Chamber and committees

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.

Scottish Prison Service

 Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whetherthe contract for Addiewell Prison has been signed with the private consortium involvedand, if not, on what date it is due to be signed and what the cost of the prisonwill be to the public purse over the lifetime of the contract.

(S2O-11192)

Cathy Jamieson: The contract for Addiewell Prison was signed by the Chief Executive ofScottish Prison Service on 20 June. The contract value is estimated to equate toaround £369 million in total, which is £15 million per annum in net presentvalue terms over the 25-year life of the contract.

The Disability DiscriminationAct (DDA) 2005 is Westminster legislation. One of the principal provisions of the DDA2005 introduces a duty on the public sector to promote equality for disabled people;due to come into force on 4 December 2006.

To support the introduction of the public sector duty the Executive wrote to all Scottish public bodies subjectto the specific duties in December 2005 to inform them of their new legal obligationsunder the Disability Discrimination (Public Authorities) (Statutory Duties) (Scotland)Regulations 2005.

We are also supporting the DisabilityRights Commission’s (DRC) programme of conferences to raise awareness and supportpublic authorities in responding to the disability equality duty. To mark the introductionof the duty, I will be speaking at the DRC Scotland launch event on 4 December 2006.

The Executive is committed tocontinuing to work with the DRC, disabled people and public authorities in Scotland to encourageand support the implementation of the disability equality duty. As part of thiswe plan to establish a Public Sector Equality Forum and will use this as a routeto promote shared or joint approaches by public authorities.

Enforcement of the DisabilityDiscrimination Act (DDA) 2005 is a matter for the courts and the Disability RightsCommission (DRC). The Scottish Executive therefore has no plans to issue guidanceto local authorities about action against service providers who do not comply withthe DDA 2005.

However, the Executive is committedto continuing to work with the DRC, disabled people and public authorities in Scotland to encourageand support the implementation of the disability equality duty, introduced by theDDA 2005. As part of this we plan to establish a Public Sector Equality Forum andwill use this as a route to promote shared or joint approaches by public authorities.

This information is notcurrently available as those who graduate in 2006 and those who cease to borrowin 2006 do not enter repayment until April 2007.

Percentage of graduates gaining permanent employment in Scotland as theirfirst destination in relation to the total number of graduates that gain permanentemployment in the UK or overseas: 1999-2000to 2004-05

Year	Percentage Gaining Permanent Employment in Scotland
1999-2000	75
2000-01	76
2001-02	77
2002-03	80
2003-04	79
2004-05	80

Sources: Higher Education StatisticsAgency (HESA) and Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

The data above includes thosegraduating at sub degree, degree or postgraduate level in the given academic year.

Data on first employment destinationof graduates is collected by means of a voluntary survey of UK and EU domiciledgraduates around six months after graduation. Between 72% and 76% of full time graduatesresponded to the survey in the time period specified.

Scotland already has high levels of graduate retention and thesehave been increasing in recent years.

The most recent data on graduatedestinations from Scottish higher education institutions and colleges show that80 per cent of graduates going into permanent employment following graduation in2004-05 gained employment in Scotland. This compares to 75 per cent for 1999-00 graduates.The same data show that 91 per cent of the Scots-domiciled 2003-04 graduates inpermanent employment were employed in Scotland. This compares to 82 per cent in 1999-2000.

These figures demonstrate thatthere is already significant demand for graduates within the Scottish labour marketand that graduates from our institutions are successfully gaining employment inScotland.

The following table shows the mean, mode and median student loan debt for Scottish borrowers who entered repayment in 2006 and who were borrowers for at least (i) three and (ii) four years:

 

Student Loan Debt for Scottish Domiciled Borrowers, as at 31 March 2006

	(i) Borrowers (3 or More Loans)	(ii) Borrowers (4 or More Loans)
Mode	£3,228	£3,228
Median	£9,713	£10,302
Mean	£9,907	£10,687

Source: Student LoansCompany

 

It should be noted that debtis calculated at the point of entering repayment (i.e. 31 March 2006)rather than at the point of graduation. Therefore, the majority of customerswho have ceased to be students in 2006 will not enter repayment until 2007 andwe cannot provide figures for these students as yet.

Although the Healthlink servicebus link runs two daily trips between West Lothian and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh,passengers must pre-book before travelling or the service will not run. It is notan eligible service under the terms of the Scotland-wide free bus travel schemefor older and disabled people and we have no plans to include non-registered servicesin the scheme.

While concessionary cardholdersare therefore not entitled to free travel on the service, they are eligible fora reduced return fare, which is currently £2.

It is not possible to providean answer as those who graduate in 2006 and those who cease to borrow in 2006 enterrepayment in April 2007, therefore the figures are unavailable at this time. However,the following table shows the figures for graduates and others who entered repaymentin April. 2006.

	Product	Customer Count	Total Debt	Average Debt
All Borrowers	Income Contingent Loan	38,797	228,541,774.65	5,890.71