Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of teacher recruitment and retention incentives on teacher recruitment and retention in areas of high deprivation in the (a) North East and (b) England.

As part of our Plan for Change, the government is committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers across secondary and special schools, and our colleges, over the course of this parliament.

Delivery is already under way. We agreed a 5.5% pay award for 2024/25 and a 4% pay award for 2025/26, meaning teachers and leaders will see an increase in their pay of almost 10% over two years. In 2024/25, we drove forward teacher recruitment and retention, backed by an investment of around £700 million across schools and further education, including targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 after tax to teachers teaching in the most disadvantaged schools.

We are already seeing positive signs our investment is delivering. The workforce has grown by 82 full-time employed (FTE) in the North East and 2,346 in England between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools, the schools where they are needed most.