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 assessment they have made of the degree to which religious selection in schools leads to intakes that are socio-economically unrepresentative of their local area, and of the effect of the complexity of admission arrangements employed by religiously selective schools on the representativeness of such intakes.

Lord Nash

It is for admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious designation, to set and determine admission arrangements that comply with the mandatory provisions of the School Admissions Code and other admissions law. The code requires that all admissions arrangements must be fair and do not discriminate against pupils based on their social background, ethnicity or disability.

The Schools Adjudicator investigates any objections raised in relation to schools’ admissions arrangements. Where an objection and the arrangements are found to be unfair or fail to comply with the code, the admission authority must make changes to ensure their arrangements are compliant within two months. Where an admission authority fails to implement decisions of the adjudicator, the Secretary of State may direct the admission authority to do so.