Many schools in England are ignoring their statutory duty to provide a daily act of worship, a survey has suggested.

Almost two-thirds of parents, or 64 per cent, told a study for BBC Local Radio faith programmes that their children do not attend a daily act of collective worship at school.

Sixty per cent of the public were not in favour of enforcing the law prescribing a daily act of worship in schools, the telephone survey of 1,743 adults carried out in July showed.

Older people were more likely to agree that the law on daily worship should be enforced than younger people.

A small majority (51 per cent) of those aged 65 and over believed it should be enforced, compared to fewer than three in 10, or 29 per cent, of 18- to 24-year-olds.

Craig Henderson, head of BBC English regions programming, said: “The role of faith in our communities is one in which BBC Local Radio is well placed to foster discussion and debate.

“I have no doubt that our listeners will have strong views about the role of religion and secular teaching as a daily part of the English education system.

“We’ll be getting to the heart of what the survey results mean to the communities people live in by speaking to religious leaders, school headteachers and the wider public.”

A Church of England spokesman said the poll did not differentiate between parents of primary and secondary school-age children.