Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill

Lord Harries of Pentregarth Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Lords Chamber

Moved by

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth]

206: After Clause 63, insert the following new Clause—
“Citizenship education: British values(1) In any statement relating to British values for education purposes at primary and secondary level in England and Wales, the Secretary of State, OFSTED and any other public authority must include—(a) democracy,(b) the rule of law,(c) freedom,(d) equal respect for every person, and(e) respect for the environment.(2) Any statement in subsection (1) must refer to British values as “values of British citizenship”.(3) The values listed under paragraphs (1)(a) to (e) must be taught as part of citizenship education for key stages 1, 2, 3 and 4.(4) In section (1)(a) “democracy” includes—(a) an independent judiciary,(b) in a Parliamentary system, a Government that is accountable to Parliament, regular election, and(c) decentralised decision-making, accountable at an appropriate level to the electorate.(5) In subsection (1)(c) “freedom” includes—(a) freedom of thought, conscience and religion,(b) freedom of expression, and(c) freedom of assembly and association.(6) In subsection (1)(e) “respect for the environment” means taking into account the systemic effect of human actions on the health and sustainability of the environment both within the United Kingdom and the planet as a whole, for present and future generations.”

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

My Lords, Amendment 206 is supported by the noble Lord, Lord Norton of Louth, and, before he retired, the noble Lord, Lord Hodgson of Astley Abbotts. It is also strongly supported by the noble Lord, Lord Blunkett, who hoped to be here this afternoon, but I see that he is not in his place yet.

I apologise to those, including the Minister, who have heard me on this subject before in other contexts. I am persisting with it because I believe that the Government are missing a great opportunity. With so much now dividing our society, what should unite us are fundamental British values. Deeper than the differences of race, religion and sexuality are the political institutions and values which hold our society together. The Government could, and should, be making much more of them. One reason I believe this is not the case is that the original formulation of these values was done as part of the Prevent programme and, as a result, they are somewhat skewed, as I hope to show.

My amendment is designed to make these values clearer and more balanced. Fundamental British values as at present defined are democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs. Democracy and the rule of law are of course fundamental. But because the emphasis is on mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs, which of course I strongly support, the balance is somewhat wrong and there is a serious omission, notably the equal value and worth of each individual. The values in my amendment are set out as democracy, the rule of law, freedom, equal respect for every person and respect for the environment.

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This has been a wide-ranging group, but I hope that noble Lords feel reassured by the progress I have been able to outline, and that the noble and right reverend Lord feels able at this point to withdraw his amendment.

[Lord Harries of Pentregarth (CB)]

My Lords, I thank all those who have supported my amendment and those who have spoken to the other amendments. First, I will comment very briefly on the remarks of the noble Baroness, Lady Fox, who was her usual trenchant self. The reason for including respect for the environment in this list is that this, above all, is an issue young people care about. If you want young people to care about democracy and law, the list of values must also express something they really do feel strongly about. That is the reason why that is part of the list.

How valuable it is to have the noble Lord, Lord Hampton, with us, given his front-line experience. I hesitate to respond to what he said, but he referred to this as a matter of subtleties. Rather, I would suggest that it is fundamental. The present list of fundamental values that have to be taught in schools includes the phrase “individual liberty”. It seems to me if you talked to a pupil about individual liberty and asked them what it means, they would say, “Does it mean that I can do what I want?” However, in the amendment before us, freedom is spelt out as freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, freedom of expression, freedom of assembly and so on. It is quite specific, and it is this which needs to be taught in citizenship education.

I thank the Minister very much for her, as usual, warm reply. Maybe it would be possible for us to have a further conversation in future about how we can get some significant changes in relation to the curriculum assessment review, because it would strengthen the teaching of citizenship education to have this included. With that, I beg leave to withdraw my amendment.

Amendment 206 withdrawn.