§ Mr. HancockTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what her estimate is of the number of secondary teachers that will be needed in schools in England in 2005. [51628]
§ Mr. TimmsHead teachers and governing bodies are best placed to decide on their schools' staffing requirements in the light of local circumstances and the available resources. For their part, the Government are working to improve the overall total number of teachers available for appointment and to increase the funding available to schools to pay for them.
Between January 1997 and January 2001, the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers working in the maintained schools sector in England rose by 10,990. Of those, 7,250 were employed in secondary schools. The Government have pledged to secure a further increase for the maintained sector of at least 10,000 regular teachers by 2006. The proposals to make more creative use of school support staff that my right hon. Friend described in her speech to the Social Market Foundation on 12 November will help to ensure that schools are able to use these teachers' professional skills to maximum effect.