A body which advises on religious educational standards is considering recruiting an atheist into its ranks under a radical shake-up designed to increase its effectiveness.

Conwy’s Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) has suggested the move in its 2021-23 action plan, presented to members at Monday’s meeting.

Humanism is a movement which believes in the finality of life on Earth and those who adhere to its principles don’t believe in a God or the supernatural.

According to Humanists UK those who choose the path “make sense of the world through logic, reason, and evidence, and always seek to treat those around us with warmth, understanding, and respect”.

The new recruitment, which will also see efforts to enlist members from “minority religions”, is designed to make “teachers, schools, places of worship and the general public better informed” about the committee’s work.

Every local authority is required to have a SACRE by law and their role is to advise on religious worship in non-faith schools.

SACREs also require councils to review religious education every five years and  to advise on teaching methods, teaching materials and training for RE teachers.

Another statutory duty of the committees is to produce an annual report for the Welsh education minister by the end the year.

Conwy SACRE’s action plan revealed budget cuts had reduced its ability to monitor schools’ religious output.

The report written by Roger Boon, chair of Conwy’s SACRE, said: “We need to become more effective and to this purpose I propose we produce an action plan in relation to our work designed for this very purpose.

“The local authority needs to clarify what is expected of our SACRE and commit to providing us with adequate funding to achieve it.

“My negotiations this year with the LA have encouraged me to believe that this is possible.”

The 10-point action plan presented to the committee included the need to forge better links with RE teachers by having a professional in SACRE’s chair or vice chair role.

It also highlighted the need to update the curriculum to coincide with “delivery of the Curriculum of Wales 2022 and the proposed integration of RE within

the Humanities area of learning”.

Other proposals include limiting councillor representation on SACRE to two and inviting feedback from students on religious education.