A quality mark scheme for supply teacher agencies introduced this month will boost the quality of supply teachers, schools standards minister Stephen Timms has said.

The new scheme is to set minimum standards for agencies, including procedures for recruiting and interviewing staff, checking and managing teachers, and keeping up with changes in the education sector.

The new system will help agencies be “more confident” about the agencies they use, said Timms. “This system will encourage agencies to work hard at improving the way they recruit, develop and supply their teachers, and give schools and students a higher-quality service as a result.”

The quality mark is a “welcome” advance, and will increase trust between schools, parents and pupils, predicted Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) chief executive Tim Nicholson. It will ensure that agencies “have the appropriate support to do a first-class job.”

But TimePlan – the agency that placed Amy Gehring, the supply teacher who admitted having sex with a pupil – has warned that the scheme would not stop such a case happening again. TimePlan also criticised the voluntary nature of the scheme.

Marcia Roberts, external relations director of the REC, said that the market would decide its worth. She commented: “Once the scheme is up and running and there is greater awareness of its benefits, I am sure that schools will only want to deal with agencies that have the quality mark.” There may also be regulation on this issue in future in the wake of the Gehring case, she added.

The REC will administer the scheme and a list of agencies awarded the quality mark will be available on the REC’s website for schools to consult. Agencies can submit applications to the Department for Education and Skills from 1 June, in time for accreditation by the beginning of the school year in September.