- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline further details of the £38 million package of grants for part-time learners in higher education, referred to by the First Minister on 24 April 2008 (Official Report, c. 7933), showing (a) over how many years the funding will be provided, (b) the eligibility criteria for the funding, (c) the distribution mechanism used for the funding and (d) how many students will be eligible for the funding
Answer
(a) We will introduce a £500 part-time higher education (HE) grant from academic year 2008-09 for all new and existing students. Budget provision has been made for £12 million/£13 million/£13 million for this over the period of the spending review (£38 million in total). This includes an additional £1 million annually for the institutions'' discretionary funds.
(b) The eligibility criteria for the funding is that students must:
be ordinarily resident in Scotland
be over the age of 16
earn £18,000 or less or be on benefits
not be in receipt of a fee waiver from the learning provider
be studying at 50% or more of a full-time HNC, HND, or
undergraduate degree (SCQF Level 7-10).
(c) The part-time HE grant will be delivered through a simplified Individual Learning Account (ILA Scotland) model and the grant will be paid directly to the university or college.
(d) We expect that this new funding will benefit around 20,000 part-time HE students.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many students will benefit from changes to the eligibility for the young students bursary from the 2008-09 academic year, including those under the age of 25 and with a child over three, and by how much in total.
Answer
It is only those students under the age of 25 and with a child over three who will benefit from changes to the eligibility for the Young Students'' Bursary from the 2008-09 academic year. I refer the member to the question S3W-10207 answered on
3 March 2008. 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: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the £12 million per annum to alleviate student hardship referred, to by the First Minister on 24 April 2008 (Official Report, c. 7933), is (a) additional funding and (b) time-limited.
Answer
The £12 million to which the First Minister referred on 24 April are the Discretionary Funds. These monies are made available by Scottish ministers and are intended to provide non-repayable assistance for students in financial difficulties in order for them to access and/or continue in higher education. This is not an additional package of funding but has been in place for several years. This funding is not time-limited.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide further details of the (a) £30 million available for 2010-11 to support students further and (b) consultation that is taking place, referred to by the First Minister on 24 April 2008 (Official Report, c. 7933).
Answer
The Scottish Budget announced that an additional £30 million is to be invested in 2010-11 and the Scottish Government will consider how best to use this money as part of a consultation paper which will be launched later this year.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will outline further details of its increasing the threshold for the non-medical personal helpers element of the disabled students allowance by 60%, referred to by the First Minister on 24 April 2008 (Official Report, c. 7933), showing how much additional funding will be provided to students through this change and how many students will benefit.
Answer
Further details on the non-medical personal helpers element of the disabled students allowance can be found on SAAS'' website at:
http://www.saas.gov.uk/student_support/special_circumstances/dsa_what_we_pay.htm.
In terms of the increase, the upper threshold for the non-medical personal helpers element of the Disabled Students'' Allowance (DSA) will from academic year 2008-09 rise from £12,420 to £20,000. In terms of numbers of students who will stand to benefit, last year there were around 39 students who reached the maximum threshold for non-medical personal help. The number of students who will benefit from the increased threshold in 2008-09 will be dependent on their assessed needs when they apply to SAAS for student support.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 15 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people will be affected by changes to the means test for higher education students from the 2008-09 academic year and how much the Scottish Government will save in total (a) annually and (b) over the next three years.
Answer
The number of people affected by changes to the means test for higher education students is unknown as the information on which this calculation needs to be made was not recorded by the previous Scottish Executive. I have therefore asked SAAS to record this data from 2008-09 onwards and my officials will closely monitor the numbers affected by these changes.
The changes to the means test are not intended to generate savings. They are intended to bring about a fairer system of student support for all our students. If any savings were to accrue from these changes, however, this money will be redistributed within the general student support system.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive whether students' earned income will be assessed for providing support for (a) further and (b) higher education in the 2008-09 academic year and, if so, over what threshold.
Answer
The means test project paper which provides full details of the students'' income to be taken into account in higher education from 2008-09. This document has been published on the Scottish Government website at:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Funding-Support-Grants/FFL/PMB/Completed.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many people will benefit from changes to dependents grant eligibility from the 2008-09 academic year and by how much in total.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-10208 on
3 March 2008. 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: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive what the average earnings are of working students (a) exempt and (b) not exempt from council tax.
Answer
This information is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Claire Baker, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Labour
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Date lodged: Friday, 02 May 2008
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Current Status:
Answered by Fiona Hyslop on 13 May 2008
To ask the Scottish Executive how many students did not take out loans to pay for the graduate endowment in each of the last three academic years, broken down by household income.
Answer
The following table shows the number of students who have chosen to pay their full graduate endowment in cash in each of the last three years.
Decided to Pay Graduate Endowment in Full by Cash
| April 2005 Liability | April 2006 Liability | April 2007 Liability | Total |
| 255 | 2,690 | 3,565 | 6,515 |
Data source: Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) as at 30 April 2008.
Figures have been rounded to the nearest five.
The figures shown in the table are provisional and subject to change as cases are processed. They do not include students who were liable for the graduate endowment as of April 2007 or earlier but have had their liability deferred whilst they undertake postgraduate study. Those who are currently in debt recovery, who have had their debt written off or who have chosen to pay part in cash part by loan are also excluded.
Graduates who choose to pay their graduate endowment in full by cash are not required to give details of their household income therefore it is not possible to provide an income breakdown of the table.
