Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that regulations on the teaching of religious education are the same for individual academies and multi-academy trusts; and if she will make a statement.

Religious education (RE) is an essential part of a school’s curriculum and remains a compulsory subject in all state funded schools in England, including academies, for all pupils up to the age of 18.

There are no regulations relating to teaching of RE. The statutory duty for maintained schools to teach the subject is set out in primary legislation. This requirement is mirrored in funding agreements for mainstream academies and multi-academy trusts.