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Education and Inspections Bill

My Lords, I, too, will be brief. It will not surprise the noble Baroness that I do not feel able to support her amendment. I fully endorse the arguments made in support of collective worship on the first day of Report by my colleague the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth. At column 699 of the Official Report he argued in support of collective worship and said it provided an important grammar and language for later life and is still part of our common culture. Given the clear indication of the recent census, which is different from a poll, that the overwhelming majority of people in this country wish to identify themselves with one or other of the major faiths—including the fact, if my memory serves me right, that roughly 70 per cent identify themselves as Christian—the right reverend Prelate was right to say that this continues to reflect the grammar and the values of the majority of this country. We of course fully recognise the right of a minority of parents who wish to withdraw their children from collective worship to do so. The issues were fully aired on the first day of Report and I do not want to repeat the arguments put forward then. I fear that I and my colleagues will continue to resist the amendment while continuing to support all that teachers and others are doing to improve collective worship in our schools, recognising that it is not always providing the focus that it should and can do.