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This report sets out the expenditure and performance of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) over the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

Teaching Regulation Agency An executive agency of the Department for Education Annual Report and Accounts For the year ended 31 March 2021Page intentionally left blank Teaching Regulation Agency Annual Report and Accounts For the year ended 31 March 2021 An executive agency of the Department for Education 3 Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 15 July 2021. Accounts presented to the House of Commons pursuant to Section 6(4) of the Government Resources and Accounts Act 2000. Annual Report presented to the House of Commons by Command of Her Majesty. HC 482© Crown copyright 2021 This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned. This publication is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to us at: Ministerial and Public Communications Division, Department for Education, Piccadilly Gate, Store Street, Manchester M1 2WD or at www.education.gov.uk/contactus ISBN 978-1-5286-2769-6 CCS0621821282 Follow us on Twitter: @educationgovuk Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/educationgovuk Printed on paper containing 75% recycled fibre content minimum Printed in the UK by the APS Group on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office 4 Contents 5 Performance Report 7 Overview 8 Accounting Officer’s review 9 Financial review of the year 23 Accountability Report 29 Corporate governance report 30 Governance statement 33 Remuneration and staff report 41 Parliamentary accountability and audit report 56 The Certificate of the Comptroller & Auditor General to the House of Commons 57 Financial Statements 63 Statement of Comprehensive Net Expenditure 64 Statement of Financial Position 65 Statement of Cash Flows 66 Statement of Changes in Taxpayers’ Equity 67 Notes to the accounts 68 Annexes 75Performance Report 7 Overview This annual report and accounts (ARA) covers the operation of the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA or the Agency), as an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE or the Department), for the year ending 31 March 2021. Vision, mission, and core principles The Department’s overall vision is to provide world-class education, training and care for everyone, whatever their background. It will make sure that everyone has the chance to reach their potential and live a more fulfilled life. It will also create a more productive economy, so that our country is fit for the future. We support this by striving to achieve excellence in all that we do acting as the competent authority for teaching in England and providing a fair and consistent regulatory system for the teaching profession on behalf of the Secretary of State. We do this by: • awar ding qualified teacher status (QTS) to teachers who successfully complete initial teacher training (ITT), and early years teacher status (EYTS) to individuals who complete early years ITT • assessing applications r eceived from teachers trained outside of England for recognition of professional status fairly and efficiently • r egulating the teaching profession through fair, rigorous and timely teacher misconduct investigations and professional conduct panel hearings and meetings 1 to enable schools to meet their safeguarding responsibilities These activities maintain the high-quality standards of the profession, allowing every child access to high-quality education. Key performance indicators The Agency has ten key performance indicators (KPI’s), six of which have been met this year. Of the remaining four, the performance of two were impacted by COVID-19, and the Agency put in place measures during 2020-21 to reduce further delays. The remaining two achieved an outcome of 99.9% against the 100% target with both having improved performance on previous years. Further details can be found on page 13. 8 | Teaching Regulation Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 1 https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/886210/Teacher_ misconduct_Disciplinary_Procedures_for_the_teaching_profession.pdf#page=39100% TQU will process all QTS recommendations from ITT providers, and make the outcomes available on the central record of qualified teachers within two working days of receipt 100% TQU will process all induction results submitted by appropriate bodies, and make the outcomes available on the central record of qualified teachers within two working days of receipt 99.6% The central record of qualified teachers will be available to users for 98% of the reporting year 99.9% Initial Assessment: 100% of European Economic Area (EEA) and Switzerland applications initially assessed within the 20 working days service level agreement 99.9% Award/Decline decision: 100% of applications completed within 90 working days for EEA, and 20 working days for OTT as specified in service level agreements 100% Teacher Qualification Helpdesk: 100% of helpdesk emails responded to within five working days of receipt 9 Teaching Regulation Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 |Accounting Officer’s review The Agency continues to work with the unprecedented challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the Department took the decision to close all offices, and staff were required to work from home. As a result, all professional conduct panel hearings were postponed. The Teacher Misconduct Unit (TMU) continued to act on referrals and progress casework investigations up to the point of a hearing. Interim prohibition orders (IPOs) continued to be imposed as required. The work of the Teacher Qualification Unit (TQU) was largely unaffected by the pandemic and continued to deliver all its functions including its telephone helpdesk whilst operating remotely. Due to hearings being postponed, we initiated a plan to restart them in a way that was fair and safe for all involved. We worked collaboratively with teachers, departmental policy and legal colleagues, trade unions, contracted legal firms and independent panellists to establish virtual hearings, with the option of the teacher being co-located with their legal representative. We liaised with other regulators regarding conducting virtual hearings, and undertook equalities impact assessments to ensure the changes did not disadvantage those with protected characteristics. Virtual panel meetings and hearings commenced in September and November 2020 respectively, and continued throughout the year. We plan to continue with a combined model of virtual and face to face hearings during 2021-22. I gave evidence at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) on 23 November 2020. The evidence session explored the role of the TRA in receiving, investigating and conducting hearings. Further information on the Inquiry can be found on their website 2. Weekly all staff meetings were introduced, for staff to catch up with one another, and as Chief Executive I had six-monthly calls with each staff member. All staff meetings continued monthly and were used as a forum to provide information to staff on working effectively from home and support their wellbeing. In addition to this, we put in place confidential routes for raising any issues arising from working from home, and to check in with vulnerable colleagues on a regular basis. A Microsoft Teams channel was set up to actively provide support for staff. Alan Meyrick 1 July 2021 Chief Executive and Accounting Officer 10 | Teaching Regulation Agency Annual Report and Accounts 2020-21 2 https://www.iicsa.org.uk/InvestigationsStatement of purpose and activities Our purpose is to support employers, schools and headteachers with safeguarding responsibilities, as set out in our 2018-21 Corporate Plan 3. We also, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education (Secretary of State), act as the competent authority for teaching in England. Teaching in England is a regulated profession, and legislation sets out what training a teacher has to undertake in order to teach in schools, sixth form colleges, children’s homes and relevant youth accommodation. We are responsible for awarding QTS to teachers trained in England, and EYTS to individuals who have completed their early years teacher training. We are also responsible for the professional recognition of teachers who have qualified outside of England. We maintain the central record of qualified teachers which provides employers the opportunity to complete pre-employment checks to ensure that they are employing teachers who are appropriately qualified for their role. The TRA operates the regulatory system for teacher misconduct, as defined by The Teachers’ Disciplinary (England) Regulations 2012 and as amended by The Teachers’ Disciplinary (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2014 4 5. Teachers are one of the most significant factors in a child’s education. The overwhelming majority are highly competent and effective, and never engage in any form of serious misconduct. For the small minority which do, the TRA is responsible for: • investigating serious misconduct, where a teacher’s alleged behaviour is fundamentally incompatible with being a teacher, and could lead to them being prohibited from teaching and • pr ohibiting teachers from teaching who have been found to have committed serious misconduct Headteachers and governing bodies are responsible for managing teachers in relation to: • their competence and conduct, and taking action to address underperformance and • misconduct in their schools The Disclosure and Barring Service (D