Parliamentary questions

Fiona Hyslop

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

14 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Student Loans Company Ltd part-time student loans were paid out to Scottish domiciled students in 2003-04.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: In 2003-04 the Student Loans Company paid out 626 part-time loans to Scottish domiciled students.

14 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many Student Loans Company Ltd hardship loans were paid out to Scottish domiciled students in 2003-04.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: In 2003-04 the Student Loans Company paid out 2,555 Hardship Loans to Scottish domiciled students.

14 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many of the 494,000 deferment application forms processed by the Student Loans Company Ltd in 2003-04 were from Scottish domiciled repayers.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Of the 494,000 deferment applications processed by the Student Loans Company in 2003-04, just under 70,000 were from Scottish domiciled repayers.

14 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the total pay-out to Scottish domiciled students from the Student Loans Company Ltd was in 2003-04 and how many students received these payments.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: In 2003-04 the total pay-out to Scottish domiciled students from the Student Loans Company Ltd was £223,332,000. The number of students who received payment was 123,445.

10 Nov 2005 · Written Question

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 be…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: 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 co…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

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 · Nicol Stephen: 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 estim…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has identified problems where clinicians have difficulty in communicating effectively and confidentially with deaf or hearing-impaired patients.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: Many individuals, including people with communication impairments, can require additional support in their dealings with health professionals. This was one of the reasons for establishing a strategic partnership between the Scottish Executive, the NHS and the…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has investigated, or intends to investigate, the possibility of using voice recognition technology in clinical environments.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive Health Department is aware of voice recognition technology in the clinical setting, but has no current plans to instigate work in this area. There are isolated incidences in Scotland of its use in practice where staff in local board are…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is currently funding any project or research into devices or procedures which would enable clinical staff to communicate effectively and in confidence with deaf or hearing-impaired patients.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: It is for each NHS board to decide how best to apportion the resources available to it so as to best meet the needs of the whole of the population within its area of responsibility. The Chief Scientist’s Office has confirmed that they are unaware of any resea…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what devices or procedures are routinely available to clinical staff to enable them to communicate effectively and in confidence with deaf or hearing-impaired patients.

Answer · Lewis Macdonald: It is for each NHS board to decide how best to apportion the resources available to it so as to best meet the needs of the whole of the population within its area of responsibility. Accordingly, information on the routine use of communications devices and pro…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to 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 (Official Report c. 2352), what the Student Awards Agency for Scotland's funding line in the budget would have been had i…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: If there had been no change to the discount rate, the reduction in 2005-06 of £28 million would not have arisen. The Student Awards Agency for Scotland’s funding line in 2005-06 would be increased by £28 million from £368,639,000 to £396,639,000.

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

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 Re…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: 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 Stude…

9 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide more information on the comments made by the Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sport to the Enterprise and Culture Committee on 1 November 2005 in relation to the separation of responsibilities for sports promotion and involvement between the Executive and local au…

Answer · Patricia Ferguson: The Executive is fully committed to playing its part in delivering the targets set out in Sport 21. We cannot do that alone and all partners involved including local authorities, who are by far the biggest provider of sporting opportunities in Scotland, must …

8 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what adjustments were made to the Scottish budget as a result of its agreement with HM Treasury, referred to in Funding the Scottish Parliament, National Assembly for Wales and the Northern Ireland Assembly, for each year of its operation and what policy decisions resulted in each adjustm…

Answer · Tom McCabe: The Scottish Executive’s spending plans are published following our internal Spending Review process. The plans for 2005-06 through 2007-08 were set out in Building a Better Scotland: Enterprise, Opportunity & Fairness, published in September 2004.…

8 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19044 by Nicol Stephen on 21 September 2005, whether it has seen provisional results from the Scottish survey on students’ income, expenditure and debt 2004-05 and whether it has requested a revision or revisions of the findings.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The survey was run on the same terms as any other Social Research study. It was commissioned by the Scottish Executive from independent researchers, who are experts in the field – they completed several similar studies for the Department for Education and Ski…

8 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19044 by Nicol Stephen on 21 September 2005, whether the Scottish survey on students’ income, expenditure and debt 2004-05 will be as detailed as the Student Income and Expenditure Survey conducted by Professor Claire Callender, referred to in the an…

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The Scottish survey of Student Income, Expenditure and Debt runs to 260 pages and contains over 100 tables.

8 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19044 by Nicol Stephen on 21 September 2005, whether the Scottish survey on students’ income, expenditure and debt 2004-05 is the survey that was recommended by the Cubie Committee.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Yes, the survey is the study recommended by the Cubie Committee.

8 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19044 by Nicol Stephen on 21 September 2005, whether the Scottish survey on students’ income, expenditure and debt 2004-05 is the survey referred to in the answers to questions S1W-24495, S1W-32687, S1W-32699, S1W-34551, S2W-1571, S2W-8886, S2W-8890 …

Answer · Nicol Stephen: Yes, the Scottish survey on students income, expenditure and debt 2004-05 is the survey referred to in the above parliamentary questions.

8 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-19044 by Nicol Stephen on 21 September 2005, whether the Scottish survey on students’ income, expenditure and debt 2004-05, due for publication in November 2005, will include an analysis of graduate debt caused by student loans.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The survey due to be published in November contains data showing the amount of outstanding student loan debt in the context of overall student borrowings.

8 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the costs to it are of monies loaned by the Student Loans Company.

Answer · Nicol Stephen: The DEL cost of student loans issued by the Student Loans Company is currently 31p for every £1 of loan issued. There is also a DEL cost of the unwinding of the write-off and debt sale subsidy provisions. This unwinding cost is not a static annual amou…

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14023 by Mr Jim Wallace on 25 February 2005, whether there were any variations to the contract for the administration of the student loan debt portfolio after the contract with the Student Loans Company expired in March 2004 and was awarded to anothe…

Answer · Allan Wilson: This information is not held by the Scottish Executive.

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many student loan debts for Scottish-domiciled borrowers have been written off and what the total cash value was of the deleted debt in each year of operation of the Student Loans Company.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The information is given in the following table <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td>  </td> <td colspan="2"> Scotland</td> </tr> <tr> <td> Academic Year</td> …

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many deferral applications from Scottish-domiciled students and graduates the Student Loans Company has received in each year of its operation, stating what percentage this represents of all Scottish-domiciled students and graduates due to be in repayment that year.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The information is given in the following table. <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3 width=551> <thead> <tr> <td rowspan="2"> 1. Date of Entry to Repayment (1st April)  </td> <td rowspan="2"> <p al…

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much it expects to pay in total in subsidies for student loans sold to banks in 1998 and 1999.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The subsidies are determined by a formula using daily closing portfolio value multiplied by a subsidy rate. This rate comprises three elements - the margin which is fixed for the life of the contract; the RPI interest rate which changes annually, and the one-…

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many student loan debts have been written off and what the total cash value is of the deleted debt.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The information is given in the following table. <table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=3> <thead> <tr> <td>  </td> <td colspan="2"> All UK</td> </tr> <tr> <td> Academic Year</td> …

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-14031 by Nicol Stephen on 25 October 2005, whether the Student Loans Company is a creditor for the purposes of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 and, if so, whether a bankrupt student loan borrower would be required to notify the Student Loans Compa…

Answer · Allan Wilson: The Student Loans Company should be considered as a creditor and the debtor would list the Student Loans Company as such so that the Student Loans Company can be notified.

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what its estimate was of the average time it would take for graduates to repay their student loans and how this compares to the actual time taken in each year since the student loans system was introduced.

Answer · Allan Wilson: For a 2005 graduate commencing repayment in 2006 the forecast average length of time to repay their student loan is approximately 13 years. It is not possible to provide details on the actual time taken for graduates to repay their student loans in each year …

7 Nov 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is responsible for paying to purchasing banks the outstanding value of student loans of borrowers whose loans were sold by HM Treasury in 1998 and 1999 and who subsequently satisfied one or more of the conditions for having their student loan written off.

Answer · Allan Wilson: The Scottish Executive is responsible for paying the purchasing banks the actual costs in respect of Scottish borrowers whose loans were sold.

28 Oct 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what recourse is available to parents who consider that the school estate statutory consultation process has not been conducted properly.

Answer · Peter Peacock: Where an authority proposesa specific change to school provision of a type for which statutoryconsultation is required, it is the authority’s responsibility to conduct theconsultation in accordance with the statutory requirements.I indicated in evidenc…

13 Oct 2005 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is acceptable for the office of the Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland not to respond to my letters of 9 June and 16 August 2005 on behalf of a constituent.

Answer · Rhona Brankin: No. My officials have been intouch with the former commissioner and I understand that there was a breakdown incommunication at his office with the series of correspondence to which you refer.His office accepts full responsibility for the breakdown and he has …