- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence it has to suggest that student hardship discourages people from going to university.
Answer
The evidence base around individuals'' participation in higher education (HE) has identified a range of financial, cultural, institutional and dispositional factors that influence individuals in their choice of pursuing HE. This evidence does not specifically refer to hardship in isolation but rather that the costs associated with study and a fear of debt generally can impact on individual choices to participate in HE. Costs and fear of debt are identified as key themes in the growing research evidence conducted with current and prospective students.
Ongoing Scottish Government research (Student Income, Expenditure and Debt survey) will provide more up to date information of students'' perceptions of debt and costs and assess the extent to which these are determining factors in students'' decisions to enter HE. This may provide more specific information relative to student hardship, however, will be unavailable until April 2009.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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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.
Answer
The consultation paper gives a number of principal options for investing £30 million. Option 1b suggests extending young students'' bursaries to more of the 23,315 independent students. The details of the policy, including number of students benefiting and the amount provided in each income category, will be developed following consideration of the consultation responses.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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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.
Answer
No legislative action would be required to implement Option 1, 2 or 3, but given the consultation is seeking the widest views possible, some respondents may suggest different changes to the student support system which would have legislative implications.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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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 2 in its Supporting a Smarter Scotland consultation paper, broken down by income and amount provided in each income decile.
Answer
Option 2 of the consultation paper suggests an increase of the minimum income available. An investment of £30 million could for example provide for an increase to a level of £5,500 for those from the lowest incomes. The details of the policy, including the number of students and the amount of support provided in each income category, will be developed following consideration of the consultation responses.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Monday, 15 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Michael Russell on 14 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be consequential funding from the new £6 million Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Greener Living Fund and, if so, how these funds will be spent.
Answer
There will be no new consequential funding from the new £6 million Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Greener Living Fund. When consequential funding occurs, those consequentials accrue to the Scottish block as a whole and do not fall to the Scottish portfolio equivalent of wherever the money is going in England. The Scottish Government decides its own priorities for the use of all money in the Scottish block.
The Scottish Government recognises the vital contribution that the third sector makes. We wish to secure the development of an innovative, sustainable and inclusive third sector which supports communities and contributes to high quality public services and to increased sustainable economic growth for the benefit of all the people of Scotland. To support this we are investing £93.6 million in the third sector during 2008-11.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has changed its estimated costs of the “unwinding of discount on debt sale subsidy provision”, “cost of student loans”, “unwinding of discount on write-off provision” and “student loans interest subsidy to banks” budget lines in light of changes to the Bank of England interest rate and rate of inflation and whether any savings are anticipated for Scottish Government budgets.
Answer
The budgets for the unwinding of discount on debt sale subsidy provision and the unwinding of discount on write-off provision will be increased in accordance with the revised estimated costs at the 2009 Spring Budget revision reflecting changes in the Retail Price Index. The changes to the Bank of England interest rate and rate of inflation have no effect on the cost of student loans in the short term. The student loans interest subsidy to the banks budget is held outwith the Scottish Government''s Total Managed Expenditure and does not give rise to additional costs or savings.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive what effect changes to the interest rate and rate of inflation has on the “unwinding of discount on debt sale subsidy provision”, “cost of student loans”, “unwinding of discount on write-off provision” and “student loans interest subsidy to banks” budget lines.
Answer
Unwinding of Provisions:
Student loan provisions are created and supplemented on a discounted cost basis, and each year the discount in the provision is unwound. This means that the balance of the provision is uprated by that part of the discounting which relates to the year of account because the provision has moved on a year.
The unwinding element is obtained by calculation with reference to the Retail Price Index (RPI) and the discount rate. For student loans accounting purposes, the RPI used is the RPI in September in the accounting year; and the discount rate is the rate that equates to the Treasury''s cost of capital for provisions.
This being the case, any changes in interest rates will not affect the unwinding calculations unless the Treasury change their cost of capital for provisions. Changes in the rate of inflation will only affect the unwinding calculation to the extent of the change in September in the year of account since that is the index which is utilised, in accordance with the Financial Reporting and Expenditure Manual. The amount of the change will also be dependent on the amount of residual provision available to be unwound. Based on existing rates, the unwinding of discount on the write-off and debt sale subsidy provisions will be £23.8 million and £4.6 million respectively. This is in excess of budget by approximately £11.8 million and £0.6 million respectively and this additional cost will be met from within the Education and Lifelong Learning portfolio budgets.
Cost of Student Loans:
The cost of student loans is derived by application of the rate, currently 31%, determined by the student loans repayment model which incorporates long-term forecasts for both a discount factor and an RPI figure. Although these two elements are incorporated into the model on a long-term forecast basis, the cost of student loans rate is set for the Spending Review period, which is currently 2008-09 to 2010-11. Therefore, changes to the interest rate and rate of inflation will have no immediate effect on the cost of student loans for this spending review period.
These factors have no effect on the student loans advanced.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will confirm that HM Treasury will fund an increase in student loan new lend through annual managed expenditure if the Scottish Executive decides to increase student loan amounts.
Answer
We have not held any discussions with the Chancellor of the Exchequer or other ministers as this is not Scottish Government policy.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many students study at further education institutions, broken down by income.
Answer
In 2006-07 there were 363,520 students at colleges, holding a total of 468,155 enrolments:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Lifelong-learning/DataTypeFEC.
Income details for college students undertaking further education courses and those on most part-time higher education courses are not held centrally.
Full-time higher education students in colleges and a small number of part-time students who receive support from Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) provide income details to SAAS. The following table provides parental or spousal income details for those students.
Higher Education College Students Supported by SAAS, by Income Band, 2007-08
| Income Band | |
| Income Not Declared/Required | 5,535 |
| Less Than £10,000 | 3,335 |
| £10,000 to £19,999 | 3,425 |
| £20,000 to £29,999 | 2,435 |
| £30,000 to £39,999 | 1,680 |
| £40,000 to £49,999 | 925 |
| £50,000 to £59,999 | 455 |
| £60,000 to £69,999 | 185 |
| £70,000 to £79,999 | 90 |
| £80,000 to £89,999 | 45 |
| £90,000 to £99,998 | 10 |
| Above Means Tested Threshold | 55 |
| Exempt from Parental/Spousal Contribution | 6,940 |
| All Supported College Students | 25,115 |
Notes:
The income stated is residual income, i.e. after the deductions allowed by SAAS.
All figures have been rounded to the nearest five.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 17 December 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 14 January 2009
To ask the Scottish Executive how many students (a) qualify and (b) receive the Young Students’ Bursary, broken down by assessed income.
Answer
The number of students receiving Young Students'' Bursary (YSB) in the academic year 2007-08 was 34,200, as published in
Higher Education Student Support in Scotland 2007-08:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/11/21111027/0.
The breakdown by assessed residual income is shown in the following table. As YSB is a non-repayable grant it can be assumed that nearly all those entitled to it will also claim that type of support. The income threshold for receipt of YSB in 2007-08 was £32,515.
Number of Students Receiving YSB by Residual Parental or Spousal Income 2007-08
| Residual Assessed Income | Number of Students |
| Income Not Declared/Required | 2,175 |
| Up to £10,000 | 8,695 |
| £10,000 to £19,999 | 11,060 |
| £20,000 to £29,999 | 9,245 |
| £30,000 or over | 2,470 |
| Exempt from Parental/Spousal Contribution | 555 |
| Total | 34,200 |
Source: SAAS. Numbers have been rounded to the nearest five.
