Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the extent of variation in the numbers of teacher vacancies between parts of England.

The number of full time teacher vacancies in state-funded schools in England in November 2014 was 1,030 and the vacancy rate was 0.3%. November 2015 data will be available at the end of June 2016.

The information for school, region and local authority level is published in the underlying data as part of the statistical first release ‘School Workforce in England, November 2014’ which is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-workforce-in-england-november-2014

Although the national teacher vacancy rate remains low, we are aware that schools in some parts of the country are finding it more challenging to recruit teachers, particularly as the economy improves. Our recent White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, sets out our plans to ensure that there are good teachers everywhere they are needed. This includes the launch of the National Teaching Service that will, by 2020, place up to 1,500 outstanding teachers and middle leaders in the schools that struggle most to recruit and retain good teachers.