Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of teachers recruited from (a) Wakefield and (b) West Yorkshire.

It is a top priority of the Government to ensure that we continue to attract, retain and develop the high-quality teachers we need to inspire the next generation. We are moving forward with delivery of the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy that the Government published in January 2019.

The Early Career Framework (ECF), the biggest teaching reform in a generation, will provide newly-qualified teachers with a funded, two-year support package. Targeted early roll-out of the ECF is currently taking place for 1,900 newly qualified teachers in Bradford, the North East, Greater Manchester and Doncaster. Around 4,600 more newly qualified teachers were targeted and are benefiting from a one-year support package based on the ECF, including in disadvantaged areas.

We recognise that some schools and local areas face greater challenges with recruitment and retention than others. To supplement the national strategy, we are delivering targeted programmes to support recruitment and retention in these areas, including funding a range of regionally targeted initiatives. Wakefield, as well as Bradford, Calderdale, Leeds and Kirklees, are areas where eligible mathematics and physics teachers can claim a £2,000 retention payment in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years. Eligible mathematics, physics, chemistry and languages teachers in Bradford and Kirklees can apply for larger early-career payments of up to £7,500. Finally, Bradford is one of 25 local authorities where eligible languages, physics, chemistry, biology and computing teachers can claim back student loan repayments.