Parliamentary questions

Fiona Hyslop

940 questions tabled in the Scottish Parliament, most recent first.

2 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether student loans are a disincentive to potential students from less affluent backgrounds to enter higher education.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Loans have been an integral part of an affordable student funding system since 1990. We do, however, appreciate that some students from less affluent backgrounds may be concerned about accruing debt while they study. That is why, in 2001, the Executive introd…

2 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish-domiciled students studying at Scottish higher education (HE) institutions were required to pay fees in each of the last three years.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The following table gives estimates of the number of Scottish-domiciled HE students studying at Scottish higher education institutions contributing to tuition fees in each of the last three academic years for which data is currently available.Scots Dom…

2 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether student loans are a disincentive to potential mature students to enter higher education.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The number of students aged 25 and over receiving support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland has remained broadly unchanged since the introduction of a wholly loan based system of living cost support in 1999. This would suggest that potential mature …

2 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether student loans are a disincentive to potential students from ethnic minority backgrounds to enter higher education.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Student loans have been an integral part of an affordable student funding system since 1990. The most recent information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and the Scottish Further Education Council, gives details over the five year period from 1998-…

2 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contract awarded to the Student Loans Company Ltd (SLC) to administer the debt portfolio on behalf of private owners was continued at the end of its initial period; whether there were any variations to this contract, and, if so, what those variations are.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The first debt sale was concluded in March 1998 being sold to Greenwich Natwest (GNW), a division of National Westminster, now Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS). SLC were appointed to undertake the day-to-day administration. The original contract was for five yea…

2 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many court actions were raised against graduates to recover student loans sold to banks in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99, expressed also as a percentage of the number of loans sold.

Answer · Jim Wallace: There were two sales of student loan debt to the private sector: the first in 1998 and the second in 1999. The following table shows the number of court actions raised against account holders UK wide to recover student loans sold to each debt owner. No…

2 Feb 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish graduates have been advised that they face court proceedings to recover outstanding student loans in each year since the system was introduced.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Information on Scottish graduates who have been advised that they face court proceedings to recover outstanding student loans is not held centrally.

20 Jan 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why eligibility for the Teacher Induction Scheme is restricted to those graduating from a Scottish higher education institution with a teaching qualification whose training has been publicly funded.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Eligibility is restricted because the number of eligible teachers is controlled by the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council to match teacher workforce requirements.It would be possible to extend eligibility to include all teacher education instit…

5 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many overseas students have applied for extended visas to study in Scottish universities, broken down by university and country of application.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive has no functions in relation to UK immigration policy. UK Visas have confirmed that the information requested is not held centrally.

5 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many overseas students from the Asian sub-continent will benefit from the Fresh Talent Initiative, broken down by country.

Answer · Jim Wallace: The Fresh Talent Scotland Scheme, which will allow non European Economic Area graduates from Scottish higher education institutions to remain and work in Scotland for up to two years, comes into effect from summer 2005. It is not possible to determine how man…

5 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students from the Asian sub-continent have applied to undertake Master of Business Administration (MBA) courses and higher education studies as part of the Fresh Talent Initiative.

Answer · Jim Wallace: Scotland has been successful in attracting international students for a number of years. According to the most recent figures available, there were 7,486 students from Asia studying at Scottish higher education institutions in 2002-03. It is estimated that ar…

5 Nov 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-5563 by Mr Jack McConnell on 2 February 2004, what the outcome was of discussions between it and the Home Office regarding the best way of achieving Fresh Talent objectives within the United Kingdom’s work permit system.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Discussions are on-going with the Home Office to explore possibilities open to Scotland within the work permit system and wider UK immigration policy. Areas of mutual interest include implementation of the Fresh Talent: Scotland Scheme. Under the scheme, inte…

3 Nov 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its definition is of targeted spend on capital projects compared to actual capital spend.

Answer · Tom McCabe: We do notuse the term “targeted spend”, so there is no formal definition within ourpublic expenditure framework.Of course,our spending is targeted on our key priorities, as set out in the PartnershipAgreement and in Building a Better Scotland…

27 Oct 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it is taking to ensure that development of brownfield sites provides for satisfactory disposal of asbestos.

Answer · Johann Lamont: We have published planning advice to local authorities on the development of contaminated land.Where planning applications are approved, conditions should be included to ensure that any contaminated land is remediated before the commencement of any new…

20 Oct 2004 · General Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what measures it will take to improve the accountability of NHS boards to ministers and MSPs.

Answer · Andy Kerr: NHS boards are accountable through ministers to the Parliament. To strengthen this, I recently announced that I would personally hold the annual performance review meeting for each health board in Scotland and that these meetings would take place in public. I…

15 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether any restrictions exist for newly-qualified teachers gaining a probationer position in Scotland who completed their initial teacher education in England and Wales, as compared to those who completed their initial teacher education in Scotland.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Yes; only teachers who have graduated from Scottish Higher Education Institutions with a Teaching Qualification whose training has been publicly funded are eligible for a probationer post on the Teacher Induction Scheme. However, the Teacher Induction Scheme …

14 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish students studying initial teacher education in England and Wales gained employment in Scotland in the year immediately following the completion of their course.

Answer · Peter Peacock: This information is not held centrally.

14 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to news release SEed237/2003 on 10 June 2003 on its teacher induction scheme, how many of the probationer teachers referred to completed their initial teacher education course in Scotland.

Answer · Peter Peacock: All of the probationer teachers referred to in news release SEed237/2003 completed their initial teacher education course in Scotland.

5 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate is of the percentage of the specific grants figure given in table 5.01 of Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008 which relates to the estimated drawdown of school PPP payments for each of the years in the spending proposals.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Table 3.05 of The Scottish Executive: Draft Budget 2005-06 sets out the spending plans in support of PPP.

5 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will give the breakdown between support for the Schools Fund and support for PPP in the spending plans in the Education and Young People section of Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008.

Answer · Peter Peacock: I expect to make an announcement about the Schools Fund later in November. Table 3.05 of The Scottish ExecutiveDraft Budget 2005-06 sets out the spending plans in support of PPP.

5 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will change the rules pertaining to the Schools Fund to allow the fund to be used to support prudential borrowing where that borrowing relates to the school estate.

Answer · Peter Peacock: It is not open to local authorities to use the schools fund to support the cost of direct council borrowing for capital investment, and there are no plans to alter that.

5 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in seeking to maintain part-time nursery provision as referred to in the Education and Young People section of Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008, it will investigate the possibility of providing full-time early years education for every three and four-year-o…

Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive keeps its policy on further developing pre-school provision under constant review. However, at this time, there are no plans to provide full-time early years education for every three and four year old.

5 Oct 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the school developments in target 6 of the Education and Young People section of Building a Better Scotland Spending Proposals 2005-2008 will be (a) PPP and (b) public sector-led.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Since the contents of many of the 29 school PPP projects are still to be finalised by education authorities, it is not possible to predict how many of the 300 new or substantially refurbished schools referred to in target 6 will be funded through PPP projects…

2 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many vacancies there were in each local authority area at 30 April 2004 for teachers of (a) English and (b) mathematics.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The latest information available from the teacher vacancies survey returned by local authorities at February 2004 is given in a set of tables Full-time Equivalent Teacher Vacancies in Schools which has been placed in the Parliament’s Reference Centre (…

2 Jun 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will announce the support that will be available to Scottish students attending university in England who may be required to pay higher tuition fees as a result of the proposed deregulation of tuition fees in those universities.

Answer · Jim Wallace: I intend to make an announcement shortly.

30 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances a disclosure from Disclosure Scotland would cease to remain valid.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: I refer the member to the answergiven to question S2W-7960 on 17 May 2004. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for whichcan be found at <a href="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/…

30 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers it appropriate for an individual with a disclosure from Disclosure Scotland for previous employment to begin work with a new employer pending the receipt of a new disclosure.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: Decisions about the appointmentof individuals to posts which involve working with children and vulnerable adultsneed to be considered very carefully and a range of pre‑employment checks,including a criminal record check, should be carried out. Where, in…

30 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether a disclosure from Disclosure Scotland relating to an individual remains valid when that individual changes employer.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The Disclosures issued by DisclosureScotland record the criminal record status of the applicant at the point in timethe disclosure was produced. Standard and Enhanced Disclosures relate to specifictypes of post, namely those posts excluded by law from the pro…

30 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much Disclosure Scotland is in excess of its service level agreement timescale for processing criminal history checks and whether the Executive is taking any steps to address this issue.

Answer · Cathy Jamieson: The latest available statisticsfor week-ending 9 May 2004 show that, for correctly completed applications, theaverage time taken by Disclosure Scotland to process and issue an Enhanced or StandardDisclosure certificate was 14 calendar days from the date of th…

29 Apr 2004 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what changes were introduced in the guidance on hospital car parking charges issued on 2 April 2004 compared with the guidelines issued on 17 March 2000.

Answer · Malcolm Chisholm: The guidance on car park charging issued to NHSScotland in March 2000 detailed the principles of car park charges, namely:The decision of whether to charge for car parking facilities is one for local determination in the light of local circumstances;</…