As Chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group on Religious Education (APPG on RE), I thank the Religious
Education Council (RE Council) for the support they brought as Secretariat of
the Group in the last Parliament. Their administrative support contributed
towards the Group to holding engaging and informative meetings.
As I stated to the RE Council
representatives who I met on 6th January, the APPG on RE wishes to
maintain a positive working relationship with the Religious Education Council
in this Parliament, as well as with the many other RE groups in the RE
community. It is very important for the APPG on RE to maintain and be seen to
maintain independence in its engagement with the whole religious education
community, including working with the widest possible range of stakeholders and
experts. This should enable all those with an interest in this topic to
maintain a constructive working relationship whilst being seen to be fully independent.
This was the position that came out of the APPG’s AGM on 1st July
2015, when I was appointed as Chair, having served as Vice-Chair in the last
Parliament, and when no external secretariat to the Group was appointed. Following
that AGM, there has been ongoing contact over the past few months with RE Council
representatives in planning the initial programme of the APPG for this
Parliament. The administrative secretariat role in the early months of this
Parliament has been carried out by staff in my office, and at my meeting on 6th
January 2016 with RE Council representatives I confirmed that this situation
would continue, and that the decision of the AGM at the start of this
Parliament would therefore continue to be in effect going forward.
Religious education is a
sensitive area of education policy, and it can be difficult to engage equally
with all viewpoints. As Chair, I am keen to ensure that all stakeholders and
perspectives feel that can engage with the group on an equal footing. This is
an important time regarding policy on religious education, and it is important
to ensure the contribution of the whole religious education community, and
indeed the APPG has taken steps at the start of this Parliament to engage with
a wide range of stakeholders, including the RE Council, and I hope this will
continue.
I would also like to take this
opportunity to clarify some slight misunderstandings regarding All-Party
Parliamentary Groups, which I understand may have been circulated in response
to my decision. There are specific guidelines that regulate these Groups, and
it is entirely understandable for external organisations not to be fully aware
of the details of these. However, as Chair of a number of different APPGs, I
have a responsibility to ensure that they are adhered to. An All-Party
Parliamentary Group is defined as ‘[consisting] of Members of Both Houses [MPs
and Peers] who join together to pursue a particular topic or interest.’ These APPGs
are established, led, and maintained by MPs and Peers, and it would therefore
be a breach of Parliamentary protocol for an external organisation to ‘establish’
a Group, or to seek to ‘find’ a Chair for a group. The regulations are clear
that if a new Chair for a Group is needed, then an AGM for the Group is held,
having been advertised to all Members of the House of Commons and House of
Lords, and then Parliamentarians attend the AGM and vote on the new Chair and
other officers. It is therefore worth stating that if the REC, as suggested publically
on 14th January 2016, had ‘established’ the APPG on RE or sought to ‘find’
a Chair, it would have been in breach of Parliamentary rules, and under Section
33 of the Parliamentary guidelines, the Parliamentary Registrar for APPGs could have removed the APPG
on RE from the Register, effectively closing the Group down.
Following the 2015 election,
the Chair of the APPG on RE, Stephen Lloyd, was not re-elected as an MP, and
so, as Vice-Chair of the Group, I called an AGM for the Group on 1st
July, and informed all Officers of the Group who served in the last Parliament,
as well as all other MPs and Members of the House of Lords, in accordance with
the strict Parliamentary requirements for publishing proper notice of such
meetings. The AGM was accordingly held, a number of Parliamentarians attended,
and new Officers were duly elected in accordance with prescribed procedures. My
fellow Parliamentarians kindly voted me in as Chair of the Group. This meeting
was held nearly two months after the election, by which time, I am not aware of
any attempts by the Religious Education Council to approach me, as Vice-Chair,
to help with these arrangements. Indeed, had this AGM not happened before the 7th
July, the Parliamentary Registrar for APPGs would have dissolved the Group. In
subsequent meetings with the Religious Education Council, it was apparent that
they were not aware of this deadline. Again, it is entirely understandable for
external organisations not to be aware of the details of Parliamentary
regulation. APPGs are groups set up, led and run by Parliamentarians.
I would like to repeat my
thanks for the work the Religious Education Council has done for the Group, and
I express the hope that we will continue to work together in the future. They
are rightly respected across the religious education community.
As the Group moves forward, we
encourage all stakeholders to continue to engage with us on how religious
education can be improved in this country, whether with regard to quality,
availability or content. I am committed to ensuring that this Group plays a
positive and proactive role in ensuring that religious education is prioritised
by Government. Given many of the challenges and tensions we face as a society
today, I believe that religious education has never been more important.
