HL Deb 14 March 1995 vol 562 cc717-8
The Lord Bishop of Ripon asked Her Majesty's Government

What steps they are taking to ensure that new unitary authorities will provide adequate resources for syllabus conferences and SACREs.

Lord Lucas

My Lords, all local education authorities are under a statutory duty to establish a SACRE and an agreed syllabus conference, which implies a duty to fund those bodies satisfactorily.

The Lord Bishop of Ripon

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for his reply. Does he agree that there is wide variation in the level of resourcing which local education authorities give to SACREs? Does he agree also that the new unitary authorities may be tempted to pitch their level of resourcing at the lower end? Will he therefore undertake to collect information on the provision of resources by LEAs and to make that information publicly available?.

Lord Lucas

My Lords, local education authorities have discretion as to how they should satisfy the requirements of legislation. I am sure that, in the specific circumstances in which they find themselves, their solutions may vary. We would not wish to interfere with that discretion.

Lord Morris of Castle Morris

My Lords, can the Minister tell the House how the Government arrived at their estimates of the cost of the syllabus conferences and SACREs which they use in standard spending assessments, if indeed standard spending assessments include such estimates? Can he further inform us precisely what advice the Government are giving to new LEAs in regard to their RE responsibilities?

Lord Lucas

My Lords, as I understand it, the SSA system does not address the specific cost of specific elements in the way that the noble Lord suggests. If there is anything helpful that I can find out from the department to answer the noble Lord's question, I shall write to him. I shall write also with an answer in relation to the second part of his question because I do not have the information with me.

Lord Mackie of Benshie

My Lords, can the Minister explain exactly what a SACRE is?

Lord Lucas

My Lords, a "SACRE" is a Standing Advisory Council for Religious Education. It is a permanent body which advises the LEA on matters concerned with the provision of religious education and collective worship. I believe that that is to be contrasted with a "SACRE BLEU" which has to do with sex education.

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