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: S4W-01429

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of young student entrants to higher education, including Higher National qualifications, in 2009-10 were from National Statistics-Socio Economic Classification classes 4, 5, 6 and 7, broken down by nationality of domicile.

The information requested is not held centrally. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) annually publishes performance indicators measuring participation from deprived backgrounds, including those from NS-SEC classes 4, 5, 6 and 7. The HESA performance indicators can be found at the following internet address:

http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2060&Itemid=141.

Question reference: S4W-01430

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of young student entrants to higher education, including Higher National qualifications, in 2009-10 were from state schools as defined by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, broken down by nationality of domicile.

The information requested is not held centrally. The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) annually publishes performance indicators measuring participation of those from state schools. The HESA performance indicators can be found at the following internet address:

http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2060&Itemid=141. Further analysis of HESA’s performance indicators is a matter for HESA.

Question reference: S4W-01419

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how much was allocated by the Scottish Funding Council through the Teaching Grant per funded student place in each year from 2007-08 to 2009-10, broken down by funding subject group.

Question reference: S4W-01420

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive how many non-UK European Union students there were in each year from 2007-08 to 2009-10, broken down by funding subject group as defined by Scottish Funding Council Teaching Grant allocation.

The information requested is contained in the following tables.

Table 1: Non-UK taught postgraduate and undergraduate students (full time equivalent (FTE)) eligible for funding at the Scottish higher education institutions, by level of study and funded subject, 2007-08

Funding Subject Group

2007-08

graduate post- Taught	graduate Under-	Total
FTE	FTE	FTE

Clinical Medicine	15.8	68.6	84.4
Clinical Dentistry	4.5	4.0	8.5
Veterinary Science	5.7	14.8	20.4
Engineering and Technology	208.6	1,127.1	1,335.7
Science	169.5	1,661.2	1,830.7
Computing and Information Science	151.6	399.7	551.3
Pre-clinical Medicine	-	76.0	76.0
Pre-clinical Dentistry	-	3.0	3.0
Creative Arts and Hospitality	108.8	489.1	597.9
BEd Primary	-	11.4	11.4
BEd Music	-	1.0	1.0
BEd Physical Education	-	1.0	1.0
PGDE Primary	53.4	-	53.4
PGDE Primary	26.3	-	26.3
Combined degrees in Education	-	4.0	4.0
In-service Teacher Education and Other Education	71.8	38.6	110.4
Other Health and Welfare	133.4	509.8	643.3
Nursing and Midwifery Pre-registration	-	4.0	4.0
Built Environment	91.1	433.9	524.9
Mathematics, Statistics and OR	17.5	116.7	134.2
Humanities Languages and Business	409.6	2,280.3	2,689.9
Social Sciences	228.6	903.0	1,131.6
General study (1)	0.5	82.0	82.5
Total	1,696.6	8,229.1	9,925.7

Source: Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

(1) General provision covers courses that do not lead to a qualification in specific subject(s) but cover more general studies.

Institutions will assign students on such courses to funding subject groups using information on the particular subjects the students studied during the session.

Figures are derived from information collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

The Scottish Funding Council uses a different standard population from that used by HESA and figures in the table might differ from any corresponding figures published by HESA.

Table 2: Non-UK taught postgraduate and undergraduate students (full time equivalent (FTE)) eligible for funding at the Scottish higher education institutions, by level of study and funded subject, 2008-09

Funding Subject Group

2008-09

graduate post- Taught	graduate Under-	Total
FTE	FTE	FTE

Clinical Medicine	20.0	77.1	97.1
Clinical Dentistry	3.0	6.0	9.0
Veterinary Science	14.7	12.0	26.7
Engineering and Technology	208.7	1,139.2	1,347.9
Science	218.7	1,897.5	2,116.2
Computing and Information Science	151.8	482.0	633.9
Pre-clinical Medicine	-	80.0	80.0
Pre-clinical Dentistry	-	3.0	3.0
Creative Arts and Hospitality	110.7	633.7	744.4
BEd Primary	-	17.0	17.0
BEd Music	-	1.0	1.0
BEd Physical Education	-	1.0	1.0
PGDE Primary	103.3	-	103.3
PGDE Primary	21.0	-	21.0
Combined degrees in Education	-	5.0	5.0
In-service Teacher Education and Other Education	51.4	49.3	100.7
Other Health and Welfare	140.6	543.8	684.4
Nursing and Midwifery Pre-registration	-	82.0	82.0
Built Environment	134.8	451.3	586.0
Mathematics, Statistics and OR	33.7	116.7	150.4
Humanities Languages and Business	440.1	2,567.0	3,007.1
Social Sciences	238.6	1,092.6	1,331.2
General study (1)	0.5	37.8	38.3
Total	1,891.5	9,295.0	11,186.4

Source: Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

(1) General provision covers courses that do not lead to a qualification in specific subject(s) but cover more general studies.

Institutions will assign students on such courses to funding subject groups using information on the particular subjects the students studied during the session.

Figures are derived from information collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

The Scottish Funding Council uses a different standard population from that used by HESA and figures in the table might differ from any corresponding figures published by HESA.

Table 3: Non-UK taught postgraduate and undergraduate students (full time equivalent (FTE)) eligible for funding at the Scottish higher education institutions, by level of study and funded subject, 2009-10

Funding Subject Group

2009-10

graduate post- Taught	graduate Under-	Total
FTE	FTE	FTE

Clinical Medicine	32.7	84.5	117.2
Clinical Dentistry	1.5	6.0	7.5
Veterinary Science	3.8	13.0	16.8
Engineering and Technology	269.4	1,330.6	1,600.0
Science	253.0	2,255.1	2,508.1
Computing and Information Science	194.7	661.6	856.3
Pre-clinical Medicine	-	79.0	79.0
Pre-clinical Dentistry	-	4.0	4.0
Creative Arts and Hospitality	186.5	765.0	951.6
BEd Primary	-	30.5	30.5
BEd Music	-	2.0	2.0
BEd Physical Education	-	1.0	1.0
PGDE Primary	151.2	-	151.2
PGDE Primary	23.0	-	23.0
Combined degrees in Education	-	6.6	6.6
In-service Teacher Education and Other Education	73.2	43.2	116.4
Other Health and Welfare	164.7	603.3	768.0
Nursing and Midwifery Pre-registration	-	110.2	110.2
Built Environment	170.5	494.5	665.0
Mathematics, Statistics and OR	18.7	140.1	158.8
Humanities Languages and Business	509.1	3,038.7	3,547.8
Social Sciences	324.7	1,262.9	1,587.5
General study (1)	-	65.1	65.1
Total	2,376.7	10,996.8	13,373.6

Source: Scottish Funding Council (SFC).

(1) General provision covers courses that do not lead to a qualification in specific subject(s) but cover more general studies.

Institutions will assign students on such courses to funding subject groups using information on the particular subjects the students studied during the session.

Figures are derived from information collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

The Scottish Funding Council uses a different standard population from that used by HESA and figures in the table might differ from any corresponding figures published by HESA.

Question reference: S4W-01435

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 30 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Michael Russell on 21 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Table 25b of the Higher Education Students and Qualifiers at Scottish Institutions 2009-10 statistics refers only to (a) first entrance and (b) undergraduate level.

Table 25b of the national statistics publication Higher Education Students and Qualifiers at Scottish Institutions 2009-10 refers to all entrants, that is those students enrolled in their first year of study (whether or not that is the first year of the course e.g. a student may enter directly into the second year of a course) to higher education courses at Scottish institutions, which includes postgraduate level study as well as undergraduate level.

Question reference: S4W-01474

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Monday, 04 July 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alex Neil on 15 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will use forthcoming borrowing powers to issue bonds to finance public capital projects.

The Scottish Government has made proposals on a robust, sustainable framework for borrowing. The Government’s proposals are available here:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Doc/919/0118589.pdf

The Scottish Government proposes that appropriate value for money tests must be conducted at specific times and for specific funding requirements, when considering the available options to finance borrowing. Bonds would be one of a number of options available.

The Scottish Government notes that on 3 July 2011 the Greater London Authority announced that it had finalised a £600 million bond issue which will provide financing for Crossrail.

Question reference: S4W-01170

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by Alasdair Allan on 14 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive whether Education Scotland will help embed (a) global citizenship education and (b) sustainable development in schools and, if so, how.

Global citizenship, which includes sustainable development, citizenship and international education, is an important theme across learning within Curriculum for Excellence and is embedded in the experiences and outcomes. As the agency responsible for leading and supporting the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence, Education Scotland will work with local authorities, schools and partners to drive forward implementation providing support as global citizenship is further embedded in learning and teaching practice. This will include professional development opportunities for practitioners; sharing of inspiring practice and innovation through school open days, case studies, and online resources; as well as support for professional networks, learning communities and capacity building.

Question reference: S4W-01171

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Thursday, 23 June 2011
Current Status: Answered by John Swinney on 14 July 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive to what extent it makes use of open source software.

Question reference: S4W-00314

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Current Status: Answered by Fergus Ewing on 10 June 2011

To ask the Scottish Executive what representations it has made to the UK Government regarding the location of the proposed green investment bank.

Scottish ministers continue to support the proposal that the green investment bank be located in Edinburgh. On 23 May 2011, the First Minister again put Edinburgh forward as a possible location for the green investment bank as part of a wide-ranging discussion with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which also covered North Sea oil and gas taxation, the Fossil Fuel Levy and reforms to the Scotland Bill. Ministers have also endorsed the representations that Scottish MSPs and the green investment bank Group in Scotland have made for Edinburgh’s case.

Question reference: S4O-00040

Asked by: Marco Biagi, MSP for Edinburgh Central, Scottish National Party
Date lodged: Wednesday, 08 June 2011
Current Status: Awaiting answer

To ask the Scottish Executive when it will bring forward details of changes to the Local Government Finance formula.