§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he has evidence of a growth in the use by local education authorities of fixed term nonpermanent contracts for the employment of teachers.
§ Mr. Chris PattenThe Department does not collect information about the incidence of fixed-term contracts among those who return to teaching employment after a period of absence, and it has only recently begun to collect such data for newly qualified teachers. We estimate that about 12 per cent. of the newly qualified teachers taking up positions in schools in England and Wales in 1984 were appointed on a temporary basis, but we are not yet in a position to identify any trend in such appointments.