Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the command paper, Protecting What Matters, CP 1540, 9 March 2026, page 25, through what mechanism she intends to promote the role of the Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education.

Standing Advisory Councils on Religious Education (SACREs) already have a statutory role in advising local authorities on religious education and collective worship.

As set out in Protecting What Matters, the government intends to promote the role of SACREs by supporting improved analysis of their annual reports to better understand the role they play in local communities, including in relation to cohesion. This will help inform future engagement with SACREs and wider sector stakeholders.