Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what research his Department commissioned in each of the last ten years on the role and cost-effectiveness of (a) teaching assistants, (b) other school support staff and (c) other school support staff; and if he will publish that research.

The department conducts research to inform its policy for teaching assistants and support staff. Some of this, such as ‘The deployment of teaching assistants in schools’ from 2019, is published. This report can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-deployment-of-teaching-assistants-in-schools.

Other research is held within the department and is used to inform ongoing policy development. The department does not publish research where it relates to live policy considerations. The department may of course publish this in the future.