Schools: Admissions

Lord Moylan Excerpts

Monday 17th July 2023 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am not aware that we have looked in detail at any of those proposals in the way that the noble Lord describes, but I am aware that all schools—potentially faith schools in particular—take their role in community cohesion very seriously.

[Lord Moylan (Con)]

Does my noble friend accept that the rights of parents to have their children educated according to their own religious beliefs is protected by Article 2 of the first protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights? Does she accept that Catholic schools, at least, are not state schools?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I am not quite sure that I follow. To the best of my knowledge, all Catholic schools outside the independent sector are funded by the state.

Family-strengthening Policies

Lord Moylan Excerpts

Monday 10th October 2022 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

I fear that I shall have to defer to my colleagues in the Department for Work and Pensions but, as I mentioned earlier, the Government are committed to supporting the most vulnerable families in this country and have committed £37 billion to that end.

[Lord Moylan (Con)]

My Lords, has my noble friend considered the appointment of a commission of inquiry of some sort into the medium and long-term effects of the fall in the birth rate in this country to, I believe, now below 1.65?

[Baroness Barran (Con)]

There may be opportunities for a commission in this area, but my noble friend will be aware that a number of institutions and universities in this country and more broadly are very much focused on that issue.