Chamber and committees

In Academic Year 1996-97 the Student Loans Company Limited paid out a total of 590,000 loans to students throughout the United Kingdom. This rose to 615,000 loans in Academic Year 1997-98 and 659,488 loans in Academic Year 1998-99.Statistics on the average time taken to deal with a loan application are not maintained but the Student Loans Company Limited is set targets by Ministers in relation to the payment of loans. This information is set out in the table below. Separate information is not held in respect of Scottish domiciled students.

Academic Year	Target	Performance
1996/97	To pay out 95% of loans within 21 days	99.7%
1997/98	To pay out 98% of loans within 21 days	99.3%
1998/99	To pay out 100% of "Mortgage" style loans within 21 days	90%
	To pay out 100% of "Income Contingent" loans within 14 days	93%

Notes1. In 1998-99 the "Income Contingent" loan scheme was introduced. Unlike the "Mortgage" style loan which is repaid in a fixed number of instalments, repayments of "Income Contingent" loans are made automatically through the Inland Revenue when income reaches a certain level and rise in line with income.2. The figure shown as the total number of loans paid out by the Student Loans Company Limited in Academic Year 1998-99 is provisional.

It is not possible to give precise figures on premature deaths resulting from tobacco use. However, it is estimated that each year more than 13,000 people in Scotland die from smoking-related diseases, including lung cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke. The information available on the other substances is given in the table.

Deaths aged under 65 from selected causes, Scotland, 1994 -1998
	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998
Alcohol related diseases 1	428	495	610	663	738
Drug-related deaths involving 2, 3
- cannabis	0	6	3	7	8
- amphetamines	3	3	5	5	7
- heroin (incl. morphine)	52	75	78	71	114
- ecstasy	4	3	7	2	3
- cocaine	2	3	3	4	4

Notes

1. The figures for alcohol related deaths cover deaths certified as due to the following causes (the relevant codes from the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, are given in brackets): alcoholic psychoses (ICD9 291), alcohol dependence syndrome (ICD9 303), non-dependent abuse of alcohol (ICD9 305.0), alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ICD9 425.5) and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis with a mention of alcohol (ICD9 571.0 - 571.3).
2. When a number of drugs are identified in a body it is not always possible to tell which of them made the major contribution to death. The information on drugs corresponds to the number of deaths where the substances were mentioned on the death certificate or were identified following investigation. This will lead to some double, or multiple, counting. For example, where heroin and cannabis were involved each will be counted in the table, once for heroin and once for cannabis.

The figures for heroin include morphine. It is believed that for the overwhelming majority of cases where morphine has been identified in post-mortem toxicological tests, its presence is a result of heroin use.

As is described in detail in the Technical Document which accompanied Social Justice: a Scotland Where Everyone Matters, published on 22 November, we recognise a number of definitions of income poverty, covering relative, absolute and persistent low income.In future annual Social Justice reports we intend to use indicators that show the proportions of children, working age people and older people living in households with less than 50, 60 and 70 per cent of median GB income and less than 50 and 60 per cent of mean GB income, both before (BHC) and after (AHC) deduction of housing costs. We also intend to track the proportions of children, working age people and older people which fall below these levels of income each year with the levels fixed at their 1997/98 values in real terms; and to develop similar indicators to track persistent low income, based on the recently boosted Scottish sample in the British Household Panel Survey.The table below gives figures for these indicators of relative poverty, drawn from the 1997-98 Households Below Average Income dataset using the Family Resources Survey. Because these figures are taken from a sample survey they are subject to sampling error; the figures in brackets may be less reliable than the others because of technical factors.

		% of Mean		% of Median
		50%	60%	50%	60%	70%
Children	Before housing costs	29%	40%	(14%)	28%	38%
	After housing costs	32%	41%	(21%)	30%	40%
Working-age people	Before housing costs	16%	24%	(8%)	15%	22%
	After housing costs	18%	25%	(12%)	17%	23%
Older people	Before housing costs	20%	38%	(11%)	19%	33%
	After housing costs	27%	40%	(10%)	25%	37%

The number of people convicted in Scottish courts between 1993 and 1997 for drug trafficking is set out in the table below. Information on the type of drug involved in drug trafficking offences is not collected centrally, although it is estimated that about half of the offences related to cannabis.

Year	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997
Number convicted1	902	1,037	1,177	1,540	1,614

1. Drug trafficking has been taken to mean those persons with a main charge proved for offences involving illegal importation, production, manufacture, cultivation or the supply or possession with intent to supply of drugs.

There are more than 170 call centres in Scotland. Latest figures show there are currently around 28,500 jobs in these call centres. Information on earnings, and on union representation in call centres is not collected centrally.

The annual reports of the Commissioner appointed under the Interception of Communications Act 1985 list the number of interception warrants issued in Scotland in the course of each year. In 1997 256 warrants were issued. In 1998 the number was 268. During the period 1 January to 30 June this year 162 warrants were issued.

This is a matter for North Ayrshire Council.

Where council houses transfer into community ownership, local authorities will be able to concentrate on their strategic role. This means taking a comprehensive view of housing requirements in their area and developing a local housing strategy to tackle these. In particular, authorities will continue to exercise their statutory duties in relation to homelessness.

No. We consider the introduction of the Working Families Tax Credit, which is the responsibility of the UK Government, to be a very positive step in tackling poverty in Scotland. We are advised that indebtedness is not a factor affecting an individual's eligibility to claim WFTC.

Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 inserts a new provision, section 2A, in the Local Government Act 1986. The Scottish Executive is considering how section 2A of the 1986 Act, which prohibits local authorities from promoting homosexuality through teaching or by publishing material, could be repealed.