Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to amend section 104 of the Equality Act 2010 to allow political parties to exclude men from standing in their leadership elections.

Answered by Lord Collins of Highbury - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

Under section 104 of the Equality Act 2010, registered political parties in the UK are permitted to use positive action, including reserved places on shortlists, where proportionate to address the under representation of candidates with certain protected characteristics.

Section 104(7) currently provides a specific exception allowing for this to include single-sex shortlists commonly all-women shortlists) if it is proportionate to reduce unequal representation.

Political parties can reserve all the places on their shortlist for one sex if this will reduce unequal representation. If a political party had an under-representation of women, there could be a ‘women-only’ shortlist.

Positive action is voluntary and political parties cannot be forced to do it.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend to school uniform requirements of a religious character the right of withdrawal which applies to collective worship under section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

School leaders, including those of faith schools, are responsible for making decisions on the uniform requirements for their school. Where schools have faith-based policies, the department expects that those policies are clearly communicated, applied fairly and compliant with the Equality Act.

The department has published the non-statutory guidance ‘Developing school uniform policy’, which sets out schools’ obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010, as well as general equality and discrimination considerations.

Our guidance is clear that schools should aim for their uniform policy to be as inclusive as possible so that all pupils are able to wear the uniform. They should engage with parents and pupils when developing the policy. The department does not routinely gather data on individual schools’ uniform policies and does not hold information on schools requiring articles of religious clothing.

There are no current plans to update the guidance on school uniform in this respect, or to extend this to uniform of a religious character the right of withdrawal which applies to collective worship under section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many state-funded schools in England have uniform policies which require pupils to wear items of religious dress.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

School leaders, including those of faith schools, are responsible for making decisions on the uniform requirements for their school. Where schools have faith-based policies, the department expects that those policies are clearly communicated, applied fairly and compliant with the Equality Act.

The department has published the non-statutory guidance ‘Developing school uniform policy’, which sets out schools’ obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010, as well as general equality and discrimination considerations.

Our guidance is clear that schools should aim for their uniform policy to be as inclusive as possible so that all pupils are able to wear the uniform. They should engage with parents and pupils when developing the policy. The department does not routinely gather data on individual schools’ uniform policies and does not hold information on schools requiring articles of religious clothing.

There are no current plans to update the guidance on school uniform in this respect, or to extend this to uniform of a religious character the right of withdrawal which applies to collective worship under section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to revise the Department for Education’s guidance on school uniform to state that a state-funded school may not make the wearing of religious dress compulsory for any pupil.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

School leaders, including those of faith schools, are responsible for making decisions on the uniform requirements for their school. Where schools have faith-based policies, the department expects that those policies are clearly communicated, applied fairly and compliant with the Equality Act.

The department has published the non-statutory guidance ‘Developing school uniform policy’, which sets out schools’ obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010, as well as general equality and discrimination considerations.

Our guidance is clear that schools should aim for their uniform policy to be as inclusive as possible so that all pupils are able to wear the uniform. They should engage with parents and pupils when developing the policy. The department does not routinely gather data on individual schools’ uniform policies and does not hold information on schools requiring articles of religious clothing.

There are no current plans to update the guidance on school uniform in this respect, or to extend this to uniform of a religious character the right of withdrawal which applies to collective worship under section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.