Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they will ensure that local objections to proposals for new voluntary-aided faith schools with the legal power to select all of their pupils based on faith are adequately taken into account by local authority decision-makers.

Alongside the launch of the capital scheme for new voluntary-aided schools, the department published the updated and attached statutory guidance for proposers and decision-makers on opening and closing maintained schools.

The guidance explains that proposers are required to consult prior to publishing statutory proposals for a new school and hold a four-week representation period once the statutory proposals have been published. In deciding proposals, decision-makers (usually the local authority) must take any comments received during the representation period into account.

The statutory guidance sets out the department’s expectations on how the consultations are carried out, including the Cabinet Office guidance on consultation principles.