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Education and Inspections Bill

Can the Minister explain why he did not refer to the genuine occupational requirement in the Bill? The amendment would just insert ““in Wales”” to achieve the change. Why does he believe that a school would have recourse to the exception under genuine occupational requirement for a secretary who was asked to lead prayers, when it would not apply to a maths teacher who had to be Catholic, say, to work at a certain school? At the moment, voluntary aided schools are allowed to appoint all their teachers on the basis of their faith, with a specific right to do so under the employment regulations, which specifically mention sections 58 and 60. As the amendment amends those sections, how can the Minister be confident that there will be any access, post facto—after someone’s career is wrecked—to this legislation?