- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the operating surplus made by the Student Loans Company Ltd the Executive has received in each year since 1999.
Answer
The Student Loans Company operates as a non-departmental public body and therefore has no operating surplus or any reserves.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 494,000 deferment application forms processed by the Student Loans Company Ltd in 2003-04 were from Scottish domiciled repayers.
Answer
Of the 494,000 deferment applications processed by the Student Loans Company in 2003-04, just under 70,000 were from Scottish domiciled repayers.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many customer accounts the Student Loans Company Ltd maintains for Scottish domiciled borrowers.
Answer
The Student Loans Company currently maintains the customer accounts for 312,800 Scottish domiciled borrowers with public debt.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the comments made by the Deputy First Minister and Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning to the Enterprise and Culture Committee on 1 November 2005 (Official Report c. 2352), what the Student Awards Agency for Scotland's funding line in the budget would have been had it not been affected by the £28 million consideration as a result of the change to HM Treasury discount rate.
Answer
If there had been no change to the discount rate, the reduction in 2005-06 of £28 million would not have arisen. The Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s funding line in 2005-06 would be increased by £28 million from £368,639,000 to £396,639,000.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Student Loans Company Ltd hardship loans were paid out to Scottish domiciled students in 2003-04.
Answer
In 2003-04 the Student Loans Company paid out 2,555 Hardship Loans to Scottish domiciled students.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of Scottish domiciled student loan borrowers were in deferment in each year of the operation of student loans, broken down by year of entering repayment.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-20433 on 16 November 2005. 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/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 14 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what the total pay-out to Scottish domiciled students from the Student Loans Company Ltd was in 2003-04 and how many students received these payments.
Answer
In 2003-04 the total pay-out to Scottish domiciled students from the Student Loans Company Ltd was £223,332,000. The number of students who received payment was 123,445.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 25 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the recent steps it took in shifting higher education funding from institution funding to funding per student as a result of the increases in tuition fees will be followed by further moves towards funding per student.
Answer
The Executive’s proposals on increases in tuition fees will, if accepted by Parliament, necessitate a transfer of resources from the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS). This transfer is estimated to be in the region of £45 million in 2006-07.
This money and just over a third of SAAS’s £362 million budget for 2006-07 will protect our commitment to pay tuition fees for all eligible Scots domiciled higher education students studying in Scotland. The funding council will allocate the remainder of the £958 million allocated for 2006-07 to higher education institutions using the existing funding methodology.
In the strategic guidance letter I issued to the chair of the new funding council on 3 November 2005, I recognised the importance of avoiding action on funding which might destabilise any individual institution and our overall provision. I stated, however, that I expect funding to be related as closely as possible to the costs of delivery. I asked the council as a priority to consider, in partnership with colleges and universities, the best way of addressing this issue.
This was a statement of the strategic direction in which we expect funding allocation to go in the years ahead. Responsibility for the details of current and future allocation methodologies remains with the funding council.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 22 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19044 by Nicol Stephen on 21 September 2005, whether it has seen provisional results from the Scottish survey on students’ income, expenditure and debt 2004-05 and whether it has requested a revision or revisions of the findings.
Answer
The survey was run on the same terms as any other Social Research study. It was commissioned by the Scottish Executive from independent researchers, who are experts in the field – they completed several similar studies for the Department for Education and Skills.
The project was overseen by a Research Advisory Group consisting of Scottish Executive officials and external members. The day-to-day management of the project was undertaken by the Analytical Services Division responsible for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning. Project management included detailed exchanges on all aspects of the project, including emerging results, which were discussed by the Research Advisory Group in the presence of the researchers. The final report emanating from this process contains the facts that were found by the researchers and carries their name. Ministers were briefed on the final report recently and have not requested any changes.
I look forward to a full, public and informed debate of the findings after publication.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 08 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 22 November 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19044 by Nicol Stephen on 21 September 2005, whether the Scottish survey on students’ income, expenditure and debt 2004-05, due for publication in November 2005, will include an analysis of graduate debt caused by student loans.
Answer
The survey due to be published in November contains data showing the amount of outstanding student loan debt in the context of overall student borrowings.
