§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales (1) how many(a) primary and (b) high school teachers in Clwyd, in numbers and as a percentage, receive incentive allowances; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what is the percentage in each of the local education authorities of Wales of teachers receiving incentive allowances; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe latest information relates to March 1988 and is shown in the table.
Teachers receiving incentive allowances Number Percentage Clwyd— Primary/Nursery 243 25.6 Secondary 932 53.5 All Teachers1 Clwyd — 45.3 Dyfed — 36.0 Gwent — 37.3 Gwynedd — 34.3 Mid Glamorgan — 29.9 Powys — 33.1 South Glamorgan — 38.1 West Glamorgan — 38.4 1 All teachers includes teachers in Special schools, and excludes Headteachers and Deputy Headteachers.
§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what measures he intends to take to eliminate the shortage of primary school teachers in Clwyd; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter WalkerThe Government's role is to ensure that sufficient qualified teachers are available to meet employers' needs. It is the responsibility of local education authorities to ensure that teachers are recruited to meet the needs of schools in their areas. In responding to the survey of teaching vacancies in September this year, Clwyd did not indicate that there was a shortage of primary teachers in the county.
This year the intake of students to primary courses in initial teacher training institutions was over 15 per cent. higher than in 1988. In Welsh institutions the increase was 22 per cent. above the 1988 figure and 28 per cent. above the targets for those institutions. We have also invited bids 775W from LEAs in Wales for education support grant to assist with the cost of developing schemes of recruitment directed at meeting local shortages. No bid has been received from Clwyd.