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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if her Department will hold a consultation on changing the School Admissions Code to require religiously selective schools to prioritise all looked-after children and previously looked-after children in their admission arrangements in addition to such children of the same denomination of such schools.

Nick Gibb

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious character, are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’.

We support the right of schools with a religious designation to prioritise children of their faith. The code requires such schools, as a minimum, to prioritise looked after and previously looked after children of their faith ahead of other children. We have no plans to change this requirement.

The code can only be applied to bodies within the education sector. It cannot place requirements upon religious bodies. It does, however, require that when schools with a religious designation adopt admission criteria which prioritise children based on their faith, the schools must take account of religious activities as laid out by their religious authority.

Compliance with the code is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

The Government will shortly consult on a package of changes to the code which will both respond to the findings within the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Reports and concerns raised by parents. That package will include measures to improve fairness and transparency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the key findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, whether she plans to publish guidance for schools on how best to comply with the school admissions code.

Nick Gibb

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’. We consider that the code provides clear advice to all admission authorities.

Compliance is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

The degree to which maintained schools comply with the code is monitored through the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Report. We consider the findings of the report and whether changes to the system are necessary.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the finding in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, that parents are often unable to understand the complicated admissions criteria employed by religiously selective schools.

Nick Gibb

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools, including schools with a religious character, are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’.

We support the right of schools with a religious designation to prioritise children of their faith. The code requires such schools, as a minimum, to prioritise looked after and previously looked after children of their faith ahead of other children. We have no plans to change this requirement.

The code can only be applied to bodies within the education sector. It cannot place requirements upon religious bodies. It does, however, require that when schools with a religious designation adopt admission criteria which prioritise children based on their faith, the schools must take account of religious activities as laid out by their religious authority.

Compliance with the code is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

The Government will shortly consult on a package of changes to the code which will both respond to the findings within the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Reports and concerns raised by parents. That package will include measures to improve fairness and transparency.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the findings in the Chief Schools Adjudicator for England’s Annual Report, published in December 2015, that there is a lack of transparency in the school admission system, what steps she plans to take to monitor and enforce compliance with the School Admissions Code.

Nick Gibb

Admission authorities for all state-funded schools are required to comply with the School Admissions Code. This includes a requirement that ‘parents should be able to look at a set of arrangements and understand easily how places for that school will be allocated’. We consider that the code provides clear advice to all admission authorities.

Compliance is enforced by the Schools Adjudicator. Where an objection is made and the adjudicator finds that the arrangements are unclear, unfair, or that they otherwise fail to comply with the code, the admission authority is required by law to change the policy.

The degree to which maintained schools comply with the code is monitored through the Chief Adjudicator’s Annual Report. We consider the findings of the report and whether changes to the system are necessary.