Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the number of teaching assistants employed in schools in (a) England and (b) each region in each year since 2010.

Information on the school workforce in England and each region, including the number of teaching assistants, is published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistic at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.

As of November 2021 (the latest information available), there were 275,812 full-time equivalent teaching assistants in state-funded schools in England which is the highest on record. This represents an increase of 54,331 (24.5%) from 221,481 in the 2011/12 academic year, the first year that figures are available for.

Regional figures and a full time series can be found at the following link: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a22f98f7-9e51-4d1f-85d8-7a211ff01816.