Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the amount of bursary funding available to people training to be religious education teachers to ensure it is equal to other shortage subjects.

​​The Department has increased bursary funding for religious education courses. In academic year 2019/20, religious education trainees with a 2:2 undergraduate degree or above will receive a £9,000 bursary. Previously a £9,000 bursary was only available to those with a first class degree, while those with a 2:1 degree received £4,000 and there was no funding available for other degree classes. These increases show the Department’s continuing commitment to recruiting religious education teachers.

The Department will review bursary funding this summer, prior to announcing the offer for academic year 2020/21 courses in early autumn. This will involve making difficult decisions about where to deploy funding, which will be based on an assessment of current recruitment performance and available budget.