Agenda item

To submit a report by the Director of Education, Skills and Young People.

The Director of Education, Skills and Young People reported that following legislative changes brought about by the Curriculum and Assessment (Wales) Act 2021, the requirement for a local authority to constitute a SACRE has been replaced by a requirement to constitute a Standing Advisory Council (SAC). The Director stated that the SAC’s brief is wider than that of the SACRE, as it now includes Religion, Values and Ethics (RVE) within the Curriculum for Wales Framework. The SAC’s Constitution will also be different and should include representatives with non-religious philosophical convictions.

In March 2022 a report was presented to the SACRE suggesting that a Humanist be invited to join the SACRE.  Following that meeting, legal advice was sought, and it was decided to review the SACRE’s membership in its entirety. 

The Director of Education, Skills and Young People reported that Officers from the Learning Service have undertaken the task of collating and analysing data on all the different religious groups on Anglesey.  Correspondence was sent to some groups to request their membership numbers, and the responses received have been included in the report.  It was noted that although the data is incomplete, it has been used to provide a recommendation to the County Council, to progress the matter further. 

The SACRE were asked to consider the recommendations in the report, i.e. to continue to offer seats to each of the six Christian denominations, which are the strongest religions on Anglesey (51.5%).  In addition, to allocate a seat to a representative from Jehovah’s Witness, Humanists UK and Islam.  The proposed changes would ensure a fair representation of the Christian faith, other religions and non-religious beliefs, and would comply with statutory requirements.

Members of the SACRE highlighted discrepancies in the number of members quoted to represent membership of Christian denominations.  The following update was provided by members of the SACRE: -

•  The Presbyterian Church of Wales had 962 members in 2022.

•  The figures quoted for the Catholic Church were for attendances on one day of the year and did not reflect the number of members of the Catholic Church.

•  The Baptist Union of Wales has an additional 28 members from the Baptist of Great Britain Church who have not been included in the figures.

Members of the SACRE expressed concern regarding the figures quoted for membership of the Christian Churches, particularly the Pentecostal and Pioneer Churches, who could be labelled as charismatic, and have many active members.  It was highlighted that if the figures for both these churches were combined, they would be much larger than one of the current Christian representatives listed in the report.   

Discussion focused on the changes to the SACRE’s Constitution to ensure more equality and diversity.  It was suggested that the SACRE looks at its current membership and considers inviting churches with more members to join the SACRE.

The Director of Education, Skills and Young People responded that he would be happy to seek further legal advice on this issue and conduct a review following comments made at today’s meeting in relation to the membership of the SACRE’s Christian denominations in due course.

RESOLVED: -

•  That the SACRE recommends to full Council that the name SACRE be changed to Standing Advisory Council (SAC) and that its Terms of Reference be included in the Council’s Constitution by the Monitoring Officer, in accordance with the legislative requirement for the SAC; and

•  That the County Council takes all reasonable steps to secure that the SAC’s membership is broadly proportionate to the strength of each religion, denomination, or non-religious philosophical conviction, in its local area. 

•  That the full Council at its meeting on 7 March 2024, agrees that the membership of SAC includes a total of 9 seats, made up of 6 seats to the current members and an additional 3 new seats, as follows: -

•  Humanists UK

•  Islam

•  Jehovah’s Witness

•  That a further review be undertaken of the current Christian seats (thus excluding Jehovah’s Witnesses from the next consultation), following comments made when SACRE was consulted and the figures that have been received.