Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for MSPs to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S1W-21385

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive what funding it has provided to ensure that welfare services were available to students at each (a) university and (b) further education college in each of the past five years and how much this funding was as a percentage of the overall funding of each institution in each year.

Question reference: S1W-21390

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether all university and further education college buildings provide access and egress for physically disabled people and whether it will detail any institution and campus building where this is not the case and the proposed date for rectifying the position in each case.

Question reference: S1W-21396

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time academic staff at each (i) university and (ii) further education college were designated as having a physical disability in each of the past five years, broken down by subject category and shown as a percentage of all academic employees in each category at each institution.

Question reference: S1W-21395

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time academic staff at each (i) university and (ii) further education college possessed a recognised teaching qualification in each of the past five years, broken down by subject category and shown as a percentage of all academic employees in each category at each institution.

The information in respect of academic staff at further education colleges is only available for the academic year 1999-2000, when 4,036 full-time and 3,617 part-time staff possessed a recognised teaching qualification. These figures represent 58% of all academic staff in colleges. A breakdown of these figures on a per college and subject category basis is not held centrally.Information on full-time and part-time academic staff in universities with recognised teaching qualifications is not collected.

Question reference: S1W-21401

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students from each (a) university and (b) further education college found employment within an industry directly associated with their specific area of study upon graduation in each of the past five years, broken down by course classification type and shown as a percentage of the total student population studying in each subject category.

The information requested is not available in respect of further education students.Information on First Destinations of Graduates and Diplomates in Scotland is published annually by the Scottish Executive under National Statistics, the most recent data was produced in December 2001. This provides information on graduates going into employment, by industry and type of employer.Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. No. 18155)The more detailed information requested could only be produced at disproportionate cost.

Question reference: S1W-21387

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time students who have undertaken a course of study at each (a) university and (b) further education college have been direct entrants from the state school sector in each of the past five years, broken down by course classification type and shown as a percentage of first year students at that institution in that year.

This information is not held centrally in the format requested, and is not available for further education colleges.Information on entrants to higher education institutions from state schools can be found in the Performance Indicators on Higher Education in the UK, published by the Higher Education Funding Councils in December 2001.Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. No. 18498) or on the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council's website at:www.shefc.ac.uk/content/library/press/2001/prhe2701.htm

Question reference: S1W-21391

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive whether every lecture hall in each university and further education college building has a loop system to assist students with hearing difficulties and whether it will detail any institution and lecture hall where this is not the case and the proposed date for rectififying the situation in each case.

Question reference: S1W-21389

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time students at each (i) university and (ii) further education college failed to complete their course of study in each of the past five years, broken down by course classification type and shown as a percentage of the overall student population at each institution and on each course.

This information is not held centrally in the format requested, and is not available for further education colleges.Information on course completion in higher education institutions can be found in the Performance Indicators on Higher Education in the UK, published by the Higher Education Funding Councils in December 2001.Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. No. 18498) or on the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council's website at:www.shefc.ac.uk/content/library/press/2001/prhe2701.htm

Question reference: S1W-21400

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many full-time students at each (a) university and (b) further education college were over (i) thirty, (ii) forty, (iii) fifty and (iv) sixty years of age in each of the past five years, broken down by student population at each institution in each year.

Information on student numbers by institution and by age in further and higher education over the last five years can be found in the Standard Tables on Higher Education and Further Education in Scotland, published by the Scottish Executive under National Statistics in June 2001.Copies are available in the Parliament's Reference Centre (Bib. No. 18496) or on the Scottish Executive website at: www.scotland.gov.uk/stats/bulletins/00086-00.asp

Question reference: S1W-21399

Asked by: Andrew Wilson, MSP for Central Scotland, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Friday, 21 December 2001
Current Status: Answered by Wendy Alexander on 18 January 2002

To ask the Scottish Executive how many students accepted for full time (a) diplomate, (b) undergraduate and (c) postgraduate study at each (i) university and (ii) further education college applied for full financial support from the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) in each of the past five years and how many received this, broken down by academic category and shown as a percentage of the overall number of applicants in each category.

The information cannot be provided in the format requested.As well as means-tested loans and bursaries, the full financial support to which a full-time higher education student is entitled may include supplementary grants, such as Disabled Students' Allowance, Lone Parent's Grant and travel grants. The Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) cannot know whether any particular applicant has applied for all the supplementary support to which they may be entitled. In addition, some students may only apply for tuition fee support and the minimum student loan and therefore are not required to provide any income details. In these cases, the agency in unable to judge whether or not the loan applied for is the maximum to which the student is entitled. Data on the number of applicants in each category and for each year, who applied for the maximum value of general living cost support to which they were entitled, on the basis of details provided and income declared on their application forms, could only be obtained at a disproportionate cost.Information on student awards issued, by place of study and level of course, is available in the SAAS Annual Report, a copy of which is available in the Parliament's Reference Centre and on the agency's website (www.saas.gov.uk).