§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he plans any financial or other initiatives to promote the recruitment by education authorities of a greater number of teachers of physics and mathematics to secondary schools on the basis of salary levels higher than those currently being paid; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe Government have already accepted the case for an increase in teachers' pay to recruit, retain and motivate sufficient teachers of the right quality. We had the shortages of teachers in such subjects as mathematics and physics very much in mind in making our offer of additional resources for teachers' pay conditional upon a reform of the pay structure which would give employers greater flexibility to take account of the demand for specific skills and qualifications. I hope that forthcoming negotiations will soon make sufficient progress towards these objectives to justify the release of these resources. In the meantime we have sought to encourage more people to enter teacher training in these subjects, through the offer of bursaries worth £1,200 a year (tax free), to students entering one or two year courses in mathematics, physics or CDT.