The Herald today with another of their Labour-affiliated union feeds, to make Scots feel SNP Government must not be working, typically context free to make that possible.
The context?
The total student loan debt in England is £182 billion.
With 10 times the population, all things being equal, student debt in England might be expected to be 10 times higher – £76bn – but it’s £182bn, TWO AND A HALF times higher.
Also,
Student loan debts are wiped after 30 years after they are first due to be repaid.
The Herald opens with:
Outstanding loan debt owed by students in Scotland has reached a record £7.6 billion with a union saying it shows how the education system is in “crisis”.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/23636199.scots-education-crisis-student-debt-soars-record-7-6bn/?ref=ebln&nid=1220&u=54f15f1382a35160f5f9fbd9de82faff&date=060723
If that’s a ‘crisis’, what is two and a half times a crisis?
The ‘union?’ The NUS in Scotland. Might they have a partisan agenda here? What does the NUS in England have to say to them?
Source:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
It’s a meaningless number to use to judge the state of the education system. It will include those who have had a loan for over twenty years now but still not earned enough to start repayment, having all the accumulated interest included I suspect.
With the interest rate on a student loan now 7.1% it is more likely that for many the debt is growing not diminishing. That rate is only guaranteed until Aug 23, is it likely to go up again?
LikeLiked by 3 people
The interest rate on student loans is likely to go up. I saw a report yesterday that the BoE Base Rate may go up as high as 7% by the end of the year so that is likely to affect the interest rates on Student loans.
Some of the student loan debt has been sold off by the UKGov to private companies
https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8348/
A very mixed picture.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The level of students’ personal debt reflects UK government decisions – acting as the government of England – to load the cost of higher education onto individuals rather than the public finances. The extent to which this has been done is a policy choice. The extent to which it has been done – and sustained – in England over more than a decade is a function of the choices made by voters in England. They have wanted this policy, they endorsed this policy at the ballot box and/or at least they have acquiesced to its continuation.
They have every right to do so of course but the scale of public spending in England on what are devolved matters impacts on the public finances of Scotland.
Not only have Westminster governments loaded education costs onto individual students in Higher Education, they have cut public spending on other aspects of education in England. On 30 June the House of Commons Library published a briefing paper on 16-19 education funding in England.
Source https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CDP-2023-0147/CDP-2023-0147.pdf
Here are the key findings (with my emphasis):
1) ‘Between 2010–11 and 2019–20, spending per student aged 16–18 FELL BY 14% IN REAL TERMS IN COLLEGES AND BY 28% IN SCHOOL SIXTH FORMS. For colleges, this left spending per student at AROUND THE LEVEL IT WAS IN 2004–05, while spending per student in sixth forms was LOWER THAN AT ANY POINT SINCE AT LEAST 2002.’
2) ‘In the 2019 and 2021 spending reviews, the government announced extra funding for colleges and sixth forms. As a result, overall per-student spending in 16–18 education is set to rise by 9% in real terms between 2021–22 and 2024–25. Yet even with the additional funding, COLLEGE SPENDING PER PUPIL IN 2024–25 WILL STILL BE AROUND 5% BELOW 2010–11 LEVELS, WHILE SCHOOL SIXTH-FORM SPENDING PER SIXTH-FORM PUPIL WILL BE 22% BELOW 2010–11 LEVELS.’
3) ‘THERE WERE CONSISTENT REAL FALLS IN SPENDING PER STUDENT IN BOTH SIXTH FORM COLLEGES AND FURTHER EDUCATION COLLEGES FOR MOST OF THE 2010S. Levels in 2021-22 were 27% below their peak for school sixth forms (almost £2,000 per student in 2022-23 prices), and 14% in sixth form colleges (£1,100 per student).’
It would be instructive to take each devolved area of public service in turn and examine time series data on spend in England. This would chart the choices made by UK governments acting as the government of England. The impact on Scotland’s public finances of choices made FOR England – the impact on Scottish governments’ ability to address voters wants and needs FOR Scotland – would become clearer.
(We’ve commented previously on how the UK government for England has over time loaded more of the costs of local government services on Council Tax payers thus by-passing the Barnett formula. I suspect there are other, similar examples.)
LikeLiked by 2 people
Is student dept in Scotland still capped at 1.1%?
LikeLike
OT – The media’s take on what is happening at the Covid Inquiry for Scottish readers has taken on a familiar pattern of taking notes live then cherry picking what was said to distort the reality.
I’d spotted this first when “No plan could have prepared Scotland for Covid – Jeane Freeman” was shouted on 28th June from HMS James Cook web-pages, as summary of the considerable testimony presented – Not only that, James chose to not only interlace the entirely separate testimony given by Gillian Russell, but prepare the ground for what was to come with “But Dr Calderwood, who quit after breaking her own Covid lockdown rules, will now give evidence on another day.”
When NS gave evidence on the 29th, the BBC Scotland had “Brexit hampered Scotland’s pandemic plan, Nicola Sturgeon says”, whilst the Independent went with “Nicola Sturgeon told off for using Covid inquiry to criticise Brexit’s ‘false economy’”, neither of which remotely conveys the testimony presented, but if you’re not following proceedings live, you’d be none the wiser, as it would be a day or so before the official recording was released.
Hence my curiosity was pricked by BBC Scotland’s “Scotland not fully part of Covid talks, inquiry told” on the day of Calderwood’s testimony 5th July, with this insertion –
“She resigned as chief medical officer in April 2020 – two weeks after the UK-wide lockdown was imposed on 23 March.
Dr Calderwood had been given a police warning for breaking the rules by making two trips to her second home in Earlsferry in Fife with her family, more than an hour’s drive from her main home in Edinburgh.
The chief medical officer had fronted TV and radio adverts urging the public to stay at home to save lives and protect the NHS.
She also took part in daily televised media briefings alongside Nicola Sturgeon”.
I finally watched the testimony of Calderwood when the Inquiry published the video this morning, and found her a measured, competent and honest witness.
As the next witness was sworn in, the thought occurred what would happen were James Cook called by the Inquiry, would on swearing the oath on the Bible cause it or James to burst into flames…
LikeLiked by 3 people