Asked by: Baroness Bakewell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to grant full legal status to humanist marriages.
Answered by Lord Wolfson of Tredegar
The Government will consider the case for comprehensive and enduring reform once the Law Commission has completed its review of marriage law. The Law Commission will present options for reforms to modernise marriage law. Options are expected to include offering couples greater flexibility to form their own ceremonies, allowing the ceremony to take place in a much broader range of locations and to provide a framework that could allow non-religious belief organisations (such as Humanists) and/or independent celebrants to conduct legally binding weddings. The report is expected in July 2022.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans, if any, they have to ensure that children within the catchment area of a school with 100 per cent religious intake are not disadvantaged in the choice of schools available to them.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The government is committed to offering parents and children a diverse education system consisting of a wide variety of schools, and this includes faith schools.
Parents are able to express a preference for at least 3 schools they would like their child to attend and, subject to very limited exceptions, local authorities and school admission authorities must comply with that preference. However, where a school receives more applications than it has places available, places must be allocated in accordance with the school’s published oversubscription criteria.
It is for the admission authority of individual schools to decide which oversubscription criteria are most suitable for their school, according to the local circumstances.
Admission authorities of schools with a religious designation can choose to adopt faith-based oversubscription criteria. However, some faith schools choose to only allocate a proportion of their places with reference to faith, and some do not apply any faith criteria at all. Where a faith school has places available, it must admit all applicants, without reference to faith.
Anyone who believes that a school’s admission arrangements are unfair or unlawful may make an objection the Schools Adjudicator.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what protection is afforded to humanists seeking asylum in the UK on the grounds of religious persecution.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
All claims for asylum are considered on their individual merits, and where people establish a genuine need for protection, or a well founded fear of persecution, refugee status will be granted.
Asked by: Baroness Bakewell (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which institutions and postholders are prohibited by law from expressing views on the EU referendum and the UK membership of the EU.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
For the final 28 days ending with the date of the poll, section 125 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (as applied by the European Union Referendum Act 2015) restricts publication of material giving general information about the referendum, dealing with any issues raised by the question, encouraging voting or putting an argument for or against either answer. The restriction applies to material published by or on behalf of “any Minister of the Crown, government department or local authority”, “the Government of Gibraltar, or any Gibraltar government department” or “any other person or body whose expenses are defrayed wholly or mainly out of public funds or by any local authority.” Specific exception is made for the Electoral Commission, the BBC, Sianel Pedwar Cymru and the Gibraltar Broadcasting Corporation. Section 125 also sets out a number of general exceptions to the restriction, such as the issuing of press notices, and making material available to people in response to specific requests.
Under charity law, charities can undertake campaigning, including campaigning at the EU referendum, and political activity where it is in support of their charitable purposes, and where the trustees consider it is in the interests of the charity. When doing so, charities must not engage in any party political activity, and must take care to protect the charity's independence and reputation.