- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 26 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive how much each further and higher educational institution (a) received from it in grants and (b) allocated to student welfare services, giving (i) the actual sum and (ii) the allocation as a percentage of total grant monies received by each institution, all in each of the last three years.
Answer
I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-21385 and S1W-21393 on 18 January 2002.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review the autonomous position of further and higher education institutions, detailing the reasons for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has no current plans to review the autonomous status of further and higher education institutions. Ministers have indicated that they do not wish to pre-empt the findings of the Inquiry into Lifelong Learning which is being conducted by the Enterprise and Lifelong Learning Committee of the Scottish Parliament.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive why it treats further and higher education institutions as autonomous bodies given that it funds them.
Answer
Further and higher education institutions are constituted as independent, autonomous bodies, and are consequently treated as such by the Scottish Executive. The Executive does not consider autonomy to be a barrier to public funding, which, for example, in the case of Edinburgh University accounts for only around 50% of income.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22280 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002, why it did not detail its reasons behind its decision not to centrally collate information on students failing to complete their courses and whether it will provide a full explanation of the reasons behind the use of a different process for collating such information for further education institutions.
Answer
I refer the member to the answers given to questions S1W-22975 and S1W-22976 on 11 March 2002.Information on student completion rates has been centrally collated and previously published in the Secretary of State for Scotland's Annual Reports, Further Education in Scotland 1997 and 1998. The Scottish Further Education Funding Council has not yet completed work on the development of a framework of new performance indicators for the further education sector, nor decided exactly how the data will be collated.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 12 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22274 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002, why it is appropriate that the decision on how funds should be disbursed to institutions is one for the Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Councils alone.
Answer
The Further and Higher Education (Scotland) Act 1992 provides that the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council shall be responsible for administering funds made available to it by the Scottish ministers and others for the purposes of providing financial support for activities eligible for funding. Ministers are expressly prevented by the act from framing conditions of grant by reference to particular institutions, programmes of study, selection of staff or admission and selection of students. The Executive is currently conducting a review of higher education during which individuals and organisations are at liberty to propose changes to these arrangements.The Scottish Further Education Funding Council (Establishment) (Scotland) Order 1998 delegates to that council the former Secretary of State function of making public funding available to further education colleges. As a result of these arrangements, ministers set broad policy priorities through the medium of guidance to the councils, but do not prescribe sums of money for individual institutions.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22282 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002, why it considers that it would serve no useful purpose to maintain details of which college and university lecture halls have loop systems and why there are no plans to do so.
Answer
The Scottish Executive does not require detailed information on which institutions' lecture halls have loop systems. The provision of such auxiliary aids and services is a matter for individual institutions in response to local demand.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22280 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002, what action it took to ensure that the Parliament was aware of the position in regard to the suspension of the collection of college student completion rates; whether all relevant correspondence in relation to this matter was placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre and, if so, on what date it was so placed, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
Parliament was made aware of the position in the Scottish Ministers' Annual Report, Further Education in Scotland 1999, which was laid before Parliament on 25 October 2000.The report contained the following footnote:Student Programme Achievement Ratio, Student Achievement Ratio by Unit of Learning and Post Course Success Ratio.Performance Indicators have not been included in the 1999 FE Annual Report as the data used is not adequately robust. The Scottish Further Education Funding Council is currently reviewing performance indicators which will assist future decisions of the Council and inform ministers.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22273 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002, what proposals it has to address the position whereby the Scottish Further and Higher Education Councils alone are responsible for the distribution of funds for welfare services, detailing the reasons for its position on this matter.
Answer
The answer given to question S1W-22273 did not ascribe sole responsibility for the distribution of funds for student welfare services to the funding councils. I refer the member to that answer and to the answer given to question S1W-21385 on 18 January 2002.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22280 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002, what the specific concerns were over the reliability of the source data which caused the suspension of the publication of information regarding college student completion rates; when it became aware of these concerns; on what date the suspension took effect, and on what date the new system will become operational.
Answer
In early 2000, the Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) considered that the information systems then in place did not provide the complexity of data required to produce robust and publishable completion rates.A footnote intimating the suspension of the data appeared in the Scottish ministers' Annual Report, Further Education in Scotland 1999, which was published on 25 October 2000; as follows:Student Programme Achievement Ratio, Student Achievement Ratio by Unit of Learning and Post Course Success Ratio.Performance Indicators have not been included in the 1999 Further Education Annual Report as the data used is not adequately robust. The Scottish Further Education Funding Council is currently reviewing performance indicators which will assist future decisions of the council and inform ministers.SFEFC plans to consult this year on a framework of new performance indicators for the further education sector, which it would intend to introduce next year.
- Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
-
Date lodged: Tuesday, 12 February 2002
-
Current Status:
Answered by Wendy Alexander on 11 March 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-22275 by Ms Wendy Alexander on 7 February 2002, why no advice or instruction has been provided to the Scottish Higher and Further Education Funding Councils regarding the funding of student welfare services.
Answer
I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-21385 on 18 January 2002.
