Baroness Lister of Burtersett – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Lister of Burtersett on 2016-02-09.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what advice or guidance, if any, they propose to provide to schools, in particular to religiously selective schools, regarding compliance with the School Admissions Code, in the light of the findings of the report An Unholy Mess, published by the Fair Admissions Campaign and the British Humanist Association last year, that a significant number of schools are failing to comply with the Code in various ways.

Lord Nash

The Government will shortly consult on a package of changes to the School Admissions Code which will both respond to concerns from parents and to the findings in the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Report. That package will include measures to improve fairness and transparency.

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, are required to comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law.

When constructing faith-based oversubscription criteria, including deciding how membership or practice of the faith will be determined, admission authorities must have regard to the guidance of their relevant religious authority, and their arrangements must comply with the statutory School Admissions Code. They must consult with their religious authority when proposing any changes to their admission arrangements.