§ Lord Bleaseasked Her Majesty's Government:
Why, at a time when teacher unemployment is on the increase, the Northern Ireland Teacher Unemployment Monitoring Group has not been convened since 16th February 1981; and whether the Department of Education for Northern Ireland has considered arranging a date for a meeting of the group.
The Earl of GowrieThe surveys of teacher unemployment which have been conducted biannually on behalf of the Teacher Unemployment Monitoring Group depend on the voluntary co-operation of persons registering as unemployed teachers. As a result of a refinement in the method of completing the November 1980 survey it was discovered that less than 48 per cent. of the persons registered on the relevant date had taken part in that survey. At the request of the monitoring group the Department of Education made special efforts to improve the participation rate in the March 1981 survey but this only succeeded in increasing the rate to 58 per cent. It was therefore decided to postpone a further meeting of the group until the November 1981 survey results were available. This survey has now been completed and it is intended that a meeting of the group should be arranged shortly.