32	24	25	24	25
West Lothian	27	17	14	16	15
Scotland	19	16	16	16	16

Notes:

1. Where main offence.

2. Population figures based on General Register Office for Scotland mid-year estimates for the relevant year.

3. Incorporates an approximate mapping of sheriff courts into local authority areas. Some sheriff courts will deal with cases from more than one local authority area. Four local authority areas, namely East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Midlothian and North Ayrshire, do not contain a sheriff court.

4. Offences included are: Driving a motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs; in charge of motor vehicle while unfit through drink or drugs; driving motor vehicle with blood alcohol content above prescribed limit; in charge of motor vehicle while blood alcohol content above limit; failure to provide breath specimen at the roadside; failure to provide breath, blood or urine specimen at police station.

The Scottish Funding Council classify a full time course as courses with at least 720 planned hours within one academic year for further education (non-advanced) and at least 480 planned hours within one academic year for higher education (advanced) courses.

With regards to council tax collection, an individual is generally classed as a full time student and therefore exempt from paying council tax if they are undertaking a course of study for at least 24 weeks of each academic year and requiring at least  21 hours of study, tuition or work experience in each of these weeks.

This question was answered in the Chamber. The answer can be viewed in the Official Report using the following link:

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor0226-01.htm