To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have (a) taken and (b) successfully completed the Life in the UK test for adult applicants who want to become British citizens since its inception; and if he will make a statement. (88450)

Information on the number of individuals who have taken the Life in the UK Test is not currently available, as some applicants will have taken the test more than once before passing it. Between the introduction of the Life in the UK Test in November 2005 and 22 July 2006, 82,375 tests were taken. Of these, 56,615 were passed and 25,760 failed, giving an overall pass rate of 68.7 per cent.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the Life in the UK test for adult applicants who want to become British citizens. (88519)

No. The Life in the UK test is a multiple choice test comprising 24 questions, selected from a bank of around 200 questions, which were carefully scrutinised by the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration. All of the answers to the test questions can be found through study of the handbook “Life in the United Kingdom: A Journey to Citizenship”. It would not be appropriate to publish the test questions, as this would enable people to learn them by rote and thus defeat the object of the test.