Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will list the teacher recruitment and retention schemes that have received notice that funding will be (a) reduced and (b) ended since 1 January 2024.

England currently has the highest number of teachers on record. At the last count there were over 468,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in state-funded schools in England, which is an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.

To make sure the department’s teacher recruitment and retention efforts are focussed on where they are needed most and providing best value for taxpayers’ money, the department has made some changes to funding allocations. Since January 2024, notice of changes to funding has been sent to the following teacher recruitment and retention partners:

• All providers of Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses and initial teacher training (ITT) providers. The department are continuing to offer funded SKE in subjects with the greatest sufficiency challenges, including mathematics, physics, chemistry, computing, and languages and are continuing to offer a £175 per week tax-free bursary for eligible candidates to support them on their SKE training course.
• Providers of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) informing them of changes to scholarship eligibility. The department is offering full scholarship funding in all NPQ subjects to teachers and leaders working in schools, and other settings, in the most challenging circumstances and serving more deprived communities. In addition, four NPQ subjects will continue to receive scholarship funding for all teachers and leaders employed at state-funded organisations. These include the NPQ in Headship, the early headship coaching offer, the NPQ in leading primary mathematics and the NPQ for special educational needs coordinators.
• Providers and teacher training applicants informing them of changes to the eligibility criteria for the UK's international relocation payments. These payments will be available to international teachers who teach physics and languages in England.

Since January 2024, notice of non-renewal of funding has been sent to:

• Now Teach informing them that the department will not be renewing their contract when it ends. The career changers programme has, and continues to, support career changers to enter teaching. The department remains committed to continuing to recruit and support career changers into ITT and are now carrying out a review to understand how to best meet the needs of a wider range of career changers.

The department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries that are worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships that are £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. The ITT financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.