Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kate Osborne and Nick Gibb

Monday 12th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Slough) (Lab)]

17. What steps her Department is taking to improve the recruitment and retention of teachers.

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

The school workforce census published last week shows that the number of teachers has increased by a further 2,800 this year. There are now more than 468,000 teachers in the state system in England. We have invested £181 million in recruitment this year, including training bursaries and scholarships worth up to £29,000, and we are delivering £30,000 starting salaries, reforming teacher training, delivering half a million training opportunities and working with the sector to address teacher workload and wellbeing.

[Kate Osborne]

The Minister mentions the data released last week, but it also highlights the unacceptable consequences of real-terms cuts to teachers’ pay and unmanageable workloads. It shows that posts without a teacher have more than doubled in the past two years. Last week, I met with NASUWT North East and the South Tyneside branch of the National Education Union, which raised concerns about the impact of the recruitment and retention crisis. When will the Minister take action to tackle this crisis by increasing teachers’ pay and reducing their workload?

[Nick Gibb]

In terms of teachers’ pay, we are waiting for the Government’s response. We have received and are looking at the School Teachers Review Body’s recommendations now, and we will respond in the normal way and on the normal timing. In terms of workload, we set up three important workload working groups, and over the years that has resulted in the working hours of teachers coming down by five hours a week, and we have pledged to do more to reduce that further.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Kate Osborne and Nick Gibb

Monday 23rd November 2020 Commons Chamber

[Kate Osborne (Jarrow) (Lab)]

At a time when LGBT+ hate crime is on the rise, it is extremely disappointing that the Government have cut the funding to support education about LGBT+ bullying in schools. Can the Minister assure me that an alternative will be put forward so that this vital training can continue to educate our young people in preventing bullying and achieving better mental health?

[Nick Gibb]

This was the Government Equalities Office scheme to support a number of anti-LGBT bullying schemes. I have seen these schemes in action myself, and they are very good indeed. We will be looking at what more the DFE can do after the spending review to ensure that our anti-bullying programmes are LGBT-inclusive.