Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure schools have equitable access to (a) capital funding and (b) teacher recruitment incentives in the North East.

The department is committed to ensuring all schools, including those in the North East, have equitable access to funding for capital and teacher recruitment incentives.

This government has given a long-term commitment to improve the condition of our schools and colleges across England. We are investing almost £3 billion per year by 2034/35 in capital maintenance and renewal to improve the condition of the school and college estate, rising from £2.4 billion in 2025/26. Funding is allocated on a consistent basis across the country, partly informed by data on the relative condition of schools. Information on capital funding and methodology can be found on GOV.UK. We are also investing almost £20 billion through to 2034/35 to continue and expand the School Rebuilding Programme.

The department is offering trainee bursaries worth £29,000 tax-free and scholarships worth up to £31,000 tax-free to encourage more talented people to train to teach key subjects such as mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing. We are also offering a Targeted Retention Incentive worth up to £6,000 after tax for mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing teachers in the first five years of their careers who work in disadvantaged schools. In the North East,179 schools are eligible for this incentive.