Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to increase (a) recruitment and (b) retention of teachers in Stoke-on-Trent.

It is a top priority of the Government to ensure the whole country has a strong teaching workforce. In January 2019, the Department launched the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy. Whilst implementation of these commitments will support all schools, the Department recognises that some schools and local areas face greater challenges with recruitment and retention than others.

To supplement the national strategy, we are delivering targeted programmes to support recruitment and retention in challenging areas, including funding a range of regionally targeted financial incentives. For example, in financial years 2017 to 2019, £20 million of scholarship funding was made available to support teachers and head teachers in certain areas to take up a National Professional Qualification to support their professional development. Teachers and head teachers in schools in Stoke-on-Trent were eligible for this funding.

Stoke-on-Trent is also one of the areas where eligible mathematics and physics teachers can claim a £2,000 retention payment in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 academic years. Eligible mathematics, physics, chemistry, and languages teachers in Stoke-on-Trent can apply for larger early-career payments of £7,500. Finally, Stoke-on-Trent is one of 25 local authorities where eligible languages, physics, chemistry, biology, and computing teachers can claim back student loan repayments.