PROPOSALS to scrap the requirement for daily collective worship in non-faith schools, and replace it with inclusive assemblies, won the backing of the former Bishop of Oxford the Rt Revd Lord Harries of Pentregarth, in the House of Lords.

In a debate on the Private Member’s Bill introduced by the Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Burt — the vice-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group — Lord Harries said that the current requirement for mandatory worship in non-faith schools “did not reflect the society in which we now live”.