There are no current plansto carry out such research.

The total outstanding debtowed to the Student Loans Company Ltd by Scottish-domiciled borrowers up to andincluding financial year 2004-05 is £1,474,569,000.

Students taking a course ina subject allied to medicine were not included in the Higher and FurtherStudents’ Income, Expenditure and Debt in Scotland 2004-05 survey because thereare additional student support measures in place for these students as comparedto the majority of Higher Education Students support by the Students AwardsAgency for Scotland.

The survey aimed atcollecting comprehensive data on full-time students’ income, expenditure anddebt, and to identify any differences by students’ socio-economic andinstitutional characteristics. The focus of the survey is on the condition ofstudents receiving support under the mainstream arrangements that came intoplace in 2001.

Through integratedchildren’s services planning, it is for local agencies to determine theservices needed in their local area to make sure children get the help theyneed when they need it.

It is, therefore, for localauthorities to ensure they have sufficient foster and residential placesavailable for vulnerable children. To assist local authorities further, we areproviding an additional £12 million funding over two years to enable them to improverecruitment and retention of foster carers, and to increase placement choice.

The proposals in Gettingit Right for Every Child will improve services for all children, includingthose whose parents are misusing drugs or alcohol. This will be achieved throughintegrated assessments, a single electronic record and an agreed plan of actionto meet an individual’s needs. Where multi-agency inputs are required, a leadprofessional will be appointed to ensure that agreed actions are undertaken andthat progress is reviewed.

We have steadily increasedinvestment across the range of treatments in the last five years: £33.6 millionwill be allocated to NHS boards for drug and alcohol treatment services in 2006-07.The Executive’s Sure Start programmewill provide £57 million in 2006-07 to local authorities to enable them to workwith health services and other organisations to support our most vulnerablechildren and families. The Changing Children’s Services Fund will provide over£65 million in 2006-07 to support local authorities and their partners toimprove the quality and integration of services for children and young people,including those involved in or affected by substance misuse.

While every effort is madeto work within the family setting, the welfare of the child remains paramount. Thereare local procedures in place to assess whether or not removal would be in thebest interests of the child.

We are working with the UKSocrates Council to explore ways of increasing the number of students who studyabroad as part of their degree course. This includes organising an event thisautumn for the Scottish higher education sector, to highlight the benefits forstudents of taking part in exchange programmes and discussing how to overcomeobstacles to increasing participation.

The support available forstudents studying abroad on programmes such as Erasmus mirrors the supportavailable for all other students attending abroad on a compulsory basis. Thisincludes tuition fees, student loans, young students’ bursaries and supplementarygrants, as appropriate. The Executive has no plans to increase this support.

Network Rail are continuing todevelop a programme for the early delivery of the double tracking for diesel serviceseast of Bathgate and they have regular discussions with Transport Scotland overthis issue.

As indicated in my statementon 16 March we have reached agreement with Network Rail for the delivery of theearly works. The final details of the agreement are still being developed. Oncethese details are finalised we aim to sign an implementation agreement by the endof 2006.

Transport Scotland hasthe operational responsibility for this area, and can be contacted for more informationif required.

The recent Her Majesty’s Inspectorateof Education report, Improving Scottish Education, highlighted that leadershipis good or very good in over 80% of our schools. The Executive is determined tobuild on this successful performance to improve leadership in all schools and therebyincrease pupil attainment and achievement.

The Executive is undertakinga wide range of initiatives aimed at improving leadership in Scottish education.Some of the priority areas that we are addressing are:

Designing and developing flexibleapproaches to meeting the Standard for Headship;

Supporting the development ofleadership capacity at all levels of the education system;

Increasing the mentoring andcoaching capacity in Scottish education;

Establishing additional supportand development mechanisms for headteachers who are new in post;

Supporting local authoritiesin leadership succession planning, and

Accessing and sharing best practicefrom Scotland, the rest of the UK and international.