Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the reasons for the fall in the overall number of teachers in state-funded schools in 2024–25; and how they are spending the money raised by charging VAT on independent school fees.

Recruiting and retaining high-quality teachers is critical to the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity and boost the life chances for every child. 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.

We are already seeing positive signs that our investment in teacher recruitment and retention is starting to deliver. The workforce has grown by 2,346 full-time equivalent teachers between 2023/24 and 2024/25, in secondary and special schools, the schools where they are needed most. This includes 1,435 more secondary school teachers and 911 more special and pupil referral unit teachers compared to last year.

There are currently 4.6 million children in primary schools, 60,000 (1.3%) fewer than last year, down by around 172,000 (3.6%) compared to the 2018/19 peak, and numbers are forecasted to fall by another 165,000 (3.7%) between 2024/25 and 2027/28.

Measures to end private school tax breaks are expected to raise around £1.8 billion per year by 2029/30.

In the 2024/25 financial year, the department spent just over £600 million to support school teacher training, recruitment and retention.