Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend to school uniform requirements of a religious character the right of withdrawal which applies to collective worship under section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.

School leaders, including those of faith schools, are responsible for making decisions on the uniform requirements for their school. Where schools have faith-based policies, the department expects that those policies are clearly communicated, applied fairly and compliant with the Equality Act.

The department has published the non-statutory guidance ‘Developing school uniform policy’, which sets out schools’ obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010, as well as general equality and discrimination considerations.

Our guidance is clear that schools should aim for their uniform policy to be as inclusive as possible so that all pupils are able to wear the uniform. They should engage with parents and pupils when developing the policy. The department does not routinely gather data on individual schools’ uniform policies and does not hold information on schools requiring articles of religious clothing.

There are no current plans to update the guidance on school uniform in this respect, or to extend this to uniform of a religious character the right of withdrawal which applies to collective worship under section 71 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998.