Parliamentary questions

Fiona Hyslop

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

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average length of time is to pay off a student loan debt.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: It is not possible to providedetails on the actual time taken for graduates to repay their loans. A forecastof the average time to repay can however be estimated using the Student Loan Modelan estimate using this model was provided in answer to question S2W-2…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total write-off of student loans debt has been since 1999.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Between financial years 1999-2000and 2005-06, a total of 1,206 Scottish domiciled borrowers have had their loanswritten off by the Student Loans Company, with a total value of £2,394,599.

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total current outstanding student loan debt is from Scottish borrowers.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: At the end of the 2005-06 financialyear, the total amount outstanding, per the unaudited accounts, for student loansfrom Scottish borrowers is £1.659 billion.

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the costings on which the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning based his statement on 26 May 2005 that it would cost £180 million to provide grants for living costs support (Official Report, c. 17256).

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The figures provided in the debateon 26 May 2005 were updated for the subsequent debate on 14 September 2006.I refer the member to the answergiven to the answer to question S2W-28470 on 28 November. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are ava…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish the costings on which the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning based his statement on 14 September 2006 that the SNP proposals on student funding would cost £1.7 billion (Official Report, c. 27508).

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Executive has no policyto replace student loans with grants, to write off loan debt, or to abolish thegraduate endowment. Therefore, we would not publish detailed costings for theseplans.The figure of £1.7 billionquoted in this debate was based on …

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of graduates from Scottish higher education institutions gained employment in Scotland as a first destination in each year since 1999-2000.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Percentage of graduates gaining permanent employment in Scotland as theirfirst destination in relation to the total number of graduates that gain permanentemployment in the UK or overseas: 1999-2000to 2004-05<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <t…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to improve the quality of its statistics on graduate destinations.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The data that the Scottish Executivecurrently holds on graduate destinations comes from two sources. Information ongraduates from Higher Education Institutions is provided by the Higher EducationStatistics Agency (HESA) from their Destination of Leavers from …

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to improve graduate retention in Scotland.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Scotland already has high levels of graduate retention and thesehave been increasing in recent years.The most recent data on graduatedestinations from Scottish higher education institutions and colleges show that80 per cent of graduates going into perm…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many higher education students domiciled in Scotland there were in Scottish institutions in each year since 1999-2000.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Number of Scottish domiciledhigher education students in Scottish institutions: 1999-2000 to 2004-05<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td nowrap valign=bottom> Year </td> <td nowrap valign=bottom> <p …

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many higher education students have graduated in each year since 1999.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The number of graduates fromhigher education courses at Scottish institutions is shown in the following table.Full details on the number of graduations is published annually on the internetat www.scotland.gov.uk/llstatistics.Number of Graduates from Hi…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what factors caused the fall in initial entry to degree level courses from 2004 to 2005.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The factors causing the fallin initial entry to degree level courses between 2003-04 and 2004-05 it are likelyto be complex. The Executive is engaging with the Scottish Funding Council and institutionsto discuss the issue in detail and will take appropriate a…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what factors have caused the fall in the Age Participation Index since 2001-02.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The fall in the Age ParticipationIndex is likely to have been influenced by a number of factors. The Executive intendsto engage with the Scottish Funding Council and with colleges and universities todiscuss the issue in detail and will take appropriate action…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning’s statement on 14 September 2006 that “Since devolution alone, the number of Scots entering degree-level studies has increased by 12 per cent” (Official Report, c. 27507) took into account changes made in 2003-04 to the way …

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The number of Scottish entrantsto degree-level study in Scottish institutions in 1999-2000 was 27,460. The numberin 2004-05 was 30,780, representing a 12 per cent increase. These figures were fromtable 13 of the Scottish Executive National Statistics publicat…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it has paid to date to the purchasing banks in respect of the student loans sold by HM Treasury in 1998 and 1999 whose borrowers subsequently satisfied one or more of the conditions for having their loans written off.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-28454 on 6 October 2006. All answers to writtenparliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at <ahref="http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what sums it has paid to the purchasing banks in each year since 1998 in respect of the student loans sold by HM Treasury in 1998 and 1999 and what obligations were covered by these sums.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The information requested isgiven in the following table:<table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <tr> <td width=76 nowrap rowspan=2 valign=bottom> . </td> <td width=57 nowrap valign=bottom> 1 </td> <td w…

19 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much is currently outstanding from the two tranches of student loan debts sold to banks in 1998 and 1999.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The outstanding debt from thetwo tranches of student loan debts sold to banks in 1998 and 1999 is £101.8 millionas at March 2006 for Scottish domiciled students.

15 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive for which local authorities it has still to approve electoral arrangement orders submitted by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland, also indicating the length of time since these orders were submitted.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Local GovernmentBoundary Commission for Scotland submitted their report on the North LanarkshireCouncil Area on 22 August. This is still within the 6 week period during whichno decisions can be made. Information on other local authority areas for whichan …

15 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive which local authorities it has met to discuss the recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland in respect of the 2007 election.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I have not met anyauthorities to discuss the Commission’s recommendations. As indicated in myanswer to question S2W-27919 on 13 September 2006, I met West LothianCouncil to better understand their proposals submitted during the six week periodfollowing public…

15 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many electoral arrangement orders for the 2007 elections have been referred back to the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland for review.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I have not referred anyreviews back to the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland.

15 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many electoral arrangement orders for the 2007 election have been disputed by local authorities.

Answer · Tom McCabe: Representations have beenreceived from 11 authorities following publication of the Local GovernmentBoundary Commission for Scotland’s report for their council area. These authoritieswere Angus, City of Edinburgh, Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, Dumfries and Gallow…

15 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many electoral arrangement orders it has approved for the 2007 local government election.

Answer · Tom McCabe: As at 22 September, 20 ElectoralArrangement Orders have been made.

15 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many electoral arrangement orders have been submitted to it by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland for the 2007 election.

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Local GovernmentBoundary Commission for Scotland has submitted 32 reports.

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executives how many bankruptcies there have been in each of the last five years and, of these, how many were student borrowers.

Answer · Hugh Henry: The Accountant in Bankruptcymaintains the Register of Insolvencies in Scotland. Details of bankruptcies are compiled by financial year.The following table gives the number of bankruptcies for the financial years 2001-02to 2005-06. Statistics on how many debto…

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average indebtedness to the Student Loans Company is of Scottish-domiciled borrowers who graduated or otherwise ceased to borrow in 2006 but who had borrowed for at least four years.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: This information is notcurrently available as those who graduate in 2006 and those who cease to borrowin 2006 do not enter repayment until April 2007.

1 Sep 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the average indebtedness to the Student Loans Company is of all Scottish-domiciled borrowers who graduated or otherwise ceased to borrow in 2006.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: It is not possible to providean answer as those who graduate in 2006 and those who cease to borrow in 2006 enterrepayment in April 2007, therefore the figures are unavailable at this time. However,the following table shows the figures for graduates and others…

21 Aug 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform has held any meetings with West Lothian Labour councillors about the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland's final recommendations submitted on 8 June 2006.

Answer · Tom McCabe: I met the West Lothian CouncilLeader and officials on 14 August. I requested this meeting to better understandthe council’s proposals submitted during the six week period following publicationof the commission’s recommendations.

23 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from post-probation teachers regarding difficulties in obtaining permanent employment.

Answer · Peter Peacock: The Scottish Executive hasreceived 18 representations about 2005-06 probationers having difficulties inobtaining permanent employment. There are around 2,700 post-probationerteachers from this year’s Teacher Induction Scheme.

23 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received any representations from local education authorities in respect of any difficulties of placing probationer teachers in schools.

Answer · Robert Brown: No such representations havebeen received. The teacher induction scheme, which is administered jointly bythe Scottish Executive and the General Teaching Council for Scotland,only allocates probationers to local authorities in such numbers that they haveindica…

23 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of teachers have taken up a permanent post in the school where they completed their probation in each of the last three years.

Answer · Robert Brown: This information is not heldcentrally.

23 Jun 2006 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many additional full-time equivalent teachers have been recruited in each local education authority area in each of the last three years.

Answer · Robert Brown: Table 5.1 of the 2005 TeacherCensus shows the year-on-year changes in teacher numbers in each localauthority. These figures, expressed in terms of full-time equivalents, can beaccessed using the following hyperlink <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publicati…