§ Tom CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will make a statement on recruitment and retention of primary and secondary school teachers at schools in the Greater London area. [179039]
§ Mr. MilibandRecruitment and retention of both primary and secondary teachers across the Greater London area has improved considerably over the last couple of years. The provisional figures for 2004 show an increase of a further 600 FTE teachers across London taking the total to 61,500, compared to the figure in 1997 of 56,800. The full-time vacancy rates across all the maintained sectors—nursery, primary, secondary and special schools have dropped each year from 3.5 per cent. in 2001 to a provisional 1.4 per cent. in 2004; leaving a total of 680 vacancies across London as at January this year.