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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to encourage professionals from the private sector to train as teachers.

Nick Gibb

Professionals are an important source of new teachers and bring relevant knowledge and skills from their previous employment. In 2015/16, 45% of new entrants to initial teacher training (ITT) courses were aged 25 or over. To attract more potential career changers, our marketing campaign, Your Future | Their Future, uses a range of media including television advertising, national newspaper advertising and targeted digital and print communications.

We provide support specifically for career changers to make the transition to teaching, especially in the subjects where they are needed most, including:

• The School Direct (salaried) route which is specifically targeted at career changers with three years’ work experience and allows them to earn a salary whilst they train to teach. We provide grant funding to schools to subsidise the costs of salary and training for trainees on this route.

• Our new flexible routes pilot from September 2016, which will allow career changers to train as maths and physics teachers. The pilot, which is delivered by 18 School Direct lead schools, will test whether schools can attract more career changers by offering flexible training routes which meet the needs of different individuals.

In addition, career changers can access extensive support that is available for all ITT candidates. This includes bursaries or scholarships of up to £30,000 tax-free; advice and guidance from the expert advisers on the Get Into Teaching Line; help with arranging school experience to assist with their ITT application; and access to our free Train to Teach events.

Those who wish to teach secondary biology, geography, mathematics, physics, chemistry, languages or computing are also eligible for our enhanced Premier Plus service. This includes tailored advice from a dedicated adviser, including the practicalities that often affect career changers, such as childcare funding. Applicants who wish to teach these subjects can also access funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement (SKE) courses, through which they can boost or refresh their subject knowledge.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on opening up school facilities to the local community for use outside the school day.

Nick Gibb

Schools play an important role in supporting their local communities and often make land available in various ways for a variety of community uses alongside their core education purpose.

We support these efforts and the academy funding agreement contains a specific provision stating that “the Academy Trust must ensure that the academy is at the heart of its community, promoting community cohesion and sharing facilities with other schools and the wider community”.

Decisions on making specific facilities available are for the individual school.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to reduce costs incurred by schools which were built under the Private Finance Initiative.

Edward Timpson

Local authorities are responsible for their own Private Finance Initiative contracts and are encouraged to seek savings in the context of those contracts.

The Department is working closely with Her Majesty’s Treasury to develop guidance to demonstrate how local authorities may make savings.

The Department continues to work closely with local authorities to assist in identifying and securing savings.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Justin Tomlinson on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to encourage the recruitment of more male teachers.

Nick Gibb

We value diversity in the workforce but want the best people in the classroom, regardless of their gender; evidence shows that the quality of teaching is the single most important factor in determining how well pupils achieve.

Recent figures show that between 2011 and 2015 the number of male teachers (FTE) has increased from 115,000 to over 119,000. In 2015, 26 per cent of teachers in publicly funded schools in England were male; this proportion has remained broadly stable over time.

The proportion of entrants to primary postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) in 2015/16 that are male is 22 per cent, an increase of 1 percentage point since 2010/11. The proportion of entrants to secondary postgraduate ITT courses in 2015/16 that are male is 40 per cent, an increase of 2 percentage points since 2010/11. 34 per cent of entrants to the School Direct (salaried) scheme in 2015/16 are male.

It is the responsibility of schools and employers to comply with the requirements of the Equality Act 2010. Guidance for schools on the Act is available online.