THE NATIONAL Secular Society has urged the Welsh Government to prevent the transfer of more than £120 million of publicly-funded assets to the Catholic Church.
Writing to Cabinet Secretary for Education Lynne Neagle, the NSS said two sets of proposals from Welsh local authorities to invest in facilities at voluntary aided (VA) Catholic schools would hand millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money directly to the Church.
One of the proposals, from Vale of Glamorgan Council, involves developing the buildings at St Richard Gwyn RC High School with an allocated budget of £64.9 million. The second, from Flintshire County Council, would amalgamate four existing schools to create a new all-through Catholic school at an estimated cost of £55.5 million.
In both cases, 85% of the funding would be provided by the Welsh Government with 15% by provided by the respective councils.
Yet despite being 100% funded by the public, due to conventions of ownership regarding VA schools, the newly developed facilities would be handed over in their entirety to the Catholic Church.
The NSS told the Welsh Government that funding for schools should not mean funding for religious institutions. It urged it to review the policies and practices surrounding public investment in VA schools with a view to ensuring facilities which are publicly-funded remain in public hands.
The NSS also said the plans entail significant public money being directed towards the promotion of specific ideologies and discriminatory practices that undermine the principles of secular and inclusive education.
Both schools are able to select 100% of their pupils on the basis of religion – an allowance granted to faith schools that has been shown to put less well-off families at a disadvantage, lead to social segregation, discriminate against pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, and perpetuate unfairness experience by children in care.
As revealed in the most recent Census, Wales saw a greater decrease in people reporting their religion as “Christian” (14.0 percentage point decrease, from 57.6% in 2011 to 43.6% in 2021) and increase in “No religion” (14.5 percentage point increase, from 32.1% in 2011 to 46.5% in 2021) compared with England and Wales overall.
The nonreligious are the largest religion or belief group in Wales, with Christians (and Catholics in particular) now being a minority group. The Census also revealed Wales’ religious diversity has grown rapidly.
The NSS said that in light of these changes, the Welsh Government should ensure investment in education focuses on inclusive, secular provision that is suitable for children and families of all backgrounds, not just those of a particular faith.
National Secular Society spokesperson Jack Rivington said: “Publicly funded facilities should remain in public ownership, not handed over to enormously wealthy religious institutions like the Catholic Church.
“Practices around the investment and ownership of voluntary aided schools are long out of date – and should be reconsidered with a view to protecting public investment.
“Instead of expanding and funding exclusionary and discriminatory schools that have been shown to perpetuate unfairness against those experiencing disadvantage in our society, the Welsh Government should prioritise secular, inclusive education that treats all pupils and families equally, regardless of background.”
