Asked by
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of
the impact of removing the admissions cap on state-funded faith
schools on community integration and cohesion.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for
Education () (Con)
My Lords, the admissions cap has not significantly increased the
diversity of intake in faith-designated free schools, and it has
prevented providers such as the Catholic Church, which attracts a
more diverse intake, opening new schools. All faith-designated
free schools are required to demonstrate their commitment to
community cohesion and how they promote fundamental British
values.
(LD)
My Lords, this policy would increase religious discrimination in
schools that the British taxpayer is paying for. Many parents
will be paying for local schools from which their own children
will be excluded. It will diminish diversity and inclusiveness,
increase racial segregation and further disadvantage poorer
families, non-religious families, and families of the “wrong”
religion. It is hard to find an upside to this, so why are the
Government proposing such a retrograde step when they supported
the 50% cap until only a short time ago?
(Con)
The Government do not see it as a retrograde step and I do not
accept the description that the noble Baroness makes of our faith
schools, which are extremely inclusive, many working with other
schools in their local area, and which produce some of the best
academic results in the country.
(Con)
My Lords, does the Minister appreciate that it has never been
Tory policy to advocate 100% faith schools? No Tory Education
Secretary since 1945 has advocated them. They have preferred the
model of the Church of England schools, which welcome children of
no faith and all faiths. Indeed, I went to such a school myself
during the war; my primary school was Holy Trinity in Southport,
which was a community school. It so happened that my closest
friend at that school was the single Jewish boy, who was a
refugee. We became very close friends. I learned from then on
that Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus at school should all
study alongside each other, play with each other, eat with each
other and go home with each other as members of a multicultural
society.
Does the Minister realise that, if this goes through, it will be
not only Catholics but Muslims who apply for independent, free
faith schools. Does she really consider that appropriate in our
country at this time in our history? This is an absurd proposal
and it should not feature in any way in the manifesto of the
Conservative Party at the election.
(Con)
With the greatest respect to my noble friend, I think there may
be a slight misunderstanding, so it might perhaps help the House
if I explain what the Government are proposing. They are
proposing to make no change whatever to existing schools, faith
schools and non-faith schools. The 6,700 faith schools that exist
today will not be affected by what is proposed. What is proposed
is a consultation on whether there should be a restriction on
free schools—new schools—that are opened with a faith
designation. So far, 95 such schools have opened.
(CB)
My Lords, I welcome the removing of the admissions cap and the
explanation the Minister has given to the House. Will she firmly
rebut the erroneous idea that these schools fail to promote
integration, diversity and cohesion and confirm that they are the
most ethnically diverse in the country? In England, 45.5% of
their pupils are from ethnic minorities, compared with 37% in the
state sector, and 50% of the pupils educated in those schools are
from the most deprived backgrounds.
Perhaps I may share with the noble Baroness the work of the
Liverpool John Moores University's foundation for citizenship,
which I founded. We saw outstanding examples of schools promoting
virtues, values, duties, responsibilities and the wider common
good. The Government's decision to build on those achievements
and prevent such schools having to turn away members of their own
community is to be greatly welcomed. I know that many in the
country will do so.
(Con)
I thank the noble Lord for his comments and echo his remarks
about the ethnic diversity in our faith schools. I agree with him
that faith schools can and do offer the very important tenets of
our major religions including, of course, tolerance.
(Lab)
My Lords, the rationale behind the proposed change to the
state-funded faith schools admissions cap by the Government is in
large part, as the noble Baroness has said, to increase the
number of school places available. Has the department made any
estimate of how many more places will be made available and when?
What will the Government do to ensure that school places are
established where they are needed most and for families whose
children most desperately need the best start in life?
(Con)
The number of additional places will depend on levels of basic
need where there are not enough school places available. The
noble Baroness well knows that in some parts of the country we
have the opposite challenge at the moment. That also answers the
second part of her question; it will be where there are
population pressures.
I would like to take the opportunity in answering the noble
Baroness's question to pick up on the second part of the
consultation. If agreed, it would mean that faith schools were
able to have a faith designation. I know the House agrees with me
that we need to move faster to make sure there is provision for
children with special educational needs and disabilities.
The Lord
My Lords, Church of England schools will continue our long
tradition of seeking to serve the common good and welcoming a
huge diversity of people; we are glad to do that. The Minister
has spoken about the huge problem of there not being enough
special educational needs places. If I have understood this
correctly, it means that this will be a new possibility. We in
the Church of England would be keen to play our part to help with
this, but one issue is the funding available for it, which makes
it very difficult to offer. Alongside this announcement, what
consideration have His Majesty's Government given to providing
additional funding for those SEND places, which we hope can
release more energy into that deprived area?
(Con)
To be clear, and to avoid upsetting my noble friend Lord Baker
one more time, the changes we are proposing in relation to
special schools will not affect eligibility. Eligibility for a
place in a special school will be dependent on a child's
education, health and care plan. The Government fund all the
capital costs associated with developing a new free school. The
funding is provided through the local authority for children with
an education, health and care plan.
(Con)
My Lords, should we not be proud that the new schools that we
have opened since 2010 include Muslim, Hindu and Sikh faith-based
schools, which were the first in the country, as well as
additional Church of England schools? Can my noble friend the
Minister confirm that, in line with previous suggestions for
changing the admissions arrangements for new free schools, what
is proposed is just that the admissions criteria that apply to
existing Catholic schools will be the same for a new Catholic
free school? There will be no change to the admissions policy for
Catholic schools; it would just be the same policy across the
board.
(Con)
I am very happy to confirm that.
(LD)
My Lords, the Minister will know that we are developing, one
hopes, a successful, multicultural society, with children of
different faiths and none having the opportunity to learn and
work and play together. Does she not think it important that in
all our faith schools there should be children of different
faiths?
(Con)
The vast majority of our faith schools have children of different
faiths. It is typically only in schools for the smallest-minority
faiths that one has a concentration of children of those faiths.
This is a longer debate that I am happy to have with the noble
Lord, but parental choice is fundamental. We are very pleased to
see the volume of activity that faith schools undertake with
other faith schools of different denominations.
