- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Peter Peacock on 19 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that Gaelic-medium education is provided in Scotland's cities.
Answer
The delivery of Gaelic-medium education in Scotland’s cities and throughout Scotland is a matter for local authorities and the Scottish Executive seeks to support and encourage authorities in this by providing guidance, funding, resources and support for teachers and pupils. In the last year there have been important initiatives to improve the supply of Gaelic teachers, to extend the Gaelic curriculum in secondary schools and to increase funding for Gaelic education in schools.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 07 December 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 15 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to improve the commercialisation of research carried out at universities.
Answer
There is a growing level of Executive support for commercial spin outs from our universities. The number of spin-outs surviving more than three years rose from 62 in 2001-02 to 83 in 2002-03.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 13 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what sums it has paid to purchasing banks in each year since 1998 in respect of the student loans sold by HM Treasury in 1998 and 1999 and what obligations these sums covered.
Answer
The following amounts have been paid to the purchasing banks in respect of the sale of student loans in 1998 and 1999:
| 1998-99 | £6,437,000 |
| 1999-2000 | £12,209,000 |
| 2000-01 | £14,840,000 |
| 2001-02 | £11,344,000 |
| 2002-02 | £10,645,000 |
| 2003-04 | £7,052,000 |
| 2004-05 | £7,225,000 (unaudited figures) |
The payments are to cover the difference between the commercial rate of interest the banks would normally charge and the rate of inflation they are required to charge in respect of the student debt they have acquired. The payments also include a small element for those loans which have been sold to the banks but become irrecoverable.
- 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 8 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide more information on 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 in relation to the impact of the HM Treasury discount rate for student loans (Official Report c. 2352).
Answer
The Treasury discount rate is used for two related purposes in financial reports: valuing the liabilities, and computing the interest costs on the stock of liabilities.
When there is a change to the discount rate, there is a related change to the Student Loans Subsidy rate. In 2005-06, the Treasury Discount rate changed from 3.5% to 2.2% in accordance with PES Paper PES (2004) 04 – Guidance On Managing The Change In The Discount Rate For Pensions and Other Long-Term Liabilities. This paper can be found at the following link:
http://www.hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk/psd/pes_papers/pespaper/pespaper_2004/pes0404.htm.
For 2006-07 and 2007-08 the impact is estimated at £32 million. This change creates a reduction of approximately £28 million in budget provision in 2005-06.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 10 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will explain why the funding for the Student Awards Agency for Scotland is shown as being reduced in each of the next two years in its Draft Budget 2005-06 while it has a standing commitment to fully fund the tuition fees increases it announced in the summer which might have been expected to inflate that budget line.
Answer
The figures being referred to are total figures incorporating each of the constituent elements of the Departmental Expenditure Limit budget of SAAS, and not only that of tuition fees. The reduction is due to a decrease in the Student Loan Subsidy Rate as a consequence of the reduced cost of capital and increase in the minimum loan payment threshold from £10,000 to £15,000.
Further breakdown of the Departmental Expenditure Limit budget is shown in table 6.03 of the Draft Budget 2006-07, which can be found at the following link:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/69582/0017144.pdf.
The tuition fees figures in table 6.03 do not yet show the transfer of tuition fees due from the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council to SAAS because the details are still being finalised. This transfer is estimated to be in the region of £45 million and is likely to take place some time in 2006-07. When it is completed, the tuition budget and therefore SAAS’s overall funding budget will be appropriately increased, although these adjustments will produce an overall net effect of zero to the Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department and the Scottish Executive’s budget.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 8 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20429 by Allan Wilson on 16 November 2005, how it forecasts the average length of time for repayment of a student loan.
Answer
The average length of time for repayment for an income-contingent student loan is forecast using a student loan repayment model. This generates an expected repayment profile and reports repayment behaviour for a representative student set.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20429 by Allan Wilson on 16 November 2005, when it expects all student loans referred to in the answer to be repaid and when it will therefore be in a position to provide a substantive answer.
Answer
It is not possible to give a definitive answer on when all student loans taken out since the introduction of student loans are expected to be repaid.
The nature of student loan repayments means that the majority of borrowers will be at different stages of repayment or deferment at any one time and that borrowers will repay over different periods of time depending on their salary and changing circumstances.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20429 by Allan Wilson on 16 November 2005, what the average length of time to repay was for student loan borrowers who completed repayment in each of the last two years.
Answer
For borrowers fully repaying their student loans in calendar year 2003 the average repayment time was 4.9 years.
For borrowers fully repaying their student loans in calendar year 2004 the average repayment time was 5.1 years.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 18 November 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 8 December 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-20434 by Allan Wilson on 16 November 2005, why it did not provide information for the years prior to 1998.
Answer
The Student Loans Company implemented a new customer account administration system in September 1998. The previous system could not allow transactions to be analysed by domicile.
- 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.
