FAIR ADMISSIONS CAMPAIGN

That this House welcomes the launch of the Fair Admissions Campaign, which seeks to open up all state-funded schools to all children, without regard to religion; notes that over one third of state schools have a religious character and most have an admissions policy that allows them, if oversubscribed, to turn away children on the basis of their parents being of the wrong religion or no religion; further notes that, for this reason, many children are unable to gain admittance to their local school; believes that it is wrong for a school to be able to dictate a child's future on the basis of a system that can incentivise families to be insincere about religious belief and practice, and that risks undermining community cohesion by segregating children along religio-ethnic lines; celebrates the fact that many schools already choose not to select pupils on faith grounds yet are still able to maintain a religious ethos; and therefore calls on the Government to work with schools, dioceses and devolved governments to cease such religious selection, as well as to bring forward legislative proposals on that basis.