§ Mr. BradyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many child-days of education have been lost in(a) 2000 and (b) 2001 as a result of teacher shortages. [154154]
§ Ms Estelle Morris[holding answer 16 March 2001]: This information is not held centrally.
The small number of schools, of which my Department is aware, that have had to send any classes home temporarily during the last year have done so for a range of reasons including teacher sickness, adverse weather conditions and the effects of the foot and mouth epidemic. It is impossible to be sure of the effect that any teacher shortages alone have had.
The number of regular teachers (excluding short-term supply) in the maintained schools sector in England at January 2000 was 404,600, the highest for 10 years and 6,900 higher than January 1998.
There was a growth of 2,300 in the number of people recruited to train is teachers between 1999–2000 and 2000–01, the first such increase since 1992–93.