Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of requiring academy trusts to incorporate the National Conditions of Service for Teachers in England and Wales 2023 into the contracts of employment of teachers; and if she will bring forward legislation to make such incorporation mandatory.

The National Conditions of Service for Teachers in England and Wales is a national agreement between local authority school employers and teaching and headteacher unions. The government has no input into the agreement or its implementation. As it has no statutory force, while maintained schools are expected to incorporate its provisions into teachers’ contracts, there is no legal obligation for them to do so. Academies will, following the passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, be required to “have regard” to the entirety of the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document.