Commentary Part 1: School Inspections and Other Inspections by School Inspectors Chapter 6 – Other Inspections: England and Wales Section 48: Inspection of religious education: England
90.This section re-enacts without modification section 23 of SIA 1996 in its application to England, providing for the separate inspection of denominational education and collective worship in schools designated under section 69(3) of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 by the Secretary of State as having a religious character. It sets out that it is the responsibility of the governing body of a school, or in the case of a voluntary controlled school, the responsibility of the foundation governors, to arrange an inspection under this section. Subsection (2) provides that, in choosing the inspector, the governing body or foundation governors must consult any person prescribed in regulations in relation to the religion or religious denomination of that school. The section allows the Secretary of State to prescribe in regulations the intervals between such inspections.