§ Mr. Barry JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the prospects for religious education as an examination subject after the implementation of the Education Reform Bill.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe Government have made it clear that they do not intend to prescribe the amount of time to be devoted to any subject in the school curriculum. It will be up to schools to determine how much time they spend on each subject and the range of subjects in which pupils are entered for public examinations. We believe that study of the foundation subjects of the national curriculum might take around 70 per cent. of curriculum time or more if schools and pupils so choose. This leaves ample time for study of religious education as an examination subject and there is no reason to think that schools will not continue to put in as many examination entries as hitherto.