Scottish Government

Covering Letter

Employability, Skills and Lifelong Learning Directorate
Head of Higher Education and Learner Support Division

T: 0300-244 6765 F: 0300-244 1270
E: Stephen.Kerr@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Dear Sir/Madam

CONSULTATION ON THE DRAFT STUDENT FEES (SPECIFICATION) (SCOTLAND) ORDER 2011

Responding to this consultation

I am writing to invite you to respond to a consultation on secondary legislation which is part of arrangements which the Scottish Government intends to put in place to enable Scottish universities to set their own fees for students who usually live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland ¹ from academic year 2012-13.

This legislation is being proposed in response to the changes to higher education tuition fee policy taking place in other parts of the UK. It is designed to maintain the current level of cross border flow of students within the UK and thereby protect the interests of Scottish domiciled students.

It takes forward the commitment made by Michael Russell MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning, in his statement to the Scottish Parliament on 16 March 2011 in response to Building a Smarter Future. This was an extensive consultation undertaken last year about the further development of higher education in Scotland. The proposed legislation is therefore the first step in creating a uniquely "Scottish Solution" to developing a sustainable future for the sector. A fuller explanation of the policy rationale and the new arrangements are set out within the documents accompanying this letter.

We are inviting written responses to this consultation by 2 September 2011. Specifically, we are inviting comments on:

• the questions listed in Annex A;
• the draft Student Fees (Specification) (Scotland) Order 2011 and associated documentation (Statement of Reasons and draft Executive Note) attached at Annex B; and
• the Interim Equality Impact Assessment is attached at Annex C.

Please send your response by 2 September with the completed Respondent Information Form (see "Handling your Response" below) to:

Christine Hamilton-Rice

Email: HELS@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

If you have any queries contact Christine Hamilton-Rice on 0300 244 1357.

We would be grateful if you would use the consultation questionnaire provided at Annex A as this will aid our analysis of the responses received.

This consultation, and all other Scottish Government consultation exercises, can be viewed online on the consultation web pages of the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/consultations.

The Scottish Government has an email alert system for consultations, http://register.scotland.gov.uk. This system allows stakeholder individuals and organisations to register and receive a weekly email containing details of all new consultations (including web links). It complements, but in no way replaces SG distribution lists, and is designed to allow stakeholders to keep up to date with all SG consultation activity, and therefore be alerted at the earliest opportunity to those of most interest. We would encourage you to register.

Handling your response

We need to know how you wish your response to be handled and, in particular, whether you are happy for your response to be made public. Please complete and return the Respondent Information Form attached to this letter as this will ensure that we treat your response appropriately. If you ask for your response not to be published we will regard it as confidential, and we will treat it accordingly.

All respondents should be aware that the Scottish Government is subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and would therefore have to consider any request made to it under the Act for information relating to responses made to this consultation exercise.

Next steps in the process

Where respondents have given permission for their response to be made public and after we have checked that they contain no potentially defamatory material, responses will be made available to the public in the Scottish Government Library by 30 September 2011 and on the Scottish Government consultation web pages by 7 October 2011. You can make arrangements to view responses by contacting the SG Library on 0131 244 4552. Responses can be copied and sent to you, but a charge may be made for this service.

What happens next ?

Following the closing date, all responses will be analysed and considered along with any other available evidence to help us reach a decision on the final draft of the 2011 Order to be laid before Parliament. We aim to issue a report on this consultation process by 28 October 2011.

Comments and complaints

If you have any comments about how this consultation exercise has been conducted, please send them to:

Ann McVie

Email: ann.mcvie@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Thank you for taking part in this consultation exercise. We look forward to receiving your views.

Yours faithfully

Stephen Kerr
Deputy Director
Employability, Skills and Lifelong Learning Directorate