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IOP responds to 2024-2025 budget

30 October 2024

IOP chief executive welcomes commitment to teacher recruitment and protection of research and development funding.


Responding today following Chancellor Rachel Reeves' budget, Tom Grinyer, chief executive of the IOP, said:

On research and development: "We were pleased to hear the Chancellor talk about protecting research and development funding and reiterating the role of science and innovation in driving long-term growth in today's budget but would welcome clarity about what this will mean for research and innovation programmes and budgets, including Horizon funding.

“Having the clearest possible picture and safeguarding funding will help the UK's R&D and Higher Education community to work with Government on unlocking the transformative power of our science and innovation base through the Spring Spending Review and Industrial Strategy."

On school teachers: “It is also welcome to see the commitment to recruitment of 6,500 additional teachers in priority areas. There is a desperate need for more physics teachers with a shortage of around 3,500 across England.

“Given physics has witnessed some of the worst year-on-year teacher shortfalls of any subjects, we now need the government to be clear how many of these will be physics teachers and how this will be achieved."