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Education and Inspections Bill

My Lords, there was a proper debate. The noble Lord takes, I fear, a different view of the matter. As for speaking for only one paragraph, I spent a good part of col. 736 in Hansard discussing the issues relating to the amendment. Since the issue has been raised again, the best thing I can do is go over the same ground. I am glad to say that although I am always open to persuasion, I have not changed my view since last Tuesday. I deeply respect the position that my noble friends Lady Massey and Lady Turner take in tabling the amendment. They wish to go further than the position we have established. The Government listened to the debates in Committee and have proposed a substantial change in allowing individual students to withdraw themselves from collective worship rather than that being solely the preserve of parents. However, we do not think it right to go further in the way the amendment suggests: abolishing existing collective worship requirements and putting in place a new requirement to take part in an assembly to further pupils’, "““spiritual, moral, social and cultural education””," with no requirement, as now, for that education to be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character. We believe that assemblies and collective worship are important elements of school life in establishing their ethos and collective character. We believe it right that those under 16 should be required to take part unless their parents specifically wish otherwise. We believe that it is in accordance with the values and traditions of the majority in this country that such collective worship should be of a broadly Christian character, allowing also for the celebration of other faiths as appropriate. The noble Lord asks for my evidence for that. In the 2001 census, 71.8 per cent of respondents identified themselves as Christian. Those are the facts, although the noble Lord may not like them.