Oral Answers to Questions

Anna Firth Excerpts

Monday 12th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Robert Halfon]

The hon. Lady will be pleased to know that we increased the grant to the Office for Students by £50 million to £276 million. That grant goes to help disadvantaged students. We increased the maintenance loan and grant by 2.8%. We have energy rebates for students who live in private accommodation as well. We are doing everything possible to help students with the cost of living, but being fair to the taxpayer as well.

[Anna Firth (Southend West) (Con)]

T8. I applaud the Government’s commitment to recruiting record numbers of teachers and the fact that there are 27,000 more now in our classrooms than in 2010. I recently met all of Southend’s secondary heads. Their concern was retention, but they had a number of interesting and innovative ideas. Will the Secretary of State meet me and them to discuss those ideas? Perhaps, when she visits our local employer, Adventure Island, she could make it a whole team awayday.

[Nick Gibb]

I am sure that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State will visit, but if she cannot then I certainly will. Teacher retention is key to ensuring effective teacher supply and quality. We are taking action to support teachers so that they can stay in the profession and succeed. The Department has published a range of resources to help schools address teacher workload issues, prioritise staff wellbeing and introduce flexible working.