Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Church Schools and Universities

Thursday 6 February 2020 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 2 Partly answered 0 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Church of England educates 1 million children daily, operates 4644 schools with 91% rated good or outstanding, and runs 15 universities educating 100,000 students.
  • The Church supports investment in further education, including the Wolverhampton education quarter, though involvement is still at an early stage.
  • The minister will raise concerns about local schools experiencing population changes with the Church's director of education and respond to the hon. Lady.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Stuart Anderson Con Welling
Education Religion & Faith
Context

The Church of England plays a significant role in education with its numerous schools.

Question

What recent assessment the Commissioners have made of the effectiveness of the contribution of Church schools and universities to the education system in England?

Answer from Andrew Selous

The Church of England educates 1 million children every day, runs a quarter of all primary schools and operates 4,644 schools in total, 91% of which are good or outstanding. There are also 15 universities in the Cathedrals Group in England, which educate 100,000 students and train 40% of all key stage 2 and 3 teachers.

Answered
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Q2 Stuart Anderson Con Welling
Education Religion & Faith
Context

The Church of England supports investment in further education.

Question

What help might the Church be able to give for the much-needed further education learning quarter in Wolverhampton?

Answer from Andrew Selous

I am very grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. The Church strongly supports investment in further education and the Wolverhampton education quarter is an imaginative proposal to benefit the city. While we are at a very early stage of possible Church involvement, I know that the diocesan director of education and senior local chaplains will be very willing to meet him to discuss the proposal.

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Q3 Thangam Debbonaire Lab West Bristol
Education
Context

Church education supports changes in school rolls due to population shifts.

Question

Will the hon. Gentleman update us on what strategic national work the Church might be doing with the Department for Education to support local schools that are experiencing changes to school rolls due to population changes? Otherwise excellent schools, such as St George's and St Michael's in my constituency, are having to experience differences in their local population.

Answer from Andrew Selous

Being relatively new in post, I am afraid that I am not immediately aware of that, but I am very happy to raise the hon. Lady's concerns with Nigel Genders, our director of education at Church House, and I will get back to her.

Not addressed: No direct response given; commitment to follow up instead.

How: Deferring The Issue To A Future Discussion

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