Decision details

(i)  To recommend Southampton City Council Cabinet approve the

    amended Constitution for SACRE attached at Appendix 1 including

    the addition of a Humanist voting member in Group A as well as

    retaining an annually reviewed membership representative for a

    member with no specific religious affiliation. recognising secular

    representation as a ‘belief’ within the meaning of the Human Rights

    Act 1998 and accurately reflecting the changing nature of religious

    and non-religious beliefs in current society and the Southampton

    area.

(ii)  To note Cabinet will be asked to delegate authority to the Executive

    Director of Wellbeing, following consultation with the Chair of Sacre

    to agree an application process and determine any applications /

    appoint members to the vacancies approved in (i) above.

(iii)  To note Cabinet will be asked to delegate authority to the Executive

    Director of Wellbeing, following consultation with the Chair of Sacre

    to carry out a further review of SACRE membership once the

    Census 2021 data has been published in 2023 and to bring back    any further recommendations on Membership changes to the next

    annual review of the SACRE Constitution in November 2023.

Data that was analysed in last year’s review from the available school

information systems indicate that the proportions of parents of over 13,500

children (40%) recorded that their child has “no religion” which is the largest

single group represented across current pupils across the city. This remains

the case in the most recent pupil level data.

During the review (November 2020) full voting membership for Humanists as

a specific group was considered, but not recommended. The two previous

decisions have been considered in this review and there was insufficient

evidence that Humanists would represent all people who would be within this

population group hence the proposed Humanist member plus retaining the

non-affiliated member.

A review of pupil data continues to show a need to reflect wider ‘belief’

systems (including a belief in secularism) and recognises based on the

current evidence that a place should be made available to accommodate this

within the SACRE Constitution. In order to ensure all groups representing

secular or non-religious beliefs have an opportunity to apply for a place on

SACRE an application process, has been proposed so SACRE can aim to

ensure appropriate representation from across all groups, within the SACRE

legal framework, who may belong to the population group in the city, and

recognise this would include people who would say they are Humanists,

hence the proposal of a full member representative for Humanists. No other

group with worldview values and beliefs have approached or been involved in

SACRE.

If this proposal is rejected and the current constitution reviewed in November

2021 persists then it is probable that the South Hampshire Humanists and / or

other affected groups will seek a Judicial Review with an aim to have the

decision overturned. This would potentially have a financial and reputational

implication to SCC.

To either give full membership to Southampton Hampshire Humanists, but

thereby preventing other non-faith groups being represented, or having no

non-faith groups represented on SACRE which would disenfranchise a

sizeable proportion of those living in Southampton and prevent their views

and opinions from helping to shape the overall nature of Religious Education

in maintained schools specifically under SACRE statutory duties, and those

non-maintained who follow the Locally Agreed Syllabus.

Alternatively, to continue with either non-affiliated membership or co-opted

member status, however this has previously been the subject of legal

challenge by a Local Humanist group and while a legal challenge may be

defendable under current legislation, it is unlikely to be in the public interest to

defend such proceedings when there is evidence supporting the need to

review membership to include more secular belief systems being represented

on SACRE.