Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the gender pay gap in the education sector.

The Department monitors reporting of the gender pay gap in schools and works with the Government Equalities Office and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to ensure schools comply with the reporting requirement.

Schools and colleges are responsible for implementing actions to reduce their gender pay gap. The Department expects schools and colleges, like all employers, to give due consideration to their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 and the way their employment practices affect different sections of their communities and staff at different stages of their careers.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the pay system for teachers is free from discrimination. To support schools in making appropriate pay decisions, the Department published guidance, drafted in partnership with the teaching unions, on handling equalities matters in the context of teachers pay. The Government is not responsible for and plays no role in setting or making recommendations about teacher pay in colleges. It is for individual colleges to set the pay of their staff.

The latest Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2022 data shows that the median pay gap in the UK between full time male and female 'teaching and education professionals' has fallen significantly over recent years from 7.2% in 2021 to 5.1% in 2022. 'Teaching and education professionals' includes teaching staff across early years, schools, further education, and higher education.

It is important to note universities, as autonomous institutions, are responsible for setting their own pay and conditions. Provisional data published by the Universities and Colleges Employers Association suggest the gender pay gap data for higher education has decreased from 20.7% in 2011/12 to 13.7% in 2021/22.