asked the Secretary at State for Education and Science if he will take steps to attract recruits into subjects in teacher training establishments for which there is an actual or forecast shortfall, so as to correct the imbalance between supply and demand in the various subject specialities.

My Department launched last month a major publicity campaign for the scheme to train mature people from other professions, and to retrain qualified teachers, to teach mathematics, the physical sciences, craft design and technology, and business studies. This has attracted a considerable response. The Department is actively considering other initiatives, including further publicity which it might undertake, in collaboration with the teacher training institutions and the local education authorities, to increase the recruitment of suitably qualified students to courses of training to teach the shortage subjects.