§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what are the guidelines issued by his Department to local education authorities with regard to using private recruitment agencies to provide supply teachers to state sector schools; what quality controls exist to ensure that supply teachers provided in this way meet the necessary standards required of teachers in state schools, in terms of professional competence and record of conduct; and what assessment he has made of whether children are vulnerable to being taught by unsuitable teachers as a result of the recruitment system. [14687]
§ Mr. RichardsThe responsibility for the appointment and continued employment of teachers is primarily for local education authorities and school governing bodies. The Welsh Office has not issued guidance to them on the use of private recruitment agencies although consideration is being given to the issue of such guidance. LEAs and schools should ensure that all the necessary checks, including those in relation to the qualifications of teachers and their past employment record, have been carried out before an individual is recruited to a teaching post in a maintained school; this applies regardless of the method of recruitment used. It is, amongst other things, a statutory requirement that teachers employed to teach in maintained 345W schools in England and Wales have qualified teacher status.