§ 23. Harry CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will make a statement on the support she offers for recruitment of teachers in London, with special reference to allowing for the cost of living. [50369]
§ Mr. TimmsLondon allowances for teachers increased by 30 per cent. last year, and by a further 3.5 per cent. this April. The allowance for a teacher in inner London is now £3,105. London teachers will also benefit from shortening of the main pay scale from 9 points to 6, which will mean more rapid progression to the threshold. Assimilation to this new scale will mean significant benefits for many teachers from 1 September this year. For example, an inner London teacher now on £25,911 will receive £28,818 on the new scale—a basic pay increase of over 11 per cent., in addition to the 3.5 per cent, received on 1 April this year.
For post-threshold classroom teachers in inner London, salaries are now at £30,966 before any additions for management responsibilities or recruitment and retention allowances. Schools may pay recruitment and retention allowances of up to £5,262 per annum, both for threshold and main scale teachers.
409WIt is open to local authorities to help teachers with housing, relocation or travel costs. We are helping with more than £42 million available direct to London schools in 2001–02 and 2002–03 through our Recruitment and Retention Fund. We also expect that more than 1,500 teachers in the London area will have benefited from our new Starter Homes Initiative by 2004. We have also recently funded the establishment of a teacher recruitment and retention Unit within the Government Office for London, which will focus initially on affordable housing for teachers.