Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help support the recruitment of teachers in (a) Eastbourne constituency and (b) East Sussex.

High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest impact on children’s outcomes. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges over the course of this Parliament.

To support this key pledge, we recently announced a 4% pay award for 2025/26, building on the 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, resulting in a near 10% pay award for teachers since this government came to power. We also announced a teacher training financial incentives package worth nearly £233 million, including bursaries worth up to £29,000 tax-free, and scholarships up to £31,000 tax free. We also announced targeted retention payments worth up to £6000, with 10 schools in the Eastbourne constituency, and 31 schools in East Sussex qualifying for these.

The teaching workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers, between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools. In Eastbourne constituency there are 30 more secondary and special school teachers, with 457 FTE teachers this year.