Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase the numbers of teachers in (a) the North West, (b) Merseyside, (c) Wirral and (d) Wallasey.

Ensuring the whole country has a strong teaching profession is a top priority for the Government. Last year the Department launched the first ever integrated strategy to recruit and retain more teachers. The strategy includes the biggest teaching reform in a generation, the Early Career Framework (ECF). The ECF provides new teachers with the solid foundations for a successful career in teaching, backed by £130 million a year in funding when fully rolled out in 2021. The Department has also committed to plans to raise starting salaries for new teachers to £30,000 by 2022-23, putting teaching on a par with other top graduate professions.

Beyond this, we are delivering some targeted initiatives that will benefit the North West, Merseyside, and Wirral. Schools in Greater Manchester will benefit from early roll out of the ECF in September 2020, with access to improved support for their early career teachers, including high-quality training.

The Department is also piloting a number of financial incentives. Teachers’ Student Loan Reimbursement is being offered to languages and science teachers in 7 local authorities throughout the North West identified as having high need for teachers, including 3 in Merseyside. Additionally, the Department is offering mathematics, chemistry, physics and languages early-career retention payments with additional uplifts for teachers in 11 local authorities throughout the North West, including 4 in Merseyside.

The Department has made available over £20 million of scholarships funding in 2017-19 to support teachers and leaders in Category 5 and 6 areas to take up a reformed National Professional Qualifications, doubling our initial intended investment. There are 15 category 5 or 6 local authority districts throughout the North West, and 6 in Merseyside including Wirral. The aim of the investment is to retain good teachers in these areas and support their professional development.

In addition to this, the Department has set aside £30 million in tailored support for schools struggling with teacher recruitment and retention. This support is designed to help schools improve existing plans, join national programmes, build local partnerships or fund new initiatives. Throughout the North West, 36 schools have received support as part of this programme, including 2 schools in Merseyside.