Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is working with the History of Parliament Trust and the publishers St James's House on a publication to be published in 2015 to mark 750 years of Parliament; what reports she has received of schools being asked to contribute sponsorship towards that publication; and if she will make a statement.

The Department for Education is not involved with this publication, nor have we received any reports from schools regarding any such requests.

The new national curriculum for history, to be taught in maintained schools from September 2014, includes key developments relating to the history of Parliament ranging from Magna Carta and the emergence of Parliament to women’s suffrage in the early twentieth century. In addition, as part of the new national curriculum for citizenship, secondary age pupils should be taught about the development of the political system of democratic government in the United Kingdom, including the roles of citizens, Parliament and the monarch. Schools are free to choose which resources they use to teach the curriculum; the work being carried out by the Trust to educate young people about the history of Parliament through teaching resources and school competitions will help schools in teaching these key developments in British history.