Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many catholic schools there are in (a) Rother Valley constituency, (b) London and (c) England.

The Department supports schools with a religious character. They add to the diversity of the school system, they are popular with parents both with and without a faith, and they typically deliver high standards of education for their pupils. They also have an important role to play in supporting levelling up, by providing high quality school places throughout the country.

The Department recognises that some groups, including the Catholic Church, feel unable to participate in the free schools programme because of the 50% cap on faith admissions.

The Department is committed to ensuring that all providers of schools with a religious character remain able to open new schools once all schools are in academy trusts and, as such, will continue to keep the 50% cap under review. The Department regularly discusses the matter with groups who provide schools with a religious character, including the Catholic Church.

There are two mainstream Catholic schools in the Rother Valley Constituency, 296 in London and 1,955 in England.