Rt Hon Alan Johnson MP
Department for Education and Skills
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT
26th October 2006
OMS/MM
Dear Mr Johnson
Thank you for your letter of earlier today to Archbishop Vincent. I am afraid that it arrived after Archbishop Vincent had left his office in Birmingham and it has not been possible to speak to him since.
In the interim I would, therefore, like to offer my thanks for the letter and the extent to which it reflects our discussion of yesterday. There is an additional point that I would like to raise in response to questions that I have been receiving from MPs and others today. They are concerned, as I am too, about the situation in cases of increasing Catholic demand, for example, of new Catholic immigrants. It would be helpful to know how you envisage demand for Catholic places being met in a situation where, for example, a new school was built and subsequently the demand for Catholic places increased, for example, because of immigration of Catholics from Poland, Philippines or elsewhere. Such Catholics would have to be found places somewhere and they would understandably expect to be able to attend the Catholic school. Equally, we envisage and understand that there may be times and locations where the demand for Catholic places reduces and those places would typically be made available to others without reference to their faith.
It would be very helpful to have your thoughts on this matter.
I am optimistic about the direction in which we are travelling after yesterday’s meeting. I am doing my best to contact Archbishop Vincent and I hope that I will soon be able to ensure that you receive a reply from him.
Yours sincerely
Oona Stannard
Chief Executive and Director | 
