Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Government ensures that schools are held accountable for their statutory responsibilities in respect of the provision of religious education.

Religious education (RE) is compulsory in all state-funded schools, including academies and free schools. As part of Ofsted school inspections, inspectors consider whether schools are providing a broad and balanced curriculum, which meets pupils’ needs and statutory requirements. If it becomes evident during the course of an inspection that a school is not teaching RE, this should be reflected in the school’s inspection report. Faith schools are required to arrange a separate inspection of denominational religious education and collective worship, leading to published reports.

Every school must have a complaint procedure. If an individual is concerned that a school is not teaching religious education, they should follow the schools’ complaint procedure in the first instance. If the complaint is not resolved, then the issue can be escalated to the Department’s School Complaints Unit for maintained schools, or the Education Funding Agency for academies, free schools, university technical colleges or studio schools. Information about complaint procedures for schools can be found at www.gov.uk/complain-about-school.