Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of changes to the cap on religious selection on the opening of new Catholic state schools.

Some faith groups, including the Catholic Church, have felt unable to open new schools through the free schools route because they believe it contravenes religious rules. This has meant, for example, that in areas where there has been significant growth in the Catholic population, the Catholic Church has not set up sufficient school places to meet demand.

We want more high quality providers to be able to set up new schools and we are consulting on how best to do that. The consultation document, 'Schools that work for everyone' is available at: https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-frameworks/schools-that-work-for-everyone