Chamber and committees

As the Student Award Agency for Scotland will continue to receive and process applications until 31 March 2013 we are unable to provide the actual cost at this stage of the academic year.

The household income will be the criteria applied in deciding how much of the annual minimum income for students of £7,250 from 2013-14 will be provided in the form of a bursary. The maximum bursary will be payable to those students with a household income below £17,000.

The maximum bursary amount for young students will be £1750 and for independent students will be £750. The remainder of the £7,250 minimum income will be available through a student loan. Students will have the option to take some, all or none of the student loan for which they are eligible.

The Student Loans Company paid out £235.9 million in loans in financial year 2011-12 for Scottish domiciled students and a small number of EU students studying in Scotland.

The average student debt for university graduates each year has been:

2007-08	£6,930
2008-09	£7,090
2009-10	£7,020
2010-11	£6,990
2011-12	£6,480

The new funding package will be available from academic year 2013-14 and all of those receiving the minimum income of £7,250 will receive the maximum bursary available to them as either a young or an independent student.

<>In 2005 the Scottish Government published extensive guidance “Holding Safely” (www.sircc.org.uk/library/practicepapers/holding_safely_complete), used across all residential child care services in Scotland. Holding Safely informs best practice and helps to ensure services and individual staff are aware of their responsibilities in understanding challenging behaviour and de-escalation techniques in advance of using physical restraint. This guidance is also referenced in the care standards and used to inform the inspection process.

Training for staff in physical restraint is typically delivered in a 4/5 day programme with annual or bi-annual reaccreditation depending on the particular restraint system that is used.

We do not hold this information centrally, however, this information is collected in individual organisations for their own monitoring purposes. An annual return for each establishment is completed and returned to the Care Inspectorate for inspection purposes which includes numbers of physical restraint.

Physical restraint should only be used when absolutely necessary and when in the best interests of the child or young person.

Restraint techniques vary according to the system used. The national guidance Holding Safely (www.sircc.org.uk/library/practicepapers/holding_safely_complete) does not state any preferred system. The guidance does describe the circumstances in which physical restraint can be used and emphasises the need for proper risk assessments related to the child or the young person for instance age or size. While it does not describe the techniques, it does outline the necessary safety considerations and what staff must never do.

Residential Units should provide young people and their families with information on the policy related to physical restraint and will also be able to provide details of the system used.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 (SI 2012/632) places a duty on the owners or leaseholders of all non-domestic public buildings, including schools, to manage the risk from asbestos. In the case of publicly funded schools, this duty rests with local authorities. For independent schools, the duty rests with the proprietors of the building.

The duty includes, among other things, a requirement to make and keep up to date records of the location and condition of asbestos-containing material (ACM) and presumed ACM in these premises. As we have no reason to believe this information is not being held, as required by the 2012 Regulations, the Scottish Government believes it is best that this information continues to be compiled locally rather than at a national level.