Ed Balls, the children's secretary, revealed plans for a government crackdown on faith schools that practise covert selection to cream off the ablest pupils, writes John Carvel, social affairs editor.
His remarks came at a Fabian Society fringe meeting on Sunday that were posted on the centre-left thinktank's website yesterday.
Mr Balls said: "We are not going to abolish 200 years of history. But many faith schools were set up specifically to give a decent education to the poor. They have a right to educate children in their faith, but they should not be less likely to educate poorer children of that faith."
The minister was responding to Anthony Giddens, former director of the London School of Economics, who said LSE research showed some faith schools used "covert selection", making them less representative of the social mix of their catchment areas.
Mr Balls said: "We have a tough admissions code. It is right to say that faith schools - unlike academies, as it happens - currently take a lower number of pupils on free school meals than their catchment areas. Interestingly, that isn't the case with academies but it is the case with faith schools."
David Blunkett, the former education secretary, said that, starting from a blank slate, he would not introduce faith-based schooling. But the reality was that they were here to stay. "Any government which tried to abolish them would be voted out of office," he added.
Mr Balls said: "There are 1.7 million children in 6,500 faith schools. Some of them have been in existence before the state guaranteed an education. I am not going to abolish them. The question is not whether we should have one more faith school or not - whether we have 6,500 faith schools or 6,501. The question for me is: are our existing faith schools promoting fair admissions and community cohesion?"
Mr Balls said there were substantial advantages in private Muslim schools being funded by the state and made fully subject to the national curriculum and Ofsted inspection.
Asked if he was concerned about homophobic bullying being more likely in faith schools, Mr Balls said he was fully committed to eradicating bullying in all schools, whatever the grounds.
Homophobic bullying could be a problem in any school. But there could be no question of the Catholic Church's beliefs about homosexuality being a reason to turn a blind eye to homophobic bullying, and he was talking to church leaders to ensure effective anti-bullying strategies would be a priority, the Fabian website report said.
