Will the hon. Gentleman confirm that this is a desperately serious problem? Is he aware that the county of Lanarkshire is 300 teachers short and that the shortage is badly distributed, so that certain areas such as Shotts and Chryston are bearing a very heavy share of the burden arising from this shortage of teachers?

Will the hon. Gentleman look into the need to help the county with a view to distributing teachers to priority areas, and will he immediately increase the allowance to teachers in designated schools?