Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they decided that their commitment to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers would include colleges.

The pledge to recruit 6,500 new expert teachers over the course of this Parliament is focused on sectors where there is a need for more teachers, across secondary and special schools and our colleges.

Demographic changes throughout this Parliament mean pupil numbers will increase in secondary schools, and particularly in further education, while there has been a significant decrease in the number of pupils in primary schools. There are 60,000 fewer pupils in primary schools compared to last year, and around 172,000 fewer compared to the 2018/19 peak. The government is therefore targeting the 6,500 teachers pledge towards mainstream secondary schools and colleges, and also special schools to support pupils with special educational needs.