asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what the level of teacher unemployment is in each

		September	September	September	September	September
		1974	1975	1976	1977	1978
South East	…	684	1,271	2,391	3,818	3,140
East Anglia	…	82	73	161	256	273
South Western	…	315	478	659	1,102	1,287
West Midlands	…	241	486	701	891	845
East Midlands	…	102	179	358	560	573
Yorkshire and Humberside	…	167	267	562	1,213	1,165
North Western	…	294	462	987	1,669	1,716
Northern	…	204	298	667	1,015	978
Wales	…	123	241	489	871	1,120
England and Wales	…	2,212	3,755	6,975	11,395	11,097

These figures differ from those previously published since regional statistics provided by the Department of Employment exclude pre-primary and special school teachers.Teacher unemployment figures for Scotland and Northern Ireland are a matter for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and Northern Ireland respectively.The Government have taken a number of measures to alleviate teacher unemployment. Expenditure plans allow for an improvement over existing pupil-teacher ratios by additional margins to provide for the alleviation of the problems caused by falling rolls, extra staff for schools with disadvantaged pupils, and a growth in the provision of induction and in-service training ; courses have been introduced to retrain suitably qualified unemployed teachers to teach certain subjects in which

			Primary schools			Secondary schools
	1974	1975	1976	1977	1978	1978
North	24·5	23·4	23·0	22·9	22·5	16·9
Yorks·/Humberside	24·2	23·8	23·5	23·3	23·2	17·3
North West	26·0	24·9	24·4	24·5	24·2	16·8
East Midlands	24·3	24·9	24·7	24·7	24·4	17·1
West Midlands	25·6	25·1	24·8	24·6	24·2	16·8
East Anglia	24·1	23·7	23·7	23·6	23·5	17·6
Greater London	23·7	22·7	22·6	22·3	21·8	15·9
Other South East	24·9	24·3	24·2	24·2	24·1	17·2
South West	25·5	25·0	24·7	24·5	24·4	17·6
Average for England	24·9	24·2	24·0	23·9	23·6	16·9

The Government's expenditure plans provide for an improvement to existing pupil-teacher ratios.

The number of teachers in England and Wales who have registered with the Department of Employment as unemployed and seeking school teaching posts over the last five years is as follows:there is a shortage ; regulations now allow for the early retirement of teachers over 50 in the structural interests of the education service ; and the reduction in the size of the teacher training plant will reduce the flow of those competing for teaching jobs.