Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children in care are there (1) in total, (2) under local authority care, (3) in unregistered care settings, and (4) in temporary care.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
All looked after children are under local authority care if they are provided with accommodation for a continuous period of more than 24 hours, are subject to a care order, or are subject to a placement order.
The total number of children looked after by local authorities in England as of 31 March 2025 is 81,770.
Information on looked after children in unregistered care settings is not centrally held by the department.
The total number of children in temporary care, defined as children looked after exclusively under a series of short-term placements (respite), during the year ending 31 March 2025 is 500. Children may be provided with respite as 'children in need' or as 'children looked after', so this figure for looked after children will underrepresent the total number of children provided with short breaks.
The latest information on the numbers and placements for looked after children, relating to the year ending 31 March 2025, was published on 20 November 2025 in the annual statistical release 'Children looked after in England including adoptions'.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school teachers have left the profession in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of qualified teachers who leave service each year and the number of teachers who retire, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available on GOV.UK.
The closest measure available for teachers leaving the profession is the number of qualified teachers leaving service in the state-funded school sector in England.
The department does not hold information on the number of teachers taking early retirement. However, information is available on teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits before normal retirement age, including actuarially reduced, ill-health and premature retirement benefits. School workforce data are published on an academic year basis, while Teachers' Pension Scheme awards are recorded on a financial year basis.
The information requested is provided below.
Full-time equivalent number of qualified teachers leaving the state-funded school sector each year, by phase
Academic year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2024/25 | 17,953 | 17,477 |
2023/24 | 19,078 | 18,370 |
2022/23 | 20,298 | 19,124 |
2021/22 | 20,743 | 18,948 |
2020/21 | 17,059 | 15,528 |
Notes: Includes those leaving the state-funded sector in England due to a change of career, joining other UK education sectors, retirement and those who died. Primary includes Nursery schools.
Source: School Workforce Census
Headcount number of teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits (excluding normal age retirement), by phase
Financial year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2025-26 | 792 | 953 |
2024-25 | 694 | 800 |
2023-24 | 574 | 764 |
2022-23 | 903 | 1,086 |
2021-22 | 1,435 | 1,700 |
Notes: Includes actuarially reduced age retirements, ill-health retirements and premature retirements. Awards relating to normal age retirement have been excluded. These benefits may be awarded during service or after the teacher has left service. The number of awards may be revised for each past year as late applications for pension benefits are processed. Therefore, these figures differ to figures presented of leavers due to retirement.
Source: Teacher Pension Scheme
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many (1) primary, and (2) secondary, school teachers have taken early retirement in each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Information on the state-funded school workforce in England, including the number of qualified teachers who leave service each year and the number of teachers who retire, is published in the ‘School workforce in England’ statistical publication, available on GOV.UK.
The closest measure available for teachers leaving the profession is the number of qualified teachers leaving service in the state-funded school sector in England.
The department does not hold information on the number of teachers taking early retirement. However, information is available on teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits before normal retirement age, including actuarially reduced, ill-health and premature retirement benefits. School workforce data are published on an academic year basis, while Teachers' Pension Scheme awards are recorded on a financial year basis.
The information requested is provided below.
Full-time equivalent number of qualified teachers leaving the state-funded school sector each year, by phase
Academic year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2024/25 | 17,953 | 17,477 |
2023/24 | 19,078 | 18,370 |
2022/23 | 20,298 | 19,124 |
2021/22 | 20,743 | 18,948 |
2020/21 | 17,059 | 15,528 |
Notes: Includes those leaving the state-funded sector in England due to a change of career, joining other UK education sectors, retirement and those who died. Primary includes Nursery schools.
Source: School Workforce Census
Headcount number of teachers and former teachers who first received Teachers' Pension Scheme benefits (excluding normal age retirement), by phase
Financial year | Primary schools | Secondary schools |
2025-26 | 792 | 953 |
2024-25 | 694 | 800 |
2023-24 | 574 | 764 |
2022-23 | 903 | 1,086 |
2021-22 | 1,435 | 1,700 |
Notes: Includes actuarially reduced age retirements, ill-health retirements and premature retirements. Awards relating to normal age retirement have been excluded. These benefits may be awarded during service or after the teacher has left service. The number of awards may be revised for each past year as late applications for pension benefits are processed. Therefore, these figures differ to figures presented of leavers due to retirement.
Source: Teacher Pension Scheme
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many online secondary schools there are.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.
However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether online secondary schools are required to be registered; if so, how many of these schools are registered.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.
However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether online secondary schools are inspected by Ofsted.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The department does not regulate online education providers and these providers are not required to register with the department. The department, therefore, does not hold information on the number of online secondary schools in England.
However, the department does operate a voluntary Online Education Accreditation Scheme for eligible providers of full-time online education. Ofsted acts as the quality assurance body for the scheme and carries out accreditation visits for providers that apply.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the grounds of the judicial review regarding the establishment of the Oak National Academy as an Arm’s Length Body.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In establishing Oak National Academy as an arm's length body, the department is helping to tackle teacher workload, strengthen curriculum expertise and improve education. As legal proceedings are ongoing, the department cannot comment further on the judicial review or speculate on its outcome.
Monitoring the academy’s impact on the curriculum resources market remains a priority. A market impact assessment published on 26 September 2025 found that the academy had a modest impact on the domestic curriculum resources market and was unlikely to have had any significant impact on the international market. The department will continue to keep the academy’s impact under review, and the corporate report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of freely available resources by Oak National Academy on the commercial education publishing market.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
In establishing Oak National Academy as an arm's length body, the department is helping to tackle teacher workload, strengthen curriculum expertise and improve education. As legal proceedings are ongoing, the department cannot comment further on the judicial review or speculate on its outcome.
Monitoring the academy’s impact on the curriculum resources market remains a priority. A market impact assessment published on 26 September 2025 found that the academy had a modest impact on the domestic curriculum resources market and was unlikely to have had any significant impact on the international market. The department will continue to keep the academy’s impact under review, and the corporate report is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/oak-national-academy-independent-review-and-market-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what action they are taking to ensure that students in Gaza who have been offered a scholarship to study in UK universities are able to do so.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
On 24 June 2026, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs announced in a Written Ministerial Statement (Statement UIN HCWS144) that the government will provide support to enable eligible students in Gaza to depart and take up their places at UK universities for the 2026/27 academic year.
Asked by: Lord Storey (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what has been the drop out rate of student teachers from Teach First for each of the last five years.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Data provided in this response is specifically in relation to the High Potential Initial Teacher Training programme (HPITT) delivered by Teach First.
The table below shows the total student teachers recruited to the HPITT programme in each of the last five cohorts.
Cohort Year | Total trainees on HPITT programme. |
2021 | 1,518 |
2022 | 1,394 |
2023 | 1,334 |
2024 | 1,415 |
2025 | 1,434 |
The table below shows the percentage of trainees who completed the two year programme and overall dropout rate. For cohorts 2024/2025, we have provided our current performance data (correct at 31 May 2026) with actuals due to be confirmed at milestone points in the future.
Cohort Year | Total trainees in cohort | % of trainees completing the two-year programme | % drop out rate from programme |
2021 | 1,518 | 82% | 18% |
2022 | 1,394 | 75% | 25% |
2023 | 1,334 | 78% | 22% |
2024 | 1,415 | 79% (TBC - due August 26) | 21% (TBC) |
2025* | 1,434 | 91% (TBC - due August 27) | TBC |
Data for the 2025 cohort is based on the current withdrawal rates in year 1 of the program as provided by Teach First.
The table below shows the spending for the last five financial years on the HPITT programme (ex VAT).
Financial year | Total cost in financial year |
21/22 | £37,506,990 |
22/23 | £25,696,327 |
23/24 | £21,057,427 |
24/25 | £22,172,463 |
25/26 | £22,981,020 |
This data is reported monthly by the department via a transaction report. We have provided a total of 12 months of financial data together within the table for each financial year. Individual reports are available on GOV.UK.