Oral Answers to Questions

Claire Coutinho Excerpts

Monday 4th July 2022 Commons Chamber

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Claire Coutinho (East Surrey) (Con)]

1. What steps his Department is taking to attract science, technology, engineering and mathematics teachers to disadvantaged areas.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Nadhim Zahawi)]

From this autumn, the levelling-up premium will provide early career teachers in maths, physics, chemistry and computing with a bonus of up to £3,000 tax-free annually if they teach disadvantaged children in disadvantaged schools. That is in addition to tax-free bursaries worth £24,000 and tax-free scholarships worth £26,000.

[Claire Coutinho]

Maths skills are one of the surest ways to ensure higher future earnings for students, so I welcome this package; it is the right thing to do to try to get high-quality teachers into disadvantaged schools. I also support the specialist maths schools agenda, which ensuring that aim in a different way. Will the Secretary of State update the House on its progress?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for the work that she does to promote maths to girls. I believe she was previously a maths captain—we have a lot to learn from her. We have three great specialist maths schools, with some of the best A-level results nationally. We are on track to have 10 regional maths schools by 2025, including one in Surrey.