Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Agnew of Oulton on 23 January (HL4566), whether it is their policy to ensure that all Catholic parents are able to educate their children in Catholic schools; and if not, why not.

The government’s focus is on ensuring we have a diverse education system, which meets the needs of parents and comprises a variety of high performing schools, including Church and faith schools. It will not always be possible, or an effective use of public funds, to meet every parent’s individual needs.

Data published by the Catholic Education Service indicates that pupils in Catholic schools come from a wide variety of backgrounds and in particular include a significant proportion of non-Catholics. See Table 2.2.5 on page 16 of the attached Catholic Education Service’s Digest of 2017 Census Data for Schools and Colleges in England, which is also available at: http://catholiceducation.org.uk/images/CensusDigestEngland2017.pdf.