AQW 8397/16-21

Ms Paula Bradshaw
Alliance Party
South Belfast

Tabled Date: 02/12/2016
Answered On Date: 16/12/2016
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education whether he has any plans to bring provisions allowing pupils over 16 to choose to withdraw from religious or collective worship in line with the rest of the United Kingdom.

Answer:

It is for Boards of Governors, in consultation with the school trustees and the principal, to decide the arrangements for collective worship, having regard to the ethos of the school and its registered pupils. Parental consent is required for a pupil to withdraw from religious education or collective worship, or from both, and I have no plans to change this.