19 September 2025
The Bishop of Chelmsford, the Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, was Duty Bishop in the House of Lords during the week beginning Monday 15 September. This Lords Spiritual role involves being on duty to respond to business in the House as well as saying prayers at the start of each day.
Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill
On Tuesday 16 September, Bishop Guli spoke in debates around two amendments to the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill which was going through its Committee Stage.
Speech on Amendment 464
My Lords, in the absence of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Lincoln, who regrets he can’t be in place today, I rise to speak to amendment #464.
This amendment would introduce a duty on schools to record and report any incidents of racism or faith-based bullying on school premises.
It would also assist diocesan boards of education in collating and monitoring such cases and better assisting those church schools who might benefit from support. In preparing this speech, I spoke to our Director of Education in Chelmsford Diocese whose team oversee 140 church schools. She told me that this proposed amendment had the potential to help the board of education strengthen anti-bullying and inclusive practices in partnership with schools.
Every child deserves to feel safe at school. Yet, we know that racist and faith-based bullying is a significant driver behind school exclusions. A report published by the Difference and IPPR last year revealed that ‘Black Caribbean children are 1.5 times more likely than the national population to find themselves permanently excluded from schools; Irish Traveller children are three times more likely; and Romani (Gypsy) and Roma children are four times more likely.’[1]
Last November, The Traveller Movement published its ‘Fought not Taught’ report, which traced examples of coercive exclusions from school settings. The organisation defines ‘institutionally coerced exclusion’ as a situation in which a school setting, either through action or inaction, becomes a toxic environment with conditions that make it untenable or unsafe for a child to remain enrolled.[2]
To name one example, the Traveller Movement’s research has revealed that, tragically, 67% of young Gypsies and Travellers in London have experienced bullying from teachers that they felt was directly linked to their ethnicity’.[3]
My right reverend friend the Bishop of Lincoln will host the launch of the Traveller Movement’s follow-up publication on Thursday 23 October in your Lordships’ House.
Tell MAMA, or ‘Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks’, is an independent and confidential support service to record incidents of Islamophobia in the UK. Between 2023 and 2024, there was a 43% increase in the number of reported hate crimes targeting Muslims. 10% of these incidents occurred in a place of education.[4]
To make matters worse, parents often feel their concerns are ignored due to a lack of formal mechanisms of accountability. Maintaining a clear record of incidents is the first step towards building trust and fostering more collaborative partnerships between parents, schools and local authorities.
However, this amendment takes one step further. For the collective safety and wellbeing of all pupils, educational environments must be prepared to take concrete action to address – and, crucially, prevent – racism. By requiring schools to record actions taken in response when incidents do occur, we could ensure that actively anti-racist practice in our schools is the expectation not the exception.
In 2021, the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce published ‘From Lament to Action’, which set out recommendations to eradicate racism in the Church of England. Education surfaced as a priority area for action, with commitments to ensure racial justice features as a core element of curriculum, staff training and school assemblies.
There is much more work to be done, but I believe this amendment would enable us to make long-overdue progress.
[1] Who is losing learning? (September 2024), p. 30.
[2] TTM-Fought-not-Taught_web.pdf (November 2025), p. 5.
[3] Addressing Coercive Exclusions of Romani (Gypsy), Roma, and Irish Traveller Children (November 2024), p. 13.
[4] Building Bridges, Not Barriers: How Education Can Combat Islamophobia - Guest Blog
Speech on Amendment 482
My Lords, my right reverend friend the Bishop of Gloucester is sadly unable to be here today to speak to the amendment in her name, number 482.
This amendment would compel the Secretary of State to commission a report on the educational attainment of school age children with a parent who is in prison, making recommendations for how the educational attainment of those children can be improved.
I will not presuppose what the recommendations of this report would be, however through their work supporting over 1,450 children with a parent in prison, the charity Children Heard and Seen have shown that through simple, targeted and tailored emotional support, you can drastically change outcomes for children with a parent in prison.
Having a parent in prison is among the most significant Adverse Childhood Experiences, severely impacting children’s mental health and well-being. Children with an imprisoned parent are 25% more likely to suffer from mental health issues including depression, anxiety, insomnia, and eating disorders. Negative school experiences such as bullying, persistent truancy, and academic underachievement are also common.
It is estimated that there are almost 200,000 children with a parent in prison in England and Wales, yet we still do not know who or where these children are. This means they are not being brought to the attention of schools. Due to the lack of awareness of the issue of parental imprisonment throughout schools, support for children with a parent in prison varies hugely from school to school. There is no uniform approach, and many children are left without the appropriate support they need.
This amendment would also be a strong step in the right direction in increasing awareness and understanding of the harms of parental imprisonment within schools, ensuring that pupils and students who are affected by parental imprisonment are supported through an inclusive and non-judgemental approach.
Children with a parent in prison should be given the same chance in life as any other child and this amendment would help enable these children to mitigate the impacts of their parent's imprisonment, and overcome educational barriers, allowing them to fulfil their academic potential.
Supplementary Questions during Oral Questions
Bishop Guli asked Supplementary Questions during Oral Questions on two occasions during the duty week.
Tuesday 16 September. Supplementary Question on what assessment the Government have made about how the pause on family reunion applications for asylum seekers might impact the level of channel crossings.
Thursday 18 September. Supplementary Question on when the House of Lords will have the opportunity to discuss the details of the proposals for whole genome sequencing for all newborn babies, given it has such weighty and far-reaching implications for healthcare, prevention and various ethical issues.
Assisted Dying Bill
Bishop Guli attended part of the first day of debate on the second reading of the Assisted Dying Bill on 12 September. At fairly short notice, a second day of debate was scheduled for 19 September because of the large number of peers who wanted to speak. Bishop Guli already had commitments in the diocese on the 19th but planned to attend Parliament if there were to be any votes. In the event the House approved the bill at its second reading without any votes, after a compromise was agreed to set up a special committee to hear a range of expert views before the Bill returns to the House of Lords for its Committee stage. Assisted dying will become law in England and Wales only if both the House of Commons and House of Lords agree on the final wording of the Bill.
Other meetings
During the Duty Week, Bishop Guli held meetings with ministers and other peers on issues relating to the forthcoming Immigration Bill (specifically the right to work for asylum seekers); the Deprivation of Citizenship Bill; Housing, in particular in relation to the Government’s Housing Strategy which is awaited.
