Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 28 March (HL14650), what are the (1) names, (2) related local authorities, (3) phases, and (4) religions, of each expression of interest in the new capital funding scheme for voluntary-aided schools they received.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
On 26 March 2019, the department published the list of bids received for the new capital funding scheme for voluntary-aided schools. The link to this list, which is split by school name, local authority, phase and faith ethos or designation, can be found on the GOV.UK website at:
This list can also be found attached.
As registering expressions of interest was not compulsory and not all groups who register their interest go on to submit bids, the department does not publish information about expressions of interest.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to Guidance and criteria for proposers bidding for capital funding to support the establishment of a new voluntary aided school, published in December 2018, what evidence they had of improving the diversity within the governing body of a school supporting greater inclusion and integration in, and between, communities.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The guidance and criteria for the voluntary-aided capital scheme sets out how new voluntary- aided schools will need to support inclusivity and integration within and between communities and explains that diversity on the governing body is a way for proposers to demonstrate their commitment to this.
The bids received in the first round of the voluntary-aided capital scheme are currently being assessed, and the outcome of that assessment will be announced in due course once the assessment stage is complete.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of the impact on ethnic minorities of voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department undertook an extensive series of activities as part of the attached Schools that Work for Everyone consultation from September to December 2016 to understand the variety of opinions relating to faith schools. Having considered the views of respondents, and those of a range of other stakeholders, the department decided to establish the voluntary-aided capital scheme alongside retaining the 50% cap in faith admissions in faith designated free schools.
An analysis of how the voluntary-aided schools capital scheme will affect specific protected groups (equalities impact assessment) is attached and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/voluntary-aided-schools-capital-scheme-equalities-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment, if any, they have made of public support for voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The department undertook an extensive series of activities as part of the attached Schools that Work for Everyone consultation from September to December 2016 to understand the variety of opinions relating to faith schools. Having considered the views of respondents, and those of a range of other stakeholders, the department decided to establish the voluntary-aided capital scheme alongside retaining the 50% cap in faith admissions in faith designated free schools.
An analysis of how the voluntary-aided schools capital scheme will affect specific protected groups (equalities impact assessment) is attached and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/voluntary-aided-schools-capital-scheme-equalities-impact-assessment.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what guidance, if any, they have issued to local authorities on consulting local people on proposals for new voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Alongside the launch of the capital scheme for new voluntary-aided schools, the department published updated statutory guidance on opening and closing maintained schools for proposers and decision makers. This document is attached.
Proposers are required to consult prior to publishing statutory proposals for a new school and hold a 4 week representation period following the publication of the statutory proposals. Any comments received during the representation period must be taken into account by the decision-maker (normally the local authority) when making their decision.
The statutory guidance sets out the department’s expectations on how the consultations are carried out, including the Cabinet Office guidance on consultation principles.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they collect information on the diversity of religion or belief amongst school governors in voluntary-aided schools that select 100 per cent of their pupils based on their religion; and what assessment, if any, they have made of the impact of the religious diversity of these school governors on local social cohesion and integration.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The Department for Education does not collect any data on the religion or belief of school governors. We expect governors to play an important role in ensuring that schools promote community cohesion and fundamental British values.
The department is committed to increasing the diversity of school and academy governance boards and we are supporting the joint Inspiring Governance and the National Governance Association “Everyone on board” programme to help achieve this.
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what proportion of expressions of interest in the new capital funding scheme for voluntary-aided schools were for schools with a religious character; and what is the number of those expressions of interest broken down by faith group.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The capital scheme for voluntary-aided schools is designed to be small. Registering an interest in the scheme prior to submitting a bid for funding was not compulsory.
As well as exploratory discussions with stakeholders, we received expressions of interest for 22 new voluntary-aided schools, 19 of which we have the details of the proposed religious character. We received expressions of interest by faith group as follows:
Faith type | Number of expressions of interest received |
Christian Church of England | 4 |
Christian Catholic | 6 |
Christian other/no denomination | 2 |
Hindu | 3 |
Jewish | 1 |
Muslim | 3 |
Other (no faith given) | 3 |
Asked by: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to celebrate the centenary of the passing of the Representation of the People Act 1918.
Answered by Lord Nash
The Chancellor announced at the Budget in March this year that the Government would be providing £5m funding for projects to celebrate the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. It extended voting rights to women for the first time.
We want the fund to support projects that will bring to life for a younger generation the hard-fought suffrage campaign, raise awareness of how democracy works and the contemporary struggles of under-represented groups, and encourage more women to participate in political and public life at all levels.