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Education and Inspections Bill

Well, my Lords, the noble Baroness objected when I last spoke, saying that if I had not taken part in the whole of the earlier debate, I should not speak. I am just being nasty to her in the hope that she does not say it again. In case that she does not understand that I am being nasty to her, I am. My intervention is largely interrogative. When I read the Bill as it is before us, before the amendments, it was difficult to follow precisely the meaning of Clause 37. My main hope is that my noble friend will be able to tell us that it does not mean what it seems to mean. So, if I may, I shall put my speech as a series of questions. My first question is: if we take a religious school of a particular religion that is advertising for a geography teacher, where I can see no religious content as relevant, will it be legal in the advertisement for the job to specify that only people of whatever faith—whether Jewish or Muslim—need apply? Will that be legal from now on—or, at least, will it be legal at the interview to say, ““Oh, by the way, apart from having a degree in geography, are you actually a believer in the religion of the school?””? It is difficult to see from the Bill what is the answer to that question. Our fear is that that will be legal, which is why the amendments had been tabled. If we go even further, and talk about the school caretaker, will the school be able to ask the school caretaker, ““Are you Jewish?””? If the reply is, ““No, Jews are not caretakers. That is not the sort of thing that Jews do, so I am not Jewish””, can the school then say, ““You cannot be in this school””? My hope is that the Bill does not allow anything like that to occur—sorry, that was meant to be a joke.