Schools: Integrated Communities Strategy

Lord Pearson of Rannoch Excerpts

Tuesday 24th April 2018 Lords Chamber

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, the matter of the faith cap is still under consideration, so I am afraid that I am not able to give the noble Lord the assurance he seeks at this moment. However, referring to the recent Integrated Communities Strategy document; on education specifically we are addressing eight separate issues which all link to integration: admissions, the free school point I made a moment ago, school linking, fundamental British values, independent schools and registered schools, out-of-school settings and home education. All of them are addressed in this document, and we seek to ensure that integration remains at the heart of our policy.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

My Lords—

[Baroness Pinnock (LD)]

My Lords—

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Earl Howe) (Con)]

My Lords, I note that the noble Lord, Lord Pearson, has been trying to get in for some time and has graciously given way each time.

[Lord Pearson of Rannoch (UKIP)]

I am most grateful. Do the Government know what is being taught in our some 2,000 madrassas, which are not inspected by Ofsted, and which teach Muslim children about Islam and to recite the Koran for perhaps 20 hours a week? If the Government do not know what is going on there—and Written Answers to me confirm that they do not—should they not find out?

[Lord Agnew of Oulton]

My Lords, we gave additional powers and budgets to Ofsted in January 2016 to carry out inspections of what we might consider to be unregistered schools. In that time, they have inspected 208 out-of-school settings. They identified 51 as being unregistered schools in the formal sense, and have closed 44 of them. There are seven still under active investigation. We have just renewed the contract with Ofsted to carry on the work. I accept that it is a problem, but we are alert to it and we are investigating it.