§ Mr. Hattonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what would be the effect on teacher unemployment if all local education authorities maintained the 1975–76 pupil-teacher ratio during the financial year 1976–77.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonThe rate support grant settlement for 1976–77 made provision for expenditure on teachers' salaries sufficient to allow local education authorities to maintain in that year the staffing standards achieved in 1975–76. My Department does not yet have full information on local education authorities' employment intentions next September, but no reliable prediction can in any case be made of the level of teacher unemployment next year, because of other important uncertainties, such as wastage and re-entry rates, and the extent to which teachers seek other kinds of employment.