Jeremy Purvis

26 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether ministers have the ability to vary the rate of interest payable on student loans in Scotland and, if so, what the mechanism is to do so.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Historically, the advice from the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), previously the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), has been that the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have the ability…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what the legislative basis is for the current rate of interest applied to student loans in Scotland.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Historically, the advice from the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS), previously the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), has been that the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have the ability…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it had with the NUS and other student representative groups (a) before and (b) after the announcement of changes to means-testing for student support on 15 February 2008.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Before the announcement of the changes to means-testing for student support on 15 February 2008, the Scottish Government was in regular contact with a wide range of student stakeholders, including NUS, further education bursary officers, the Scottish Funding …

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much additional money it will allocate to the fees, grants and bursaries budget line in table 22.04 of the draft budget for 2008-09 for (a) extending the dependants’ grant to allow students who have a partner on a low income to claim extra support, (b) extending eligibility for the yo…

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: No additional money will be allocated to the fees, grants and bursaries budget line in table 22.14 of the draft budget for 2008-09.</p> <p >We will work with the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to monitor spending throughout the year. Any savings in the f…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its Student funding revamp press release of 15 February 2008, whether a student in Scotland who has two unmarried parents, each with an unmarried partner, will have the income of both parents and both partners assessed and how many students it estimates will be affected by suc…

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: From 2008-09, dependant Scottish students in higher education will be assessed for student support using the household income. Students in further education are already assessed for student support using this system.</p> <p >The household income will be made…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students in Scotland who are assessed as coming from a single parent family, but have a parent who lives with a partner, it expects will see a reduction in the grant or bursary or student support available to them as a result of changes to means-testing announced on 15 February 2…

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Under the previous Scottish Executive, information on partners and their income was not recorded. The Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) does not ask for details of partner's income because partners are currently not recognised in the income assessment…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students in Scotland are assessed as coming from a single parent family but have a parent who lives with a partner.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Information on how many students in Scotland who are assessed as coming from a single parent family, but have a parent who lives with a partner, is not held centrally.</p> <p >Information on partners will be recorded from 2008-09 where required by the change…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much money it expects to save from the changes to means-testing of student support announced on 15 February 2008 and how it will allocate this money.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: We will work closely with the Student Awards Agency for Scotland to monitor spending throughout the year. Any savings in the first year will be reallocated to the discretionary funds to aid those students who may have their student support reduced as a result…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will guarantee that no existing student will see a reduction in the grant or bursary that they receive due to the changes to the means-testing system announced on 15 February 2008.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: We believe that students are being wrongly assessed under the current means test arrangements. In recognising household income from 2008-09, the revised means test will ensure that all students are now assessed for student support on an equal basis.</p> <p >…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of students who will benefit from the extension of the dependants’ grant to students who have a partner on a low income.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Under the previous Scottish Executive, information on partners and their income was not recorded. The Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) does not ask for details of partner''s income because they are currently not recognised in the income assessment fo…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students under the age of 25 have a dependent child or children over three years old.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The information requested is not held centrally.</p>

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students under the age of 25 are married or have a partner and have a dependent child or children.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The information requested is not held centrally. However in 2006-07 of the students aged under 25 who were supported by the Student Awards Agency 450 were married.</p> <p >Information on partners will be recorded from 2008-09 where required by the change in …

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate it has made of the number of students who will see a reduction in the grant or bursary or student support that they currently receive due to changes to the means-testing arrangements announced on 15 February 2008.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Under the previous Scottish Executive, this information was not recorded. The Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) did not ask for details of partner's income because this factor is currently not recognised in the income assessment for living cost suppor…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive, further to its Student funding revamp press release of 15 February 2008, what additional resources it will make available to fund its proposals.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: No additional resources are required to fund these proposals.</p>

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish all papers considered and produced by the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities in addition to the notes of its meetings and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: All papers considered and produced by the taskforce at its first two meetings are available on the Scottish Government's website here:</p> <p ><a href="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/UniversitiesColleges/16640/hetaskforce">http://www.scotland.go…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive why no representatives of either the Association of Scottish Colleges or the National Union of Students are members of the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: I have deliberately restricted membership of the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities to create space where we can have a challenging dialogue between the government and university principals and to ensure that, arising from this, we produce tangib…

22 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what involvement the National Union of Students has had with the Joint Future Thinking Taskforce on Universities.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The National Union of Students (NUS) have not been involved in the taskforce. I expect to discuss the work of the taskforce with NUS Scotland at the next FHE roundtable in March and am also holding a summit with student representatives from across Scotland in…

19 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what estimate can be made of the overall cost of making Scottish and English national pensioners’ bus passes interchangeable and what proportion of this cost could be expected to arise from the use of (a) Scottish bus passes in England and (b) English bus passes in Scotland.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: No such research has been undertaken to date.</p>

8 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what provisions it will make to enable free cross-border travel for pensioners travelling to Borders General Hospital.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: We have no current plans to make such provision.</p>

8 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what provisions it will make to enable free cross-border travel for pensioners.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: We have no current plans to extend the Scotland-wide Free Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People which already provides free bus travel for eligible Scottish residents to and from Berwick-upon-Tweed and Carlisle.</p>

8 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to make arrangements to allow cross-border use of free bus travel passes for pensioners.

Answer · Stewart Stevenson: We have no current plans to extend the Scotland-wide Free Bus Travel Scheme for Older and Disabled People which already provides free bus travel for eligible Scottish residents to and from Berwick-upon-Tweed and Carlisle.</p>

8 Feb 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how much of the proposed £9 million funding from 2008-09 to 2010-11 will be available to Scottish Borders Council for providing courses on English as a foreign language.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: Discussions on the allocation of the £9 million for English for Speakers of Other Languages are currently underway with key stakeholders. A decision is expected shortly.</p>

30 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish borders will continue to benefit from the relocation policy.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s relocationpolicy was launched on 28 January in conjunction with the report on the review ofasset management. The relocation policy can be accessed at <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/govt-locations/location-policy/asset-manag…

30 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Small Unit Relocation policy will continue.

Answer · John Swinney: The Scottish Government’s relocationpolicy was launched on 28 January in conjunction with the report on the review ofasset management. The relocation policy can be accessed at <ahref="http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/govt-locations/location-policy/asset-manag…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will maintain the position of the previous administration that ID cards will not be required to access devolved services.

Answer · John Swinney: Scottish interests in relationto devolved services are protected by section 43 of the Identity Cards Act 2006which specifies that the National Identity Register or an identity card issued underthe act can only be used in relation to matters which are reserved…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations the Student Awards Agency for Scotland has made to the UK Government on the operation of the UK ID card scheme in relation to students applying for student loans and bank accounts.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Student AwardsAgency for Scotland has made no representations to the UK Governmenton the operation of the UK ID card scheme in relation to students applying forstudent loans.</p><p>Personal details requiredto allow students to open bank accounts are a mat…

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the UK Government on the operation of the UK ID card scheme in relation to students applying for student loans and bank accounts.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: The Scottish Governmenthas made no representations to the UK Government on the operation of the UK ID cardscheme in relation to students applying for student loans. There are no plans forstudents domiciled in Scotland to require ID cards to apply for student …

24 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive whether students domiciled in Scotland will require ID cards to apply for student loans or bank accounts.

Answer · Fiona Hyslop: There are no plansfor students domicled in Scotland to require ID cards to apply for student loans.</p><p>Personal details requiredto allow students to open bank accounts are a matter for each individual bank.</p>

16 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive what improvements it is seeking in the scrutiny of the financial management of companies owning and operating care homes for elderly people.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act2001 and its associated regulations provide a robust regulatory framework withinwhich care homes must operate. This includes requirements in respect of the financialposition of care services.</p><p>We have no current plans…

16 Jan 2008 · Written Question

To ask the Scottish Executive how many care homes for elderly people have been reported to regulatory bodies for financial mismanagement since 1999.

Answer · Shona Robison: The Care Commission has a statutoryduty under the Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act 2001 to investigate any complaints against careservice providers.</p><p>Information relating to complaintsinvestigations, including the number of complaints that have been mad…