The Catholic Church in the UK is set to snub the flagship free schools policy of UK Education Secretary Michael Gove, saying that the admissions rules restricting the number of pupils from churchgoing families who can go to Church-run schools is “perverse”.

Speaking yesterday, Greg Pope, deputy director of the Catholic Education Service effectively ruled out future involvement in the scheme.

Free schools are funded by the taxpayer, academically non-selective and free to attend, but not controlled by a local authority.

Free schools were introduced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition following the 2010 general election making it possible for parents, teachers, charities and businesses to set up their own schools.

Mr Pope said that the the Government’s free school admissions policy would force Church-run schools to turn pupils away because they were Catholics – while admitting others because they were not, according to the Daily Telegraph.

He said he was “intrigued” by the idea of free schools and would be interested in pursuing it were it not for the “barriers” to the Church’s involvement.

He was speaking as the service published its annual “census”, showing that number are up on last year, particularly in primary schools.

There are 838,756 children being taught in 2,257 Catholic schools in England and Wales – one in 10 of all schools.

With some Catholic schools heavily oversubscribed, particularly in areas such as London, dioceses are keen to open more.

Last week a legal challenge brought by opponents of faiths schools to two new Catholic schools in Richmond, west London, was thrown out at the High Court.

Current Government policy is that all new schools should either be an academy or a free school, in which parents can become involved in the setting up and running.

Academies and fee schools have greater freedom from local authority interference over hiring and firing and teaching issues.

But unlike traditional faith schools, which control their own admissions, in new academies and free schools the number of children from a particular faith background is capped at 50 per cent if they are oversubscribed.

As a result Mr Pope said that, other than one Catholic free school in Cornwall, the Church was unlikely to open any more unless the cap was lifted.

“We discussed this with the Secretary of State,” he said.

“The point I made to Mr Gove was we would be unlikely as a sector to open a new school unless there was demand for a new school.

“And if there was demand for a 1,000-pupil Catholic school, why would we open a free school and end up turning away Catholic pupils on the grounds that they are Catholics while accepting others on the grounds that they are not Catholics?

“That’s a perverse disincentive to me.”

He added that a loophole in the rules meant that the Church could set up a traditional voluntary aided school and then convert it to an academy to “get around” the cap.

But he said: “That seems to me – to put it mildly – not the best way of doing it.”

Meanwhile, the High Court has ruled that a plan to build two new Catholic schools in Richmond, south-west London, is lawful.

A judge rejected an application from the British Humanist Association (BHA) and a group of local parents for a judicial review of the decision to build a primary and secondary school in the area, due to open next September.

New laws that came into force in England earlier this year require councils to first seek proposals from groups wanting to set up free schools or academies when a new school is needed in their area. The BHA claimed the council breached this law by supporting the Archdiocese of Westminster’s plan to set up a Catholic school.

In a statement, the Archdiocese of Westminster welcomed the judge’s decision, saying it was a victory “for all those seeking to send their children to a church school”. The BHA is considering an appeal.