Teacher Shortages (Hansard, 4 July 1989)

§ 6. Ms. Gordon
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what discussions he has had with the Inner London education authority about teacher shortages.

§ The Minister of State, Department of Education and Science (Mrs. Angela Rumbold)
My right hon. Friend met a delegation from the ILEA, led by the right hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Stepney (Mr. Shore), on 13 June. I held a meeting with leaders of the inner London councils on 19 June. On both occasions, practical solutions to the shortages of teachers in London were discussed.

§ Ms. Gordon
Does the Minister realise that qualified teachers are leaving the profession in droves; that former colleagues who are devoted teachers repeatedly tell me that they feel that they are used as scapegoats and are under intolerable pressures; that in Tower Hamlets, where my constituency is located, 30 per cent. of the teaching staff —[HON. MEMBERS: "Reading".]—have handed in their resignations; that there are at least 300 children without school places that we know of, and many more that we do not know of; that the birth rate is increasing by 20 per cent.; that there are about 1,000 children who will not have school teachers when the next term comes; and that parents who are lucky enough to know that their children will have teachers are receiving letters from headteachers saying that they cannot guarantee—[Interruption.]

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. Will the hon. Lady make it brief, please?

§ Ms. Gordon
I shall make it as brief as I can, Mr. Speaker.
Their teachers say that they cannot guarantee to operate the national curriculum, and are telling parents that there are a series of unacceptable measures such as sending children home on a rota basis.

§ Mr. Speaker
Order. I think that that is enough. [HON. MEMBERS: "Sit down."] I think that the hon. Lady should do so, in fairness to others.

§ Mrs. Rumbold
I know that the hon. Lady feels very strongly about these matters. I should tell her that the interim advisory committee, which studied teacher recruitment most recently, came up with exactly the same figures as it produced last year, and the evidence suggests that only 1 per cent. of the total teaching force leaves the profession.
When we discussed the matter with both ILEA and individual leaders of the inner London authorities that are taking over responsibility, we talked about methods of recruitment and retention. I remind the hon. Lady that recruiting teachers is a long-term planning matter, and I therefore rather regret that ILEA did not take it up earlier.

§ Mr. Tracey
Has my hon. Friend suggested to teachers—and, indeed, parents—that life will be much better under the new education authorities, especially when they are Conservative controlled?

§ Mrs. Rumbold
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. There is no doubt that the new education authorities, which are working hard in planning both for teacher recruitment and for the delivery of education to children in their boroughs, will provide much better education, especially in the Conservative-controlled boroughs.

§ Mr. Straw
Is the Minister aware that last Thursday, when I asked the Secretary of State how many teachers had submitted their resignations by 31 May 1989, the right hon. Gentleman replied in a written answer that the information was not available, and that the latest data on teacher resignations related to the year ending March 1987? How can the Secretary of State and the Minister dare to evade blame for the major and growing teacher crisis in inner London and elsewhere when, on the Secretary of State's admission, the information that he and the Minister have obtained on resignations is more than two years old?

§ Mrs. Rumbold
The information to which we referred was collected by ILEA. It is wrong to say that responsibility for the planning and recruitment of teacher numbers lies with the Government; the local education authorities are the managers of the education service within their areas, and they know perfectly well that it takes at least a term to plan recruitment. ILEA, along with every other local authority, should have looked at the problem much earlier.