§ Virginia BottomleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment she has made of teacher shortages in Surrey; which are the shortage subjects and age groups; what steps she has taken to tackle teacher shortages in Surrey; and what the average sum per school is(a) in Surrey and (b) nationally allocated by her Department to deal with this. [7703]
§ Mr. TimmsThe Department collects statistics on teacher vacancies annually. In January this year the vacancy rate in Surrey was 1.4 per cent. compared with a rate of 1.3 per cent. in England as a whole. Officials have maintained regular contact with Surrey local education authority over recent months and I am pleased to be able to report that schools in Surrey are operating normally. Recruitment is more difficult in secondary schools, particularly in the shortage subject areas of mathematics, science, English, modern languages or technology. The Government have put in place a range of measures such as training bursaries, "Golden Hellos" and the welcome back bonus to boost teacher recruitment. We have provided £33 million in funding to be devolved to schools to put in place local recruitment and retention initiatives. Surrey received £650,000 from the recruitment and retention fund. Ninety per cent. of this was targeted at secondary schools giving an average of around £11,000 per secondary school in Surrey. In England the average allocation was around £9,000 per secondary school. The fund was targeted at areas of greatest need and not all schools will have received an allocation.