- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Tom McCabe on 30 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of the financial provision that will be needed in future years to support a growth in the elderly population and increases in the numbers of children identified as being in need of support.
Answer
We are considering the futurefinancial provision required, taking into account demographic trends, as we preparefor the next spending review. For example, Malcolm Chisholm is leading the developmentof a Strategy for Scotland with an Ageing Population.
Decisions on funding for theperiod 2008-09 to 2010-11 will be decided in the 2007 spending review.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 22 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Ross Finnie on 30 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of any testing of daily herds in Scotland to establish if there is a link between dairy produce and Crohn’s disease.
Answer
The cause of Crohn’s diseaseis not known and there is no proven link between dairy produce and Crohn’s disease.
It has been suggested that Crohn’sdisease might be caused by Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis (MAP), abacterium that causes Johne’s disease in cattle and that has been found in milk.Published evidence in this field has been considered at both UK and EU levels inrecent years and the evidence remains inconclusive for or against a link betweenMAP and Crohn’s disease.
From an animal health and welfareperspective Johne’s disease is important. The Scottish Animal Health and WelfareStrategy Advisory Group has identified Johne’s disease in dairy cattle as an industrypriority. Given the implications of this disease for animal health and welfare aJohne’s disease prevalence study is currently being undertaken on behalf of the Executive and other UK Rural Affairs Departments. This survey is a first step towardsreducing the prevalence of Johne’s disease in dairy cattle.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive how many higher education students have graduated in each year since 1999.
Answer
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 HigherEducation Courses in Scotland:
1999-2000 to 2004-05
| Year | Total Number of Graduates |
| 1999-2000 | 68,385 |
| 2000-01 | 65,065 |
| 2001-02 | 63,430 |
| 2002-03 | 63,670 |
| 2003-04 | 65,720 |
| 2004-05 | 69,885 |
Sources: Higher EducationStatistics Agency (HESA) and Scottish Funding Council (SFC).
Note:
1. Numbers have been roundedto the nearest five to protect confidentiality.
2. Numbers include highereducation students graduating from Scottish Higher Education Institutions or Scottish Further Education Colleges.
The data above includesthose graduating at sub degree, degree or postgraduate level in the givenacademic year. During the reporting period measures were taken to improve thequality of the information received from institutions. This particularly affectsthe years prior to 2002-03 and may have influenced the year on year changesshown, especially in the early part of the reporting period.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
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
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 the estimated costs of around £150 million to replace loans with grants and around £1.6billion to write off anticipated student loan liabilities. The total is net ofprovision of £81 million, which is currently made in the Scottish Executive budgetto cover various costs of operating student loans, which would no longer berequired.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
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 proposal to replace the student loans system with a maintenance grant would incur a £150 million cost to “transfer loans into grants and write off the historic debt” (Official Report, c. 27527).
Answer
I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-28470 on 28 November 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will expand on the statement by the Deputy Minister for Enterprise and Lifelong Learning on 14 September 2006 that “The SNP might save £80 million in write-off subsidy” (Official Report, c. 27527).
Answer
I refer the member to the answerto question S2W-28470 on 28 November 2006. All answers to written parliamentaryquestions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility forwhich can be found at:
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Tuesday, 19 September 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
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
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 available on the Parliament’s website, the search facilityfor which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28476 by Nicol Stephen on 6 October 2006, how many student loan borrowers domiciled in Scotland and now in repayment status had their payments outweighed by the charges shown as interest on their statements in cash terms in each of the last five years.
Answer
The number of student loan borrowerswho had ICR full-time loans that entered repayment in April 2004 who had their repaymentsoutweighed by interest in each financial year is:
2003-04 is 15,981
2004-05 is 36,312.
Due to the nature of the repaymentunder the Income Contingent System it is not possible to provide this informationprior to 2003-04.
Interest is only charged at therate of inflation, therefore, any repayment made, no matter how small, would alwaysresult in a borrower owing less in real terms.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive when it will provide substantive answers to questions S2W-28479, S2W-28478, S2W-28471, S2W-28470 and S2W-28465 which were lodged on 19 September 2006.
Answer
These were answered on 28 November 2006.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 09 November 2006
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Current Status:
Answered by Nicol Stephen on 28 November 2006
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-28467 by Nicol Stephen on 18 October 2006, what percentage of Scots-domiciled graduates the figures contained in the answer represent in each case.
Answer
The figures are: Scottishdomiciled graduates from full-time courses from Scottish higher educationinstitutions (HEIs) and colleges that found permanent employment in Scotland asa percentage of all graduates from full-time courses from Scottish HEIs andcolleges that found permanent employment in Scotland – 92% in 2004-05 and95% in 1999-2000. The other figures given in my previous answer are already forScottish domiciled graduates. A full range of statistics on graduates and theirdestinations is published at
www.scotland.gov.uk/llstatistics.
