Telford MP Lucy Allan presents petition on faith schools limit in parliament

The petition, which was signed by 155 people in the Telford area, was put together by the members of the town's Catholic Good Shepherd Parish.

The cap means that faith schools must keep 50 per cent of their places open to any child, irrespective of religious belief.

The policy could mean that religious schools turn away religious pupils in favour of non-religious pupils.

Last year Catholic bishops launched a petition calling for the Government to scrap the cap.

Father Michael Hartley, parish priest of The Good Shepherd, said: "Members of the Good Shepherd Parish (St. Mary’s, Madeley and St. Paul’s Dawley) signed a petition asking that the 50 per cent cap on faith admissions in faith schools be looked at.

"It was felt that the legislation was discriminatory. The petition was duly sent off and we received a response from Lucy Allan MP and Mr D.Deakin from the Ministerial and Public Communications division.

"Lucy Allan said that she would raise the matter and agreed that the policy was discriminatory and that it was a manifesto commitment to repeal it."

Ms Allan presented the petition in parliament and also submitted a written question on the subject.

The current cap on faith-based school admissions was introduced by the Coalition in 2010, and stipulates that where newly established academies with a religious character are oversubscribed, at least 50 per cent of their places must be open and allocated without reference to faith.

The government has said it will be reviewing the future of the cap as part of their ‘Schools that work for everyone’ consultation.

Father Hartley said that the response from the Ministerial and Public Communications division said "Catholic schools have played a long-standing and important role in our education system", and "many schools are high-performing and more likely to be rated good or outstanding by Ofsted than non-faith schools".

He added: "We understand why many people choose a faith school education, and we would wish that this option be open to all our faith families."

Speaking last year Father George Bowen, secretary to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference's department of Catholic education and formation, described the cap as “an effective ban on any new Catholic schools as our bishops ruled that opening a Catholic school that turned away Catholics for being Catholic was against Canon law”.