The Board of Deputies has entered the growing debate on free schools by asking new Education Secretary Justine Greening to remove the curb on admissions on the basis of faith.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis has called for the lifting of the 50 per cent cap whereby only half the places in a free school can be reserved for members of one faith.

But a large group of Progressive rabbis reacted last week by urging Ms Greening to maintain the status quo on entry.

In a letter to the Education Secretary, Gillian Merron, the Board’s chief executive, advocated more “a flexible approach”, saying that the 50 per cent rule had prevented the creation of more faith-based free schools, including Orthodox and strictly Orthodox schools.

She said that the 50 per cent rule could be one option for schools “who feel it is consistent with their ethos”, but that there were other ways of achieving community cohesion such as “school-linking programmes”.

While promoting cohesion should be a requirement for all schools, the 50 per cent rule had been “ineffective” in doing this. “Many of the faith-based free schools have only appealed to people of the faith background of the school, meaning that often the quota does not actually deliver a diverse school community in practice,” she pointed out.

The debate comes amid plans which could see anything from one to three applications to open a new secondary Jewish free school in the London area.

The Chief Rabbi has made it clear that he does not support the current free school model and would prefer a “completely immersive Jewish environment”.

The Board is seeking an early meeting with Ms Greening for further discussion.