Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of public opinion on the issue of religious selection in state schools during the process leading to their decision to fund new voluntary aided religious schools.

The department undertook an extensive series of activities as part of the Schools that Work for Everyone consultation to understand the variety of opinions relating to faith schools. Having considered the views of respondents, and a range of stakeholder views, the department decided to establish the voluntary-aided capital scheme alongside retaining the 50% cap in faith admissions in faith designated free schools. The statutory process for establishing new voluntary-aided schools has not changed. It remains possible for proposers of any faith or no faith to propose a new voluntary-aided school, and likewise the voluntary-aided capital scheme is open to bids from proposers of all faiths and none.