Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of trends in the levels of (a) recruitment and (b) retention of school support staff in (i) Trafford and (ii) England in the last five years.

Support staff are categorised into posts of teaching assistants, administrative staff, auxiliary staff, technicians and other supporting staff, plus two new posts of school business professional and leadership non-teacher, reported for the first time in 2023/24.

School business professionals include roles such as bursar, business manager, finance officer, office manager, premises manager or ICT network manager.

The full-time equivalent (FTE) of support staff has increased each year since 2019/20, to 510,400 in 2023/24, and has now passed the previous peak of 2015/16. This is an increase of 4,800 (0.9%) since last year. This increase is mainly due to an increase of 2,400 in other support staff.

The FTE of all support staff across state-funded schools in England between 2019/20 and 2023/24 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/7b0a17e8-b3ff-403e-687f-08dca70c1109.

The FTE of all support staff in Altrincham and Sale West, Stretford and Urmston and Wythenshawe and Sale East between 2019/20 and 2023/24 can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/0b037abc-203b-42ce-5354-08dca71310d3.

School support staff play a vital role in children’s education and development.

The department will value and recognise the professionalism of the entire school workforce and address recruitment and retention challenges by reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body.

The body will be tasked with establishing a national terms and conditions handbook, training and progression routes. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education.