Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Education

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-10-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the effect of removing the 50 per cent cap on religious selection in free schools on the ability of parents to get their children into a local school.

Caroline Dinenage

We want a diverse range of schools to give parents greater choice and drive up standards. The proposals set out in our consultation, ‘Schools that Work for Everyone’, aim to increase local capacity by enabling a wider group of providers to establish new schools. The proposal to remove the 50 per cent cap on religious selection in new free schools has, for some faith groups, been a barrier to setting up new schools. The removal of the cap and the establishment of new faith schools will add to the overall stock of places and should increase choice for parents.