Written questions by Slinger.

What support her Department gives to qualified peripatetic and school music teachers to help them deliver music lessons.

Awaiting answer.

What evidence her Department has on the potential impact of banning smartphone use in schools.

Mobile phones have no place in school and school leaders already have the power to ban them. The department’s guidance on mobile phones in schools, published in February 2024, is clear that schools should prohibit the use of devices with smart technology throughout the school day, including during lessons, transitions and breaks.The department expects all schools to take steps in line with this guidance to ensure mobile phones do not disrupt pupils’ learning.Research from the Children’s Commissioner, with responses from nearly all schools and colleges in England, shows that the overwhelming majority of schools (99.8% of primary schools and 90% of secondary schools) already have policies in place that limit or restrict the use of mobile phones during the school day.

What steps her Department is taking to help further education colleges recruit vocational teachers from industry.

The department recognises that industry experience is vital in the high quality teaching of vocational and technical education.The national further education teacher recruitment campaign, “Share Your Skills”, targets those with industry skills to think about a career in FE teaching. Through Taking Teaching Further (TTF), a two-year programme that supports FE providers to recruit and provide early career support to those with industry knowledge and experience, we are supporting colleges to equip new teachers with the skills they need. In addition the Teacher Mentoring Programme is helping to improve retention of early career teachers providing mentoring and wellbeing support.We are delivering payments worth up to £6,000 after tax to eligible early career teachers in key STEM and technical subjects in FE colleges, which could include those transitioning to teaching from industry. Furthermore, we continue to offer financial incentives for those undertaking teacher training for the FE sector in priority subject areas. For the academic year 2024 to 2025, training bursaries are worth up to £30,000 each, tax free.

What support her Department provides to further education colleges to help them recruit staff from (a) industry and (b) generally to improve vocational skills development.

The department is supporting colleges in their recruitment and training of teachers, including those with industry experience.The department is delivering Taking Teaching Further, which is a two-year programme that supports further education (FE) providers to recruit and provide early career support to those with the relevant knowledge and/or industry experience to retrain as FE teachers, with the aim to boost the quality and industry-relevance of teaching. We are supporting early career teachers with the Teacher Mentoring Programme, which aims to increase the retention rates of early career teachers by improving the package of support for new and inexperienced teachers, including mentoring and wellbeing support.The department will be delivering payments worth up to £6,000 to eligible early career teachers in key science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and technical subjects in FE colleges, which could include those transitioning to teaching from industry.The national FE teacher recruitment campaign, Share Your Skills, targets those with industry skills to think about a career in FE teaching. The campaign raises awareness and increases consideration by encouraging industry professionals to think about using their skills to teach in FE. Potential FE teachers can get information and support on their next steps toward a career in FE teaching from a dedicated campaign website, phone, and email service.