Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of commercial agencies in the supply teaching sector; and whether she plans to provide funding for non-commercial operators in that sector.

Schools and local authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their supply teachers and are best placed to make decisions on this.

The supply market in England is large and diverse. It includes supply pools, direct recruitment and commercial agencies. Although the department does not hold data on the precise number of commercial agencies operating, agencies account for the majority of supply provision to schools.

The department is aware of the concern around agency fees and is working with the Crown Commercial Service on their agency supply deal, which supports schools to obtain value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary school staff. The deal has established a list of preferred suppliers that schools can access, all of which will be transparent with schools about the rates they charge.

There are currently no plans to provide funding for non-commercial operators in the sector. The department does, however, continue to conduct policy research into the supply market.