Teachers' pay

Schools suffering from teacher shortages should have greater powers to pay their staff more, an all-party committee of MPs was expected to recommend on Tuesday.

The Commons education select committee will back controversial plans to move further away from national pay rates for teachers to enable struggling schools to recruit and keep the best staff - a problem found in underprivileged areas or at schools with poor academic results.

Government Response: Department for Education and Skills

David Miliband School Standards Minister, said: "The current pay and incentives package is helping to attract record numbers into teaching.

"Teachers' salaries already operate on a regional basis with four separate pay scales for inner London, outer London, the fringe and the rest of England and Wales," he said.

"In addition schools can also be flexible in the pay decisions they make by giving teachers recruitment and retention incentives, benefits to meet local needs and circumstances, and make decisions on teachers' pay progression."

Party Response: Conservative

Tim Collins, shadow education secretary, said: "While this report is pushing the debate on teachers' pay in the right direction it will, if implemented, create a two tier system between those schools that can set their own pay and those that can't.