Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions her Department has had with the Equality and Human Rights Commission on ensuring that schools are clearly directed to balance protected Christian beliefs alongside other protected characteristics.

The government is committed to ensuring that the provisions of the Equality Act 2010 are enforced to prevent discrimination against all protected characteristics, including religious belief, and to provide a legal remedy to people who may have been discriminated against.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is an independent, statutory, non-departmental public body, established to safeguard and enforce the laws that protect people’s rights to fairness, dignity and respect. The EHRC is independent from the government and makes its own operational decisions, including on the content of its guidance.