The survey will also ask officers for information on sexuality and gender amid claims that minority groups are missing out on top positions in the upper levels of Scotland’s police force, reports The Scotsman.
The audit is being carried out in an attempt to ascertain the extent to which Scotland’s police officers represent the community they serve.
While members of the Catholic Church have previously called for measures to tackle alleged sectarianism within the police ranks, it is unclear to what extent religious discrimination exists within Scotland’s public bodies.
Sectarianism recently came under the spotlight after Uefa cleared Rangers fans of sectarian chanting. The Scottish Executive meanwhile has pledged to root out what Scotland’s justice minister Cathy Jamieson dubbed “Scotland’s shame”.A spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland welcomed the audit. "At the moment we don't know whether there is a problem within the police service. This will bring some much-needed transparency," he said.
A Church source added: "I'm aware of anecdotal evidence that a 'stained glass ceiling' exists in the police service. I know Catholics in the police who have not been able to get beyond the rank of sergeant because they were Catholic, and were not Masons."
Chief Superintendent George Denholm of Lothian and Border Police, who heads the project, expressed the hope that the audit would go some way to address the police force’s “huge image problem”.
