Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase the number of graduates taking up teaching positions in infant and primary schools in England.

The number of teachers is at an all-time high: there are now 457,300 full time equivalent teachers, up 15,500 from 2010, and 222,400 full time equivalent nursery and primary teachers, up 26,000 from 2010.

We have also recruited more than 32,000 new trainee teachers this year. We have successfully recruited more postgraduate primary trainees than last year – 12,905 up from 11,290 the year before – an increase of 1,615 (14%). In the same period, the primary target also increased by 6% to 12,121, meaning 106% of the primary target was achieved. In addition, we have recruited 595 new entrants to Early Years Initial Teacher Training in academic year 2017 to 2018.

The Government continues to offer a number of generous financial incentives to encourage recruitment of high quality teachers, including the Primary Maths bursary that is available for trainees on a Primary General with Maths or Primary Maths Specialist Initial Teacher Training course.