Written question WQ97913
- Asked by
- Natasha AsgharConservative
- To be answered by
- Cabinet Secretary for Education
- Tabled
- Due
- Answered
- Time to answer
- 21 days
Question
Will the Cabinet Secretary outline, for each local authority, between 1 September 2025 and 11 December 2025, a) the number of days supply teachers were used; b) the number of teaching hours missed due to teacher absence; and c) how many teacher absences were covered by a person without qualified teacher status?
Answer
Answered by Cabinet Secretary for Education
Under the 'Effective management of school workforce attendance' guidance local authorities are responsible for collating and disseminating individual and benchmarked absence data (including the financial impact), on an annual basis, to monitor workforce absence. We do not hold this data; nor do we hold data on spend on supply teachers.
Information on teacher sickness absences is available at:
Schools that choose to meet their supply teacher needs via agencies are encouraged to use agencies which are part of the Welsh Government Commercial Delivery (WGCD) Supply Agency Framework Agreement. The Framework provides fairer pay and conditions, professional development opportunities, and assurances that agencies have met agreed requirements.
The total spend is not Welsh Government expenditure, but Local Authority expenditure. The majority of the spend represents pay passed onto the workers, along with legislative costs of employment (pension, NI, etc.).
Spend on agencies through the Framework is shown below.
Supply Framework spend 2023-2025
Date range
Supply Framework total spend:
2023/24:
£114,713,913
2024/25:
£136,672,801