Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent estimate he has made of the number of vacancies for permanent science and maths teachers at high schools in London; what steps he is taking to fill those vacancies; and if he will make a statement.

The Department’s latest statistics show that in London in 2018, there were 87 unfilled or temporarily filled full-time classroom teacher vacancies in science (including biology, physics, chemistry, computer science, general science and other science) and 55 full-time classroom teacher vacancies in mathematics. This is a 15% decrease in the number of vacancies in science and an 11% decrease in the number of vacancies in mathematics compared to 2017.

It is a top priority of the Department to ensure there are excellent teachers for every child which is why we launched the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy last year. We understand the challenge of filling vacancies is not just of recruitment, but it is also of retaining the teachers we do have. The Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy includes the biggest teaching reform in a generation, the Early Career Framework (ECF). The ECF provides new teachers across all subjects with the solid foundations for a successful career in teaching, backed by £130 million a year in funding when fully rolled out in 2021.

As the economy improves, we know that the demand for talented graduates increases. To put teaching on a par with the top graduate professions, we have committed to plans to raise starting salaries for new teachers to £30,000 by 2022-23.

The Department understands that recruitment and retention challenges are more pronounced in some subjects than others, which is why we have targeted initiatives aiming to improve recruitment and retention in our priority subjects – including physics, chemistry, biology, computing and mathematics.

We have announced tax-free bursaries of £26,000 for physics, chemistry, biology, computing and mathematics trainees with a 2:2 or higher starting their teacher training 2020-21. Teachers in physics, chemistry and mathematics will also receive three early-career payments totalling £6,000 spread across years two, three and four of teaching.

The Department is also offering prestigious scholarship schemes to those starting their teacher training in 2020-21 for priority subjects including mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. These scholarships are delivered in partnership with professional bodies and successful scholars will receive a bursary of £28,000 tax-free, as well as the same early-career payments as those who receive a bursary. All successful scholars will also receive a package of support provided by the professional bodies including free membership, resources and early career support.

In addition to this, the Department has set aside £30 million in tailored support for schools struggling with teacher recruitment and retention. This support is designed to help schools improve existing recruitment and retention plans, join national programmes, build local partnerships or fund new initiatives. 27 schools in London are currently receiving this support.