Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Commission on Religious Education's report entitled Religion and Worldviews: The Way Forward a national plan for RE, published in September 2018, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the conclusion in that report that all young people should have a statutory national entitlement to the study of religion and worldviews.

The Department welcomes the Commission for Religious Education’s report and will carefully consider the merits of the report’s recommendations, one of which is to rename the subject ‘religion and worldviews’. At present, religious education is compulsory for pupils in all age groups in state-funded schools. It has an important role in developing children’s knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and in fostering understanding among different faiths and cultures.