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Written Question
ICT: Teachers
Monday 3rd July 2023

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many computing teachers (a) left teaching and (b) were recruited in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2021 and (iv) 2022.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department has invested over £100 million to support the quality of computing teaching through the creation of the National Centre for Computing Education. This has provided a computing hub network and high quality training and resources for pre and in service teachers.

Information on the school workforce, including the number of subject teachers in state funded secondary schools and the overall number of teachers joining and leaving the state funded sector, is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

As at November 2022, the latest data available, there were 7,529 full time equivalent (FTE) teachers teaching computer science, and 6,179 FTE teachers teaching information, computing and technology (ICT) in state funded secondary schools. It is important to note that it is possible for teachers to teach both subjects, therefore, some may be counted in both of these figures.

FTE teachers of computer science and ICT1 in statefunded secondary schools
2018/19 to 2021/222

Year

Computer Science

ICT

2022/23

7,529

6,179

2021/22

6,573

6,691

2020/21

6,049

6,670

2019/20

4,305

8,069

2018/19

3,954

8,834

Source: School Workforce Census, published at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/8bcbf8de-57df-4ae4-8a65-08db7860a436.


1: Teachers were counted once against each subject. Therefore, teachers may be counted against both computer science and ICT

2: Computer science was introduced as a new code from 2017/18 to reflect reformed GCSEs.

The requested figures for leavers and joiners by subject taught are not available.

47,954 teachers joined the state funded school sector for 2022/23, up by 3,943 since last year.

43,997 teachers left the state funded sector in 2021/22, up by 7,818 since last year.

Leavers are defined as qualified teachers leaving the state funded sector in England, for example due to a change of career or joining other UK education sectors, and those leaving on career breaks such as maternity leave or secondments outside of the school sector. Some of these teachers may later rejoin a state funded school in England.

Almost 9 in 10 (87.2%) teachers who qualified in 2021 are still teaching one year after qualification. Almost 8 in 10 (76.1%) teachers who qualified three years ago are still teaching, and almost 7 in 10 (68.7%) teachers who qualified five years ago are still teaching.

It is the Department’s priority to make sure that teachers not only stay in the profession, but thrive in it. The Department has taken action to improve teacher and leader workload, working with the profession to understand and address longstanding issues around marking, planning and data management. The Department continues to work proactively with the sector to understand the drivers behind workload and wellbeing issues and improve our policies and interventions.

The Department is supporting schools to act and remove unhelpful practice that creates unnecessary workload. The Department School Workload Reduction Toolkit, developed alongside headteachers, is a helpful resource for schools to review and reduce workload.

The Department also worked in partnership with the education sector and mental health experts to create the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter. The Department is encouraging schools to sign up to as a shared commitment to promote staff wellbeing. So far, 2,600 schools have signed up to the Charter.


Written Question
Skilled Workers: Vacancies
Monday 20th February 2023

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Employer Skills Survey 2019, how many skill-shortage vacancies were reported in England in the (a) creative industries and (b) digital and technology sector; and how many such vacancies were reported in the previous survey.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Employer Skills Survey (ESS) has run biennially since 2011, providing a vital source of intelligence on the skills issues employers face. The survey captures the density and incidence of skills shortage vacancies.

The survey provides a breakdown of all key metrics by 13 sectors.

For the creative industries sector, the closest published sector code is arts and other services. This covers arts, entertainment and recreation and other service activities including performing arts, libraries and museums, gambling and betting, sports facilities, amusement and recreation activities, activities of religious, political, trade union and professional membership organisations, and personal services, such as hairdressing, beauty, textile cleaning, well-being activities and funeral activities. In England, in 2019 there was a total of 8,229 skill shortage vacancies in this sector, and in 2017 there was a total of 12,410 skill shortage vacancies in this sector.

For the digital and technology sector, the closest published sector code is information and communications. This covers television, film and music production, broadcasting, telecommunications, computer programming, publishing, software and computer games and consultancy and information service activities, such as data processing and hosting. In England, in 2019 there were 9,075 skill shortage vacancies in this sector, and in 2017 there was 10,064 skill shortage vacancies in this sector.

In its current format, the ESS is not able to provide representative data for a more granular level of sector than the above. The department is exploring the feasibility of including breakdowns by two and four digit Standard Industrial Classification codes for future publications of the ESS data.


Written Question
Skilled Workers: Vacancies
Monday 20th February 2023

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Employer Skills Survey 2019, how many skill-shortage vacancies were reported in England in the (a) creative industries and (b) digital and technology sector.

Answered by Robert Halfon

The Employer Skills Survey (ESS) has run biennially since 2011, providing a vital source of intelligence on the skills issues employers face. The survey captures the density and incidence of skills shortage vacancies.

The survey provides a breakdown of all key metrics by 13 sectors.

For the creative industries sector, the closest published sector code is arts and other services. This covers arts, entertainment and recreation and other service activities including performing arts, libraries and museums, gambling and betting, sports facilities, amusement and recreation activities, activities of religious, political, trade union and professional membership organisations, and personal services, such as hairdressing, beauty, textile cleaning, well-being activities and funeral activities. In England, in 2019 there was a total of 8,229 skill shortage vacancies in this sector, and in 2017 there was a total of 12,410 skill shortage vacancies in this sector.

For the digital and technology sector, the closest published sector code is information and communications. This covers television, film and music production, broadcasting, telecommunications, computer programming, publishing, software and computer games and consultancy and information service activities, such as data processing and hosting. In England, in 2019 there were 9,075 skill shortage vacancies in this sector, and in 2017 there was 10,064 skill shortage vacancies in this sector.

In its current format, the ESS is not able to provide representative data for a more granular level of sector than the above. The department is exploring the feasibility of including breakdowns by two and four digit Standard Industrial Classification codes for future publications of the ESS data.


Written Question
Department for Education: Iron and Steel
Tuesday 6th April 2021

Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate he has made of the level of UK-produced steel procured by his Department and associated departmental public bodies and agencies in (a) 2019-20 and (b) 2020-21.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Government is working with the steel industry, the unions and devolved administrations to support the UK steel sector to develop a long-term sustainable future. This includes making sure that UK producers of steel have the best possible chance of competing for and winning contracts across all Government procurement.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) collates and publishes annually information on how much steel is purchased for the Government’s major infrastructure projects in the previous financial year, including what proportion is UK-produced.

BEIS has collated the 2019/20 data and expect to publish later this year. BEIS will start collating the data on UK steel procured in 2020/21 in due course.


Speech in Commons Chamber - Wed 30 Dec 2020
Education: Return in January

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View all Lucy Powell (LAB - Manchester Central) contributions to the debate on: Education: Return in January

Speech in Commons Chamber - Thu 03 Dec 2020
Exams and Accountability 2021

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View all Lucy Powell (LAB - Manchester Central) contributions to the debate on: Exams and Accountability 2021

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 23 Nov 2020
Oral Answers to Questions

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View all Lucy Powell (LAB - Manchester Central) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Speech in Commons Chamber - Mon 23 Nov 2020
Oral Answers to Questions

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View all Lucy Powell (LAB - Manchester Central) contributions to the debate on: Oral Answers to Questions

Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 29 Sep 2020
Students’ Return to Universities

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View all Lucy Powell (LAB - Manchester Central) contributions to the debate on: Students’ Return to Universities

Speech in Commons Chamber - Tue 01 Sep 2020
Schools and Colleges: Qualification Results and Full Opening

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View all Lucy Powell (LAB - Manchester Central) contributions to the debate on: Schools and Colleges: Qualification Results and Full Opening