All posts tagged: Humanists

MPs didn’t move against assisted dying – they just abstained – Humanists UK

MPs didn’t move against assisted dying – they just abstained – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

On Friday the Assisted Dying Bill was defeated in the House of Commons by just 16 votes. Analysis by Humanists UK shows that the change from the previous vote that led to defeat was largely due to abstentions – which went from 44 in the third reading of the previous Assisted Dying Bill to 91 now, and came more from bill supporters than opponents. Humanists UK calls this highly disappointing, leaving an unsatisfactory answer for the general public who overwhelmingly back choice. Abstentions leading to failure The graph shows a sharp rise in abstentions, largely from absent Labour supporters. Humanists UK spoke to MPs whose foreign visits, including to Ukraine and Norway, prevented voting, affecting more supporters than opponents. Weddings and personal matters also kept MPs away. MPs have no formal abstention procedure. Proxy voting is limited to new parents, MPs affected by childbirth complications or bereavement, and those needing extended absence for fertility treatment or serious long-term illness or injury. Unofficial pairing matched some supporters with opponents to cancel out their votes, but relies …

Hackney faith school plans expose loophole warned of by Humanists UK – Humanists UK

Hackney faith school plans expose loophole warned of by Humanists UK – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Humanists UK have raised concerns after Hackney Council revealed plans to help independent Charedi Jewish schools move into the state education sector as voluntary aided (VA) faith schools. Hackney’s new three-year plan for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) notes that school rolls are generally falling. But the Charedi population in the north of the borough is rising, and most Charedi children currently attend independent faith schools rather than state ones. As reported by Schools Week, Orthodox Jewish independent schools have launched legal challenges against Hackney council in a bid to secure funding for their SEND provision. While the council is resistant to this, it says it is working with the community on ‘new provision models’, including a pathway to voluntary aided (VA) status. It expects two Charedi independent schools to become VA schools within the next three years. Warnings about 100% religiously selective schools The proposal to convert to VA status can be made under new provisions in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act, which now allow new maintained schools to open …

Assisted Dying Bill narrowly fails – a dark day for democracy – Humanists UK

Assisted Dying Bill narrowly fails – a dark day for democracy – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill has been narrowly voted down at its Second Reading in the House of Commons. The vote was 270 in favour, 286 against. Andrew Copson, Chief Executive at Humanists UK, said: ‘This vote provides not one extra penny for palliative care or disability support. On the contrary, it makes it less likely. And terminally ill people will still suffer, travel to Switzerland, and take their own lives in increasing numbers, while today’s inequalities continue. Where can we go from here? Those MPs who said they support assisted dying in principle but opposed this Bill should now look at the many working and compassionate assisted dying laws overseas and say exactly what they would support and the Government should facilitate this. Doing nothing is unacceptable. ‘This vote should never have happened. The Bill passed the Commons last year. Unelected peers, backed by well-funded religious lobbyists, have derailed a compassionate reform with overwhelming public support, and those groups will now be emboldened. The level of …

Teachers in Liverpool strike over plans to consolidate nearly 230 schools into Catholic multi academy trusts – Humanists UK

Teachers in Liverpool strike over plans to consolidate nearly 230 schools into Catholic multi academy trusts – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Teachers at St Anthony of Padua Catholic Primary School in Liverpool are striking over plans to transfer the school into St Joseph Catholic Multi Academy Trust, amid a wider programme to move 217 schools across the Archdiocese of Liverpool into three Catholic academy trusts. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) are beginning strike action on Friday 11 September. The union says staff were not meaningfully consulted over the proposed academisation. St Anthony’s is currently a voluntary aided Catholic school maintained by Liverpool City Council. Its proposed conversion forms part of the Archdiocese’s A Family in Christ: Our Future Together strategy, which will see 217 Catholic schools move into three trusts. Humanists UK warned in May that the expansion risked entrenching religious control over state-funded education, particularly in areas including admissions, staffing, governance, religious education, and collective worship. It is now seeking further information from the Archdiocese of Liverpool about whether individual schools can choose not to take part in its academisation programme. Humanists UK’s Policy and Campaigns Manager, Lewis Young, commented: ‘We previously warned …

Suella Braverman promises ‘consequences’ if pupils don’t sing Christian hymns – Humanists UK

Suella Braverman promises ‘consequences’ if pupils don’t sing Christian hymns – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Pictured: Suella Braverman MP. © House of Commons/Laurie Noble, CC BY 3.0 Reform UK has said schools will face ‘consequences’ if they fail to make pupils regularly sing hymns and the national anthem under a Reform government. The party’s education spokesperson, Suella Braverman, told Schools Week after her conference speech on Saturday that the requirement ‘will be in law, in guidance’, would apply to ‘every school’ up to and including sixth formers, and would be policed through Ofsted inspections and by parents reporting their children’s schools to the party . Asked whether inspectors would check for compliance, she said: ‘We will find out if schools are breaking the law and there will be consequences.’ She would not say how often children would have to sing, only that it must be ‘regular’ enough for pupils to know the anthem by heart. Humanists UK, which has campaigned for decades to replace compulsory worship in schools with inclusive assemblies, said the pledge would take the law in precisely the wrong direction. Compulsory worship is already the law, and …

Humanists call on Burnham to go further with reforming ‘antiquated and archaic’ church and state rules – Humanists UK

Humanists call on Burnham to go further with reforming ‘antiquated and archaic’ church and state rules – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Pictured: Prime Minister Andy Burnham, source: Number 10 Official Flickr, distributed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Humanists UK has welcomed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s announcement today that he will bring forward a Bill to end the specific legal bans on Roman Catholic and Jewish prime ministers advising the Crown on Church of England appointments – when those of all other religions or beliefs are already allowed to advise. But it has also said that the continuing absurdity of non-Anglicans advising on Church of England religious appointments shows the need to go further with separating church and state. In a written statement to Parliament, Andy Burnham said it was ‘unacceptable for there to be a legislative bar against people of any faith performing all the functions of my office’, and that his Government would ‘introduce a Bill at the earliest possible opportunity to correct this antiquated and archaic anomaly’. Because the Church of England is the established church, the Prime Minister has a formal role advising the monarch on the appointment of bishops and other senior …

Northern Ireland Conversion Practices Ban Bill to be debated – Humanists UK

Northern Ireland Conversion Practices Ban Bill to be debated – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

MLAs are due to debate the Conversion Practices (Criminalisation) Bill, which bans discredited and harmful practices designed to change, suppress, or ‘cure’ a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Northern Ireland Humanists is calling on MLAs to support the legislation that will deliver comprehensive protection for all LGBT+ people. Northern Ireland Humanists will be outside of Stormont at 10:00 on Tuesday 15 September with placards calling for the ban. MLAs will debate the Bill around 11:00 with a vote around 13:00. Alliance Party Deputy Leader Eóin Tennyson MLA introduced the Private Members’ Bill to ban conversion practices in the Northern Ireland Assembly. On Tuesday, MLAs will debate the Bill’s general principles and decide whether to agree to it. Conversion practices, or so-called ‘conversion therapy’, are discredited and harmful practices that have a predetermined purpose to change, suppress, or ‘cure’ a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity because of prejudiced assumptions that a particular sexual orientation or gender identity is better than any others. They can include pseudo-psychological interventions, coercive counselling, forced prayer, exorcisms, and other …

Northern Ireland Humanists back stronger scrutiny of RE – Humanists UK

Northern Ireland Humanists back stronger scrutiny of RE – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Northern Ireland Humanists have welcomed ‘long overdue’ proposals to end the special exemption that prevents inspectors from examining religious education (RE) in the same way as other school subjects. The Education Inspections Bill aims to bring inspection arrangements for RE into line with other areas of the curriculum. Responding to the Northern Ireland Assembly Education Committee’s call for evidence, Northern Ireland Humanists said the reform was ‘necessary’. However, it also warned that effective inspection will require proper guidance, training, and a clear focus on children’s rights. Clause 2 of the Education Inspections Bill would remove the current requirement for the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) to obtain agreement of a school’s Board of Governors before inspecting RE. Northern Ireland Humanists strongly supports the change, arguing that there is no justification for a statutory subject to be uniquely shielded from independent scrutiny. The reform is particularly important following the Supreme Court’s judgment in JR87, which found that the religious education and collective worship a non-religious child received were not objective, critical, or pluralistic. The proposals also …

Surrey Council pauses faith school merger plans – Humanists UK

Surrey Council pauses faith school merger plans – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Humanists UK has welcomed Surrey County Council’s decision to pause controversial plans that would have seen Merrow Junior School, a school with no religious character, absorbed into a new Church of England primary school. At a meeting on 8 September, the council’s Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning agreed not to proceed with the proposed amalgamation of Merrow Church of England Controlled Infant School and Merrow Junior School. Instead, council officers will explore whether the two schools could remain separate while being co-located on the current junior school site. The original proposal would have closed Merrow Junior School in August 2027 and expanded the Church of England infant school into an all-through Church of England primary school. Council documents said that making the resulting school a Church school was considered the preferred way of dealing with financial pressures caused by falling pupil numbers. Humanists UK opposed the proposal, arguing that it would unnecessarily convert provision currently available to the whole community into a school with a religious character. In the first consultation, 67% …

Need for stronger RSE guarantees as provision remains inconsistent say NI Humanists – Humanists UK

Need for stronger RSE guarantees as provision remains inconsistent say NI Humanists – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Northern Ireland Humanists has called for stronger guarantees from the Department of Education (DoE) for every young person to receive comprehensive relationships and sexuality education (RSE), after a new DoE report found that provision remains inconsistent between schools. The report reviewed reforms introduced in 2023 which required pupils at Key Stages 3 and 4 to receive age-appropriate, comprehensive, and scientifically accurate RSE, including on sexual and reproductive health and rights, early pregnancy prevention, and access to abortion. At the time, Northern Ireland Humanists told the DoE that RSE must be ‘factually accurate and scientifically grounded’. While the DoE says there has been ‘clear progress’, the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI) reported that the teaching of RSE is still inconsistent across schools, particularly on consent, child sexual exploitation, and domestic and sexual abuse. It found that 44% of schools taught consent only to a small extent or not at all. The DoE also acknowledges that the current curriculum gives schools considerable flexibility, meaning pupils of the same age can receive very different content. The findings come …