Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the judgment in R (Fox) v Secretary of State for Education [2015] EWHC 3404, what recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of the proposed reforms to sections 3 and 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 on his policies on the delivery of religious education.

Whilst the administrative court ruled against the department in the case of R (Fox) v Secretary of State for Education, the government considered the judgment to have no broader impact on any aspect of its policy in relation to the religious education curriculum or religious studies GCSE subject content for schools, with or without a religious character.

In December 2015, the department responded to this judgment by publishing guidance for schools and awarding organisations about the religious studies GCSE, alongside the religious studies GCSE subject content, at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/gcse-religious-studies.

The proposed reforms to the Human Rights Act (1998) are currently subject to a public consultation which will run until 8 March 2022. The department will make an assessment of any impact of these reforms on the delivery of religious education once they have been confirmed.