Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how the religious character of a faith school will be maintained if the school is converted into an academy.

When a faith school becomes an academy it retains its religious character by virtue of Section 6 of the Academies Act 2010. The academy’s religious character is protected through provisions within the academy’s funding agreement with the Secretary of State and the academy trust’s articles of association. Once a faith school becomes an academy any change to its religious character would only take place with the consent of the relevant religious body and the Secretary of State.