§ Mr. BercowTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what is the cost of the new pay structure for teachers; and what effect it has had on recruitment and retention of staff. [14080]
§ Mr. TimmsOver 200,000 teachers in England applied to cross the performance threshold in the first round, some 80 per cent. of those who were eligible to apply. Of these, nearly 195,000 were assessed as meeting the threshold standards and are now receiving over £400 million per year in associated pay increases.
715WWe intend to introduce a new grant to contribute towards performance points for leadership group members, post-threshold teachers and high performers on the main scale. We intend to make available £100 million in financial year 2002–03 and £150 million in 2003–04, in addition to existing threshold funding.
The future cost of the new pay structure will depend on the number of teachers applying for and crossing the threshold, and being awarded performance points.
The long-term effect of pay restructuring is not yet clear, but the impact of the Government's policies as a whole is that we had 11,000 more teachers in January 2001 than in 1997.