Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many secondary schools in England are presently without a head teacher; and what action they are taking to improve the recruitment and retention of head teachers.

The latest published data shows that in November 2015, 0.3% of secondary schools in England had a vacant head teacher post.

The Government recognises that excellent leadership, together with high-quality teaching, is essential to improving pupil outcomes, thereby improving social mobility. We are committed to ensuring that there is a supply of high quality leaders in our schools and, whilst the recruitment and retention of head teachers is primarily a matter for governing bodies, we are supporting the system to develop and train the next generation of strong leaders and build leadership capacity.

To do this, we have introduced a variety of measures, including: funding targeted programmes that aim to bolster the leadership pipeline where need is greatest, such as the High Potential Middle and Senior Leaders programmes; reforming the National Professional Qualifications for school leadership to set out the skills and knowledge needed to prepare leaders more effectively for the full range of leadership roles in the new schools system, and introducing new arrangements for leadership pay in 2014 to give schools greater flexibility to attract and retain strong leadership teams.