To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures his Department is taking to tackle shortages of head teachers in secondary schools. (96190)

Since 1997, secondary head teacher vacancies have remained low and fairly stable–0.9 per cent. (30 posts) in January 2006. However, we are aware that some schools find it more difficult than others to recruit head teachers, and that demographic issues may make it harder in future. Through our work with the National College for School Leadership and other steps, such as the PriceWaterhouseCoopers study into school leadership, we are working to address this.