Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the retention rate of teachers in coastal communities.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.

The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.

For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.

Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.

Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.

The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase recruitment of teachers of (a) physics, (b) modern foreign languages and (c) other specialist subjects.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.

The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.

For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.

Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.

Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.

The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she expects to meet recruitment targets for (a) physics and (b) modern foreign languages at secondary school level.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

The department currently has the highest number of teachers on record, with over 468,000 full-time equivalent teachers in state-funded schools in England. This represents an increase of 27,000 (6%) since the School Workforce Census began in 2010.

The department knows there is further to go to improve recruitment in some subjects. That is why the department has put in place a range of measures, including bursaries worth £28,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £30,000 tax-free, to encourage talented trainees to key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. For language subjects, the department is offering bursaries worth £25,000 tax-free and scholarships worth £27,000 tax-free in French, German and Spanish. The department is also continuing to offer bursaries and scholarships to all non-UK national trainees in physics and languages. The Initial Teacher Training (ITT) financial incentives package for the 2024/25 recruitment cycle is worth up to £196 million, which is a £15 million increase on the last cycle.

For the 2024/25 and 2025/26 academic years, the department is doubling the rates of the Levelling Up Premium to up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who choose to work in disadvantaged schools, including in Education Investment Areas. As of 2023, 69% of secondary or special schools in coastal towns are eligible for the Levelling Up Premium, compared to 59% of schools elsewhere in the country. This will support both recruitment and retention of specialist teachers in these subjects and in the schools and areas that need them most.

Coastal communities are also well served by the department’s network of Teaching School Hubs (TSHs), which are school-led centres of excellence in professional development, delivering training and support to teachers and school leaders at every stage of their career. The 87 TSHs cover all of England, with 31 hubs currently serving 146 coastal areas across England.

Regarding recruitment targets, simply looking at post-graduate Initial Teacher Training (PGITT) recruitment as an indicator of broader teacher recruitment is misleading as it is not the only route into teaching, nor does it represent the available number of teachers in the workforce. The PGITT target is calculated using the Teacher Workforce Model, which considers a broad range of factors including, but not limited to, projected pupil numbers, historical recruitment performance, teacher retention forecasts, economic factors, and recruitment from other non-ITT related routes such as returners and those teachers that are new to the state-funded schools sector.

Therefore, the PGITT target is not based on the total number of entrants schools’ need, but rather on the forecast residual need after accounting for other non-PGITT inflows, such as undergraduate ITT and returners. The department calculates targets on an annual basis, and if retention and entrants from other routes are higher than expected during the time that trainees are applying for and completing their course, this can offset the need to meet the PGITT targets in full.

The department will continue to monitor PGITT and other routes into teaching and have provided targeted support to ensure it recruits and retains sufficient numbers of teachers in all key subjects, including physics and languages.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on allowing land identified as Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England to be used for food production without financial penalties for farmers.

Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

Locally significant historical and archaeological features identified by local authority Historic Environment officers that could potentially benefit from management under environmental land management schemes are placed on the Selected Heritage Inventory for Natural England (or SHINE).

These irreplaceable features are often only on a part of a parcel and Government does not pay for any action that could cause them damage. Farmers may already be using this land for food production and many of these features are subject to environmental land management scheme actions which either cause no harm or can directly benefit them.

In 2022 we changed the process so that we could allow for the areas containing sensitive heritage features to be separated out from the remaining field area.

We want to ensure that farmers have the maximum opportunities to be able to take part in our schemes and to that end will work with our partners to refine both SHINE data and SFI actions. We also expect to introduce further actions that allow for management of SHINE features under the Sustainable Farming Incentive later in the year.

We will hold a roundtable discussion in due course to address the issues raised.

Question

To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help increase the number of female-led businesses.

Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade

In March 2024, the government announced the launch of the Invest in Women Taskforce. Its mission is to make the UK the best place in the world to be a female founder.

Since its launch, the Taskforce members have been working with the private sector to begin raising its fund for female founders. This seeks to increase the proportion of investment
going to all-female founder teams – which has been stuck at 2% for the past decade.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support parents of children with SEND to remain in the workforce.

Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Eligible Universal Credit (UC) customers can claim back up to 85% of childcare costs making it easier for families to take up and progress in work.

In the past year the Department has increased the generosity of the UC childcare costs maximum amounts by over 50%, to £1015 for one child and £1,739 for two children or more.

UC childcare support is paid to registered providers for example, OFSTED and providers registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information he holds on the number and proportion of participants of the Kickstart scheme that are in employment.

Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The Impact Assessment on Kickstart is currently being finalised. This assessment will quantify any impact on movement into employment following the scheme. We aim to publish the findings of this assessment in due course.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help ensure that local authority trading standards bodies have sufficient (a) funding and (b) other resources to tackle (i) illicit vapes and (ii) underage sales.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is concerned about the increase in the number of illicit vapes in the United Kingdom’s market, and the easy access and availability of these vapes to children. To strengthen our enforcement activity, we are providing an additional £30 million per year for enforcement agencies, including Trading Standards, to support work in tackling illicit and underage sales. We are working closely with Trading Standards to consider how the new funding can best support their programmes of local-level enforcement.

In April last year, we also provided £3 million of new funding for a new enforcement unit to tackle the illegal and underage sale of vapes, which has conducted targeted inspections in retail outlets and ports, upskilled Trading Standards officers, and piloted online underage test programmes.

The Government will also introduce fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for the underage sale of tobacco and vaping products. This will support Trading Standards in taking quicker and more proportionate enforcement action against the irresponsible retailers who allow underage sales. Enforcement authorities will retain all the proceeds from FPNs, to reinvest in the enforcement of tobacco and vaping product legislation.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to help tackle the sale of illegal vapes to people under the age of 18.

Answered by Andrea Leadsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government is concerned about the increase in the number of illicit vapes in the United Kingdom’s market, and the easy access and availability of these vapes to children. To strengthen our enforcement activity, we are providing an additional £30 million per year for enforcement agencies, including Trading Standards, to support work in tackling illicit and underage sales. We are working closely with Trading Standards to consider how the new funding can best support their programmes of local-level enforcement.

In April last year, we also provided £3 million of new funding for a new enforcement unit to tackle the illegal and underage sale of vapes, which has conducted targeted inspections in retail outlets and ports, upskilled Trading Standards officers, and piloted online underage test programmes.

The Government will also introduce fixed penalty notices (FPNs) for the underage sale of tobacco and vaping products. This will support Trading Standards in taking quicker and more proportionate enforcement action against the irresponsible retailers who allow underage sales. Enforcement authorities will retain all the proceeds from FPNs, to reinvest in the enforcement of tobacco and vaping product legislation.

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