Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Government has plans to increase the level of bursaries for Religious Education studies that are under-subscribed.

The department announced in September 2018 that there will be increased Religious Education (RE) bursaries for trainees starting initial teacher training in 2019/20. The department awards a £9,000 bursary for all RE trainees with at least a 2:2 degree classification; previously, a £9,000 bursary was only available to RE trainees with a first class degree.

Additionally, the department is now funding eight week subject knowledge enhancement courses in RE for potential trainee teachers who need to gain the depth of knowledge needed to teach RE.

The department will review the impact of these changes over the course of this year, and the findings will inform the future level for funding for RE initial teacher training.

The department will also review the bursaries and other funding that is offered to support ITT recruitment annually. We plan to announce the 2020/21 bursaries in early autumn 2019.