Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 25
38th Report - Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further education
Published 9 Jul 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further education All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
In 2023–24, 46% of secondary schools in England reported at least one vacant teaching position, more than double the figure of 17% in 2010–11.72 When we asked the Department how this has affected student outcomes, it told us the quality of teaching was the “single most significant factor” in schools impacting pupil’s achievement.73 However, the Department commented that it sees variation across schools in, for example, pupil- teacher ratios and retention rates. Vacancy rates can be a result of how schools use funding on, for example, supply teachers.74 The Department described significant variation across vacancies in certain specialisms and subjects with, for example, more vacancies for Computing teachers (1.4% vacancy rate) compared to all secondary school subjects (0.8%).75 Schools and further education colleges are responsible for deciding the 66 Qq 59-62 67 C&AG’s Report, 2.7 68 Qq 15, 17 69 C&AG’s Report, para 2.32 70 What is a teacher’s pension? | New Starter | Teachers’ Pensions 71 C&AG’s Report, para 2.10 72 C&AG’s Report, para 1.8 73 Q 3 74 Qq 38, 53, 55 75 Qq 3-5 19 staff they need and recruiting their own workforces. Local authorities employ teachers in maintained schools. Multi-academy trusts play a similar role in the academies sector. Further education colleges also employ their own teachers.76
From: Public Accounts Committee, 38th Report - Increasing teacher numbers: Secondary and further education (HC 825), 9 July 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-eighth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 9 September 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Thirty-eighth report from Session 2024-26
Published 15 October 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations on increasing secondary and further education teacher numbers, and gives target implementation dates between November 2025 and December 2026.
- On the pledge of 6,500 additional teachers, the department "will set out more detail" in a published delivery plan covering the definition of the pledge, tracking of progress, progress to date and the levers it will use, including recruitment and retention.
- On a whole-system strategy, it points to upcoming publications (the Schools White Paper, the 6,500 delivery plan and the post-16 education and skills strategy) and says it is "embedding value for money analysis" into major initiatives.
- On further education, it commits to update the Committee "every 6 months" on progress in recruiting and retaining FE teachers, with a first step being the 6,500 delivery plan.
- On behaviour hubs, it says "further rollout and funding are subject to spending review outcomes and evaluation findings".