Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has met Catholic leaders amid urgent pleas from the Church to lift a highly contentious faith-based admissions cap on new free schools.
Keegan, who was educated at Catholic schools, received a Church delegation to hear the case for scrapping the ban brought in under the coalition Government of former Tory Prime Minister David Cameron.
The delegation included Paul Barber, the director of the Catholic Education Service, an agency of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales; Sir Edward Leigh, the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, and James Somerville-Meikle, the Catholic Union deputy director.
The meeting follows the delivery of an open later sent to the Education Secretary signed by more than 1,000 members and supporters of the Catholic Union, calling on her to “scrap the cap” before the next General Election.
The Education Secretary said in the meeting that she was “sympathetic” towards the campaign, which aims to allow Catholic free schools in England to open for the first time.
Sir Edward, former president of the Catholic Union, said: “The 50 per cent cap is a source of huge frustration to Catholics in this country.
“I was pleased to present this letter to the Secretary of State to demonstrate the strength of feeling amongst the Catholic community about this policy. With a General Election not far off, we may never get a better opportunity to finally lift the cap.
“Lifting the cap would be a huge vote of confidence in Catholic schools in this country and I know would be welcome by people from other faiths.”
Mr Somerville-Meikle described the meeting with Keegan as “very encouraging”.
He said: “It is clear that the Secretary of State understands our concerns and is supportive of Catholic schools in general.
“There is a lot of work ahead, but there are reasons to be optimistic going into the New Year.”
The 50 percent cap on faith-based admissions applies to oversubscribed free schools with a religious character in England.
Introduced in 2010, the cap has made it impossible for new Catholic free schools to open, because it can require Catholic pupils to be turned away specifically because of their faith.
The 2017 Conservative Party Manifesto said the policy would be reversed but the promise was not delivered.
The Catholic Union has said it will use the time left before the next General Election to do everything possible to get the policy changed.
Lancashire-born Ms Keegan, Conservative MP for Chichester, attended St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic High School in the Archdiocese of Liverpool.
In January, she represented the British Government at the funeral of Pope Benedict XVI.
The letter she received from the Catholic Union pointed out that Catholic schools, academies and colleges in England and Wales educate just under 850,000 pupils, representing nine per cent of the national total of maintained schools.
Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds, the chairman of the CES; Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, Bishop Peter Collins of East Anglia and Bishop Paul Swarbrick of Lancaster are among those to sign it.
Photo: Education Secretary Gillian Keegan (centre) leaves 10 Downing Street following the weekly Cabinet meeting, London, England, 28 November 2023. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.)
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