Questions and answers

Question reference: S3O-05558

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Thursday, 22 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 22 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what efforts it is making to ensure that there is provision of effective justice services throughout Scotland.

Protecting Scotland''s Communities: Fair, Fast and Flexible Justice published on 17 December 2008 sets out our plan for delivering a coherent offender management strategy building on effective justice services. Our plan incorporates the improvements in train through Summary Justice Reform, the findings of the independent Scottish Prisons Commission and the 2007 Review of Community Penalties.

Tangible examples of our achievements are the £11 million invested in a range of projects for young people through the Cashback for Communities scheme; the £200,000 invested to support the collective violence initiative; £4 million record level of funding to Victim Support Scotland enabling them to support 180,000 victims and witnesses, and the publication of the first national drugs strategy in a decade.

Question reference: S3W-19179

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 20 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive when it estimates that student loan repayments will match student loan new lend and what its yearly estimates of new lend and repayment levels are to that date.

The Scottish Government estimates that, based on current trends being maintained in the future, it will be 2020-21 when we reach the point of new loans issued matching annual repayments. Estimates of repayments and loans issued can and do vary year-on-year due a number of factors, such as, for example, graduate wage levels and projections of the student population. As a result the projections provided should be viewed as indicative only.

Table 1 illustrates expected loan issues and repayments until 2020-21:

Projected Loans Issued and Repayments (£ Million)

	Loans Issued	Repayments
2008-09	180.3	56
2009-10	190.7	66
2010-11	200.7	76
2011-12	196.8	86
2012-13	193.0	96
2013-14	189.2	106
2014-15	185.5	116
2015-16	181.9	126
2016-17	178.4	136
2017-18	174.9	146
2018-19	171.5	156
2019-20	168.1	166
2020-21	164.9	176

Question reference: S3W-19577

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount was of additional loans to independent students in each of the last five years.

The total amount of additional loan support assessed for full-time independent students is shown in the following table.

Amount of Additional Loan Support Assessed for Full-Time Independent Students

Academic Year	Amounts £000
2003-04	168
2004-05	204
2005-06	200
2006-07	222
2007-08	271

Source: SAAS.

Independent students are only entitled to the additional loan if their status has changed during their course i.e. they get married or have a child and are therefore classed as independent AND they had been entitled previously to the additional loan, provided the income of their partner (if they married) remains below the threshold. Therefore only a small number of independent students receive the additional loan.

Question reference: S3W-19578

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish students studying in the rest of the United Kingdom received (a) income assessed and (b) additional loans from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland, broken down by (i) income, (ii) independent and dependent status and (iii) amount received.

The number of full-time Scottish students studying in the rest of the United Kingdom that were assessed for income assessed loans in the academic year 2007-08 is shown in table 1.

Table 1: Scottish Full-Time Students Studying in the Rest of the UK Supported by Income Assessed Loans

Parental/Spousal Income	Independent		Dependent
Parental/Spousal Income	Number	Amount £000	Number	Amount £000
Income not declared/required	5	8	45	106
less than £10,000	30	56	355	733
£10,000 - £19,999	15	33	390	803
£20,000 - £29,999	10	27	370	902
£30,000 - £39,999	0	5	305	708
£40,000 - £49,999	0	3	260	378
£50,000 and over	0	1	145	136
Exempt from Parental/Spousal Contribution	510	1,150	0	0
Total	575	1,283	1,870	3,766

Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Table 2 shows the number of full-time Scottish students who have been assessed for the Additional Loan in the academic year 2007-08.

Table 2: Scottish Full-Time Students Studying in the Rest of the UK Supported by Additional Loans

Parental/Spousal Income	Independent		Dependent
Parental/Spousal Income	Number	Amount £000	Number	Amount £000
Income not declared/required	-	-	20	12
less than £10,000	-	-	175	102
£10,000 - £19,999	-	-	200	105
£20,000 - £29,999	-	-	10	1
£30,000 - £39,999	-	-	0	0
£40,000 - £49,999	-	-	0	0
£50,000 and over	-	-	0	0
Exempt from Parental/Spousal Contribution	-	-	0	0
Total	5	2	410	220

Source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland.

Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Independent students are only entitled to the additional loan if their status has changed during their course i.e. they get married or have a child and are therefore classed as independent AND they had been entitled previously to the additional loan, provided the income of their partner (if they married) remains below the threshold. Therefore only a small number of independent students receive the additional loan.

Question reference: S3W-19576

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Friday, 09 January 2009
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 19 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many independent students (a) qualified for and (b) received an additional loan in each of the last five years.

The number of students qualifying for the additional loan is not held centrally. The number of full-time independent students entitled to the additional loan is shown in the following table:

Independent Full-Time Students Entitled to the Additional Loan

Academic Year	Number of Students
2003-04	330
2004-05	390
2005-06	370
2006-07	400
2007-08	475

Source: SAAS.

Note: Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.

Independent students are only entitled to the Additional Loan if their status has changed during their course i.e. they get married or have a child and are therefore classed as independent AND they had been entitled previously to the additional loan, provided the income of their partner (if they married) remains below the threshold. Therefore only a small number of independent students receive the additional loan.

Question reference: S3W-19176

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 16 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide details of discussions it has had with HM Treasury regarding its plans to service Scotland-domiciled and resident-graduate debt.

The Scottish Government has not been able to allocate the resources required to service Scotland-domiciled and resident-graduate debt and we have therefore held no discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer or other HM Treasury Ministers.

The recently launched consultation paper on higher education student support: Supporting a Smarter Scotland seeks views on the principles of the methods we wish to explore to service debt should funds be made available in the future.

Question reference: S3W-19196

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what legislative action will be required to implement each of the options in its Supporting a Smarter Scotland consultation paper.

Question reference: S3W-19193

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students would benefit from increased student support under option 1b in its Supporting a Smarter Scotland consultation paper, broken down by income and amount provided in each income decile.

Question reference: S3W-19181

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what powers it has to increase the levels of student loans.

Question reference: S3W-19192

Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Current Status: Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 January 2009

To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual spend on the Young Students’ Bursary has been since its inception.

Chamber and committees