Religious education (RE) must be taught by every state funded school to pupils up to the age of 18.<\/p>
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Local authorities have a statutory duty to support the activities of Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) and publish an agreed syllabus for maintained schools without a religious designation in their local area. Maintained schools with a religious designation and academies are not required to follow the agreed syllabus, although it can act as a useful benchmark for their curriculum planning.<\/p>
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SACRE membership must include representatives of the area\u2019s principal faith groups, teachers and from the local authority. This contributes to securing the confidence of local communities and enables the SACRE to take account of the circumstances of each area in creating an agreed syllabus that has regard to local context.<\/p>
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The Government does not have any current plans to remove the duty on local authorities to establish SACREs and include RE in the National Curriculum.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/111", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nick Gibb"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bognor Regis and Littlehampton"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nick Gibb"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-07-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-07-14T12:50:46.89Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Religion: Education"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the merits of including religious education in the national curriculum.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4006", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hendon"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr Matthew Offord"} ], "uin" : "3150"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/748473", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department for Education"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/748473/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Government is committed to tackling religious discrimination and racism, and to ensure that we have an inclusive society where everyone is treated with respect and fairness.<\/p>
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The National Curriculum provides many opportunities to raise awareness of racial and religious diversity and tolerance. Good quality religious education can develop pupils\u2019 knowledge of the values and traditions of Britain and other countries, and foster understanding among different faiths and cultures. Religious education remains compulsory for all state funded schools, including academies and free schools, at all Key Stages.<\/p>
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Holocaust education is a mandatory topic in the Key Stage 3 National Curriculum for history. This can be used to explore issues such as anti semitism and attitudes and hate crimes related to other races and faiths.<\/p>
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Teaching about discrimination can also be included as part of the statutory programme of study for citizenship education at ages 11-16 in maintained schools.<\/p>
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Schools are also already expected to promote the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of pupils and, as part of this, fundamental British values, including the values of mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. This is at the heart of their responsibility to prepare pupils for life in modern Britain.<\/p>
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Schools are free to teach about religious discrimination as well as racism in Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education, where pupils can reflect on and challenge notions of prejudice.<\/p>
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The Children and Social Work Act (2017) allows the Secretary of State for Education to make PSHE education, or elements therein, mandatory in all schools in England, subject to careful consideration. The Department will be conducting a thorough engagement process on the scope and content of PSHE, involving a wide range of interested stakeholders. We will set out more details shortly about the engagement process and the work to consider subject content.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/111", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Nick Gibb"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Bognor Regis and Littlehampton"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Nick Gibb"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-07-14", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-07-14T12:59:34.66Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "60"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Education"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to include (a) antisemitism and (b) Islamophobia in the personal, social and health education curriculum.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4006", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hendon"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr Matthew Offord"} ], "uin" : "3151"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/748474", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Church Commissioners"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/748474/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Bat roosting remains a significant and costly issue for around 100 churches, where large roosts mean constant cleaning, damage to significant artefacts and delays to repair work, all of which reduce the use of the building by the congregation and community. Our experience is that bat boxes are not always the best solution, since there is no guarantee that the bats will use them.<\/p>
The Church of England has recently secured Heritage Lottery funding as part of a partnership led by Natural England for a project to mitigate the impact of bats in churches. This work will include looking at ways that bats can be moved to more suitable locations when the roost has an adverse effect on the congregation. More details of the project can be found at: http://www.batsandchurches.org.uk/<\/a><\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/312", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dame Caroline Spelman"} } , "answeringMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Meriden"} , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Dame Caroline Spelman"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2017-07-10", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2017-07-10T11:38:20.72Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "9"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Church Commissioners"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Church Commissioners"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2017-07-05", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Churches: Bats"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25259", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Commons"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask the right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, what discussions the Commissioners have had with Church of England representatives on encouraging clergy to install bat boxes to provide alternative accommodation for these mammals.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4006", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Dr Matthew Offord"} } , "tablingMemberConstituency" : {"_value" : "Hendon"} , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Dr Matthew Offord"} ], "uin" : "3275"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/748475", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Church Commissioners"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/748475/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "