Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what comparative assessment she has made of trends in teachers' salaries and the average salary in the UK in each of the last five years; and if she will make a statement.

On 4 December 2015, the Department published its most recent assessment of median teachers’ pay compared to that of graduates employed in the private sector in England. The pay of graduates in the private sector has been used because teaching is a graduate job and therefore provides a better comparator than an average of pay across all jobs in the UK economy. The comparative assessment was included in the evidence that government submitted to the School Teachers Review Body (STRB). The comparative assessment can be found in figure 11 on page 45 of the publication, available here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482257/STRB_government_evidence_2016_pay_award.pdf.