Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the number of posts for teaching (a) English and (b) mathematics in further education colleges that are (i) unfilled and (ii) filled by teachers without a qualification in those subjects.

The Department for Education does not hold this information. The Further Education sector is independent of government and we do not collect information about the numbers of English and Mathematics posts in further education colleges that are unfilled, or filled by teachers without a qualification in those subjects.

Both the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills have had ongoing discussions with FE stakeholder organisations about our continued support for an increase in the numbers of well qualified and skilled teachers of English and Mathematics in the sector, as we set out in our FE Workforce Strategy.