Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 4 July 2017.
One of the issues raised by the report was the variable, inconsistent and complex picture of supply teaching. I was pleased to see that the Cabinet Secretary picked up all 10 recommendations, although she did recognise that care must be taken with regulating standards of commercial supply agencies. I’ve got a constituent who is a supply teacher who’s written to me, and she tells me that she’s employed through an agency who deduct a third of her salary before she takes it home. She also feels that supply teachers should be both recruited and employed by local authorities and/or by consortia. That’s her view. Can the First Minister confirm that the Government is, as he’s indicated, taking forward these recommendations and will press ahead with them imminently? But also, what can be done with regard to regulating agencies and achieving parity of esteem between supply teachers and their full-time equivalents?