- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual cost of reinstating student grants would be.
Answer
The Executive has already introduced bursaries of up to £2,000 a year for new entrant young students in full-time higher education in Scotland. These have been available since August 2001. The cost of substituting non-repayable grants for the remaining student loan support currently provided to Scottish domiciled students is estimated to be approximately £115 million per annum at 2001-02 prices. This figure excludes any assessment on the consequences for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland and the Student Loans Company of implementing any such change.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the non-completion of courses by students has on the economy.
Answer
I am not aware of any research on this issue.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether student loans are a disincentive to female students from entering further and higher education.
Answer
Student loans apply only in higher education.There are a wide variety of reasons why individuals choose whether or not to enter further or higher education.Information on student numbers by gender in further and higher education over the last five years can be found in the Standard Tables on Higher Education and Further Education in Scotland, published by the Scottish Executive under National Statistics in June 2001.Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 18496) or on the Scottish Executive website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00086-00.aspThese figures show an increase in the number of female students in Scotland over the period covered.Support for students in further education is given in the form of a bursary.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, entrants to higher and further education left without completing the qualification they were studying for and how many, and what percentage, left as a result of debt or poverty in each of the past three years and in the current year, broken down by institution.
Answer
The information cannot be provided in the format requested.Information on the number of students leaving higher education courses before completion can be found in the Standard Tables on Higher Education and Further Education in Scotland, published by the Scottish Executive under National Statistics in June 2001.Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. number 18496) or on the Scottish Executive website at:www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00086-00.asp
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of student debt is a consequence of the introduction of the student loans system.
Answer
Data on student debt other than student loans is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the non-completion of courses by students has on the education system.
Answer
Retention rates in higher education institutions in Scotland are high by international standards. However, the Scottish Executive recognises that it is important to minimise non-completion, which is why my guidance letter of 10 December 2001 asked the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council to continue to work with institutions and with the department, to develop a better understanding of the factors affecting the variation in retention rates between institutions.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 24 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether tuition fees are a disincentive to any potential students from entering further and higher education.
Answer
Tuition fees were abolished for eligible Scottish domiciled and EU students in further and higher education in Scotland from academic year 2000-01.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 23 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-20044 by Mr Jim Wallace on 30 November 2001, whether it has researched, or intends to research, the reasons behind the continued decline in the use of alternatives to court action in the case of custody/access disputes.
Answer
The figures contained in the answer to question S1W-20044 were the official figures of Family Mediation Scotland (FMS). In the light of the information supplied in that answer, I caused further enquiries to be made. I understand a new monitoring system was introduced by FMS during 2000-01 in order to standardise the recording of referrals throughout their centres in Scotland. As a result, previous year's figures cannot be considered comparable. In addition, due to organisational change the figures from Grampian have not been included in those for 2000-01.Allowing for this, it appears the number of referrals in recent years have remained broadly similar and have not declined.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 09 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 23 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-19311, S1W-19312, S1W-19313, S1W-19314, S1W-19315, S1W-19316, S1W-19317, S1W-19318, S1W-19319 and S1W-19320 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 6 November 2001, whether it intends to collect and hold centrally such information on job losses.
Answer
The Scottish labour market is dynamic. The monthly labour market statistics from the Office of National Statistics give employment changes from quarter to quarter. There are large shifts between employment, unemployment and inactivity each month/quarter. Any attempt to measure job loss figures is likely to be swamped by these large flows.The Labour Force Survey (run by the Office of National Statistics) provides data on a quarterly basis for redundancies. The information collected on redundancies relates to whether an individual was made redundant in the three months prior to the survey interview. The data, however, is not sufficiently large to disaggregate reliably below an all-Scotland level.Jobs are constantly being created and lost across the country as firms start-up, expand, contract, close or merge. It would be a substantial burden on business - and indeed all employers - to require notifications of all job changes.
- Asked by: Linda Fabiani, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 January 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 21 January 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what policy reviews it has undertaken since May 1999.
Answer
Reviews of policy at various levels are carried out as appropriate on an on-going basis across the Executive. No central record is held of policies under review.
