Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of establishing a national pay scale for teaching assistants.

The government believes that decisions on the use, deployment, and pay of teaching assistants are best made in a way that reflects local needs.

Support staff rates of pay are determined by employers: in maintained schools, these will be set by the local authority; in Academies and Free Schools, these will be set by school or the Trust.