Chamber and committees

Tuition fees have been abolished for all eligible Scottish domiciled and EU students undertaking a full-time course of higher education in Scotland. These arrangements were introduced in academic year 2000-01.The Graduate Endowment scheme was introduced as part of the new student support arrangements from academic year 2001-02. Under this scheme, graduates will make a payment in recognition of the higher education benefits they received while they were students. These benefits include the financial support paid to the student towards his/her living costs and the public funding paid by the Executive to higher education institutions. The Graduate Endowment arrangements are distinct from the free tuition which has been available to eligible students in Scotland since academic year 2000-01. Unlike tuition fees, the endowment does not involve any payment during the course in exchange for access to provision and is set at a flat rate for all liable graduates regardless of the duration of their course of study. If the Graduate Endowment had simply replaced tuition fees, all students eligible for free tuition would also be liable for the Endowment. Around 50% of students will, in fact, be exempt from liability.

All learning providers included in the validation exercise have been assessed. The validation exercise has identified a number of irregularities and in some cases further investigations are continuing. It is not possible to say how many fraudulent claims there were: it is a matter for the Procurator Fiscal Service to decide whether there is sufficient evidence for criminal proceedings and it is for the court to decide if there is sufficient evidence to convict. No claims have been referred yet to the Procurators Fiscal.

The Scottish Executive has not defined what constitutes "fraudulent activity". It is a matter for the Procurator Fiscal Service to decide whether there is sufficient evidence for criminal proceedings and it is for the court to decide if there is sufficient evidence to convict.

It is expected that the validation of claims still under consideration should be completed by early September. However, cases where the validation has identified irregularities may require further investigation.

Rail safety and security are reserved matters. The Scottish Executive has no direct locus to intervene. However, the rail industry in Scotland has invited Scottish Ministers to show support by launching a number of campaigns, including the Railway Crime Week (17-23 June), in an effort to raise public awareness of railway crime. The Executive will respond positively to similar approaches from the industry in the future. Funding for these campaigns and for the British Transport Police is provided by the UK rail industry.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-27056. Our youth crime policy distributes funding to local authorities which are responsible for its allocation to appropriate youth justice initiatives. Rail crime campaigns are funded and implemented by the rail industry and the British Transport Police.

The Statement of Practice published in 2000 by the Cabinet Office provides guidance on staff transfers and advises that broadly comparable pensions should be provided when organisations contract out public services. Staff transfers are covered by the TUPE Regulations and are a matter of law. After careful examination of the Statement of Practice, the Scottish Executive concluded that the circumstances of the trunk road maintenance contracts fell outwith the document. The Scottish Executive was not the employer of the public sector workers involved, nor did the Scottish Executive or its predecessors ever employ them.Investigations are on-going into whether there might be other ways to provide compensation for the loss of future pension rights for the transferred staff affected. This is a complex area and there is no guarantee of a favourable outcome.

Compensation is available under the relevant statutes for qualifying interests in respect of loss of land, depreciation in the value of property and noise insulation. Discussions with affected parties can only commence once a preferred line for a road scheme has been determined.

There are no plans to reconsider the Kelvin Valley route for any upgrading of the A80 due to the serious detrimental environmental impacts.

The appeals procedure is set out in Schedule 1 to the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and the First Schedule to the Acquisition of Land (Authorisation Procedure) (Scotland) Act 1947. These cover the publication of draft compulsory purchase and line orders, the statutory periods for comment and objection, and the criteria applicable to the holding of a Public Local Inquiry.