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Education and Skills Bill

I am afraid that I cannot support the noble Baroness’s amendment. Our education system is based on the principle that parents have the responsibility to make decisions for their children until those children reach the age of 16. It is they who decide what sort of school their children go to; it is also they who may take the decision, if they deem it necessary, to allow their children to opt out of religious education or worship. I see no reason to overturn that principle. To say that some children are mature and capable enough before they are 16 to make a decision on matters of conscience may very well be true, but I am worried about how such a decision would be arrived at in practice. Who would judge the child to be so mature and capable, and who would guarantee that the decision to opt out was based on considered matters of conscience and belief and not a mischievous attempt to avoid certain classes or acts of worship?