- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 1 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many teachers have either received training in Enterprise in Education or received business placements in each year since 2002-03.
Answer
Since 2002-03, over 11,000 teachershave participated in training delivered under the Schools Enterprise Programme orvia our Excellence in Education through Business Links initiative. Under Determinedto Succeed (DtS), we are continuing to develop our learning and development strategy:over 90 Head Teachers have completed leadership training at Columba 1400, and weare drawing up plans to make similar learning available to enterprise coordinatorsat local authority level. Meanwhile, eachof our 32 local authorities have agreed DtS delivery plans that make clear how theyplan to provide CPD opportunities in enterprise to their teaching staff.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Monday, 07 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 1 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many partnerships between local businesses and schools have been set up in each year since 2002-03, giving also the average per school cluster.
Answer
Partnerships between schoolsand businesses - in both the public and private sectors - come in a variety offorms; what is important is that both parties are clear on what they can bringto the relationship, and that they remain committed to it.
Through Determined toSucceed, we are helping local authorities and their schools to continue toincrease the number of school/business partnerships against the background ofour target of 2,000 partnerships by 2006. We shall report next year on oursuccess in meeting that target.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 1 March 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many court actions were raised against graduates to recover student loans sold to banks in (a) 1997-98 and (b) 1998-99, expressed also as a percentage of the number of loans sold.
Answer
There were two sales of student loan debt to the private sector: the first in 1998 and the second in 1999.
The following table shows the number of court actions raised against account holders UK wide to recover student loans sold to each debt owner. No breakdown of figures for Scotland is available.
Not all account holders will necessarily be graduates.
| Debt Owner | Court Actions Raised Against Account Holders | Approx no. of Loans Sold to Debt Owner | Percentage of Court Actions Raised to The Number of Loans Sold |
| 1 | 9,942 | 500,000 | 2.0% |
| 2 | 1,147 | 500,000 | 0.2% |
Source: Student Loans Company.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many student loan borrowers have been declared bankrupt in each year since student loans were introduced.
Answer
The number of Scottish student loan borrowers who have been declared bankrupt to 2003 is given in the answer to question S2W-6052 answered on 2 March 2004.All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at
http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/search_wa.The number declaring bankruptcy in 2004 is 1,541.
There is no statutory requirement for bankrupt students to notify the Student Loans Company of their status, so the figures given will not include all bankruptcies.
The following is a corrected answer (published on 25 October 2005); see below.
Nicol Stephen: The number of Scottish student loan borrowers who have been declared bankrupt to 2003 is given in the answer to question S2W-6052 answered on 2 March 2004. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.
The number declaring bankruptcy in 2004 is 289.
There is no statutory requirement for bankrupt students to notify the Student Loans Company of their status, so the figures given will not include all bankruptcies.
This is a correction to the earlier answer to this parliamentary question given by Jim Wallace MSP on 28 February 2005. I have written to Ms Hyslop to say that the Student Loans Company have apologised for their mistake and that they have asked for their apologies to be passed onto Parliament. My letter has been lodged in the Parliament’s Reference Centre under bib number 37248.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many student loan debts have been written off and what the total cash value was of the deleted debt in each year since the system was introduced.
Answer
The Student Loans Company estimates that the total number of student loan debts, held by Scottish account holders, that have been written off since the student loans scheme began is approximately £1.5 million relating to approximately 770 loans. It is not possible to provide an annual breakdown of this figure.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 28 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive how many Scottish graduates have been advised that they face court proceedings to recover outstanding student loans in each year since the system was introduced.
Answer
Information on Scottish graduates who have been advised that they face court proceedings to recover outstanding student loans is not held centrally.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether student loans are a disincentive to potential students from ethnic minority backgrounds to enter higher education.
Answer
Student loans have been an integral part of an affordable student funding system since 1990. The most recent information from the Higher Education Statistics Agency and the Scottish Further Education Council, gives details over the five year period from 1998-99 until 2002-03. This shows that the number of students from ethnic minority backgrounds who have entered higher education in this period has increased and continues to exceed the proportion of the general population who are from an ethnic minority background.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contract awarded to the Student Loans Company Ltd (SLC) to administer the debt portfolio on behalf of private owners was continued at the end of its initial period; whether there were any variations to this contract, and, if so, what those variations are.
Answer
The first debt sale was concluded in March 1998 being sold to Greenwich Natwest (GNW), a division of National Westminster, now Royal Bank of Scotland (RBoS). SLC were appointed to undertake the day-to-day administration. The original contract was for five years from March 1998 and SLC successfully negotiated renewal for a further five years administration period commencing March 2003. There are no variations in the contract.
The second portfolio was concluded in March 1999 and the purchaser was a consortium comprising Deutsche Bank, AG London and Nationwide Building Society. SLC were awarded a five year contract to administer the portfolio. The original contract expired in March 2004 and the debt owners took the decision to award the contract for administration to another agency. The key terms and conditions of the loan are all protected.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to publish the findings of its research into student poverty and graduate debt.
Answer
The Scottish Executive intend to publish the findings from the Scottish Student Income and Expenditure Survey in summer 2005.
- Asked by: Fiona Hyslop, MSP for Lothians, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Wednesday, 02 February 2005
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 25 February 2005
To ask the Scottish Executive what effect the graduate endowment is predicted to have on the repayment of student loans.
Answer
The amount of student loan that a graduate repays each month and the period of time over which repayments are made are linked to the level of the borrower’s income and the amount borrowed. Under the support arrangements introduced in 2001-02, many students who will be liable to pay the endowment when they graduate will have been eligible to receive the Young Students Bursary in place of part of their loan entitlement. Most liable graduates will have borrowed less under the current arrangements than they would have under the previous system. No student should have borrowed more.
