Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Recruitment and Retention

Monday 17 July 2023 · 5 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The UK Government is investing 60 billion in education funding for the next year, a historical high.
  • The Government has agreed to establish a workload taskforce to address teacher workload issues in discussions with unions.
  • An additional 185 million and 285 million will be invested in further education in the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 respectively.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Mary Foy Lab City of Durham
Education
Context

A significant number of teachers are leaving the profession in Durham, impacting schools and students. Support staff redundancies exacerbate workload issues for remaining teachers.

Question

We have seen a significant increase in the number of teachers leaving the profession in Durham. They are burnt out and their unmanageable workloads are made harder by support staff redundancies in schools where there is an absence of furniture and equipment, with children even carrying chairs between lessons so that there is somewhere to sit. One teacher said to me, “It is like being a baker with no flour, a delivery driver without a van, an IT specialist without a computer.” When will the Department provide the absolute basics for our schools in Durham?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

We are going even further than the basics, because we will be funding education higher than we have ever funded it in our history. It will be £60 billion next year. But I do take workload seriously. As part of our discussions with the unions, we have agreed to set up a workload taskforce, which has a target to remove five hours from the school working week in addition to the five hours we have already reduced.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer did not address specific provisions for schools in Durham such as furniture and equipment.

How: We Are Funding Education Higher Than Ever Before, We Will Remove Workload But No Specifics On Basics

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Q2 Grahame Morris Lab Easington
Education
Context

The further education sector faces challenges such as high workload, qualification reform, excessive assessment, and a pay disparity with industry, leading to unfilled vacancies in engineering and computer science.

Question

The further education sector is facing a teaching crisis, not fully addressed by the pay review body. In my constituency, East Durham College has had two teacher vacancies in engineering and a computer science position unfilled for 18 months. Barriers to recruitment include high workload, qualification reform, excessive assessment and a huge pay disparity compared with comparable work in industry. Could the Secretary of State tell us what steps she is taking to ensure that further education teaching is an attractive and viable career?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

I very much care about further education and ensuring that it has the funding. That is why, as of last week, we are investing an additional £185 million in the financial year 2023-24 and £285 million in 2024-25 to drive forward skills delivery in further education. The Government do not set pay for the FE sector. However, I have been clear that I expect that funding, which is new funding, to go to the frontline. I hope the investment will support the FE sector to address its recruitment and retention challenges. In addition, we introduced bursaries of £29,000 for STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—subjects, and the Taking Teaching Further programme is working with industry and paying £6,000 to attract those from industry who want to spend their second career in FE teaching.

Answered
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Q3 Mary Foy Lab City of Durham
Education
Context

Teachers in Durham face unmanageable workloads exacerbated by support staff redundancies, leading to a lack of basic provisions such as furniture and equipment.

Question

We have seen a significant increase in the number of teachers leaving the profession in Durham. They are burnt out and their unmanageable workloads are made harder by support staff redundancies in schools where there is an absence of furniture and equipment, with children even carrying chairs between lessons so that there is somewhere to sit. One teacher said to me, “It is like being a baker with no flour, a delivery driver without a van, an IT specialist without a computer.” When will the Department provide the absolute basics for our schools in Durham?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

We are going even further than the basics, because we will be funding education higher than we have ever funded it in our history. It will be £60 billion next year. But I do take workload seriously. As part of our discussions with the unions, we have agreed to set up a workload taskforce, which has a target to remove five hours from the school working week in addition to the five hours we have already reduced.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer did not address specific provisions for schools in Durham such as furniture and equipment.

How: We Are Funding Education Higher Than Ever Before, We Will Remove Workload But No Specifics On Basics

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Q4 Mark Francois Con Rayleigh and Wickford
Education
Context

Essex's special needs schools are full to capacity, leading to a need for additional special needs places in Essex.

Question

One particularly challenging area of work for teachers is special needs education. There are many who want to work in that field, but in Essex our special needs schools are unfortunately already full to bursting. That is why, today, I am launching a campaign for a new special needs school in south Essex. I met the Minister for Schools, my right hon. Friend the Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton (Nick Gibb) in advance and he was very helpful. Will the Secretary of State and the Schools Minister work with me and Essex County Council to try to get us the additional special needs places in Essex that parents and special needs children so desperately need?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

I absolutely agree with my right hon. Friend. This is something we have already announced: we will invest £2.6 billion in building more special schools. We are getting another one in Sussex and many hon. Members are getting more special educational needs schools in their areas. We would be very happy to work with him and Essex County Council to ensure the right provision in Essex for all children who have additional needs.

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Q5 Maria Miller Con
Education
Context

The reform of BTECs is causing uncertainty about future staffing in the local FE college, Basingstoke College of Technology.

Question

I pay tribute to all the staff and teachers at my local FE college, Basingstoke College of Technology for all the work they do to ensure that young people in my constituency are ready for work. The reform of BTECs is causing some uncertainty when it comes to staffing for the future in the college. Will my right hon. Friend join me and headteacher Anthony Bravo for a meeting to discuss those concerns, so that we can continue to ensure that the young people of Basingstoke are work-ready in large numbers?

Answer from Gillian Keegan

Yes, I am always happy to meet my right hon. Friend and her college. I have had many meetings on this subject. We are focused on ensuring that high quality T-levels are introduced across the country in all colleges, so that young people can access them. We are also looking, side by side, to see what BTEC qualifications will sit alongside A-levels as part of our level 3 offer.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The answer did not commit to a specific meeting with Maria Miller and the headteacher.

How: We Are Focused On T-Levels And Btecs But No Commitment To Meet

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