Teachers (Hansard, 12 March 2003)

§ Mr. Laws
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of teachers retire at or before age 60 years; and if he will make a statement. [99818]
301W

§ Mr. Miliband
Early retirement is available to teachers between the ages of 50 and 59. During 2001–02, 3,450 teachers under the age of 60 who had been employed in the maintained schools sector in England were awarded early payment of retirement benefits. This represents around 3 per cent. of the teaching work force in the 50–59 age range. In addition, 1,760 teachers in the 50–59 age range and 580 teachers aged under 50 were awarded ill-health retirement benefits on the grounds of permanent incapacity.

§ Mr. Andrew Mitchell
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many teachers(a) left the teaching profession and (b) there have been in(i) Sutton Coldfield and (ii) the UK in each year since 1997; [100673]
(2) how many teacher vacancies there were in Sutton Coldfield in each year since 1997. [100674]

§ Mr. Miliband
Information on teacher numbers and vacancies is collected at local authority level. The table provides information for Birmingham local education authority at January of each year:

Year FTE regular teachers¹ Vacancies²

1997 9,910 32

1998 9,800 37

1999 9,760 73

2000 9,880 63

2001 10,220 83

2002 10,440 202

¹ Full-time equivalent regular teachers in post in the maintained schools sector.

² Advertised vacancies for full-time permanent appointments (or appointments of at least one term's duration) in maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools.

Note:
Includes vacancies being filled on a temporary basis unless filled by someone with a fixed term contract of one term or more.
Source
DfES annual 618G survey.
The following table shows the numbers of teachers leaving full-time¹ or part- time² service in the maintained schools sector in Birmingham and in England. The information is not available at constituency level.
The devolved Administrations are responsible for providing information on teachers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
¹ Leavers are those who were in full-time or part-time teaching in the maintained schools sector immediately before the period shown, who were not in service in that sector at the end of the period shown. Teachers leaving are based on pension returns. Some teachers may have moved from known service to service not recorded on the teacher pension return. Some leavers will be taking career breaks and will return to service at a later date.
² Around 10–20 per cent. of part-timers may not be included.

1 April–31 March

1996–97 1997–98¹ 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01

Birmingham 730 850 610 810 ^2.3—

England 35,650 39,050 31,910 34,930 35,440

¹ Higher than usual numbers of premature retirements, following changes to the retirement regulations, contributed to the high levels of leavers in 1997–98.

² The most recent data available at LEA level are for 1999–2000.

³ Not available

Source
DfES Database of Teacher Records.

Year	FTE regular teachers¹	Vacancies²
1997	9,910	32
1998	9,800	37
1999	9,760	73
2000	9,880	63
2001	10,220	83
2002	10,440	202
¹ Full-time equivalent regular teachers in post in the maintained schools sector.
² Advertised vacancies for full-time permanent appointments (or appointments of at least one term's duration) in maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools.

1 April–31 March
	1996–97	1997–98¹	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01
Birmingham	730	850	610	810	^2.3—
England	35,650	39,050	31,910	34,930	35,440
¹ Higher than usual numbers of premature retirements, following changes to the retirement regulations, contributed to the high levels of leavers in 1997–98.
² The most recent data available at LEA level are for 1999–2000.
³ Not available