A KNOWLEDGE of British history is not an essential part of being British, says a Home Office team that is devising a citizenship test for those immigrants who want to become naturalised Britons.

Their new “Britishness test” would not include any history, focusing instead on practical information about benefits, housing and using the NHS.

The interim finding is likely to be overruled after David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, said that he was unhappy at the exclusion. He said: “I welcome the report, but personally I would like to see more history and culture in the final document.”

Mr Blunkett appointed the panel — headed by his university tutor and mentor, Professor Sir Bernard Crick — last September to create the compulsory citizenship programme.

The panel’s interim report recommended yesterday that the 110,000 immigrants who apply to become naturalised Britons each year should be asked to study a handbook covering six topics before sitting a basic written and oral exam.

Applicants would have to learn about practical elements of British life: sources of help and information, employment, everyday needs, the law, “Britain as a changing multi-cultural society” and British national institutions.

The committee said that a Living in Britain handbook should be published in as many languages as practical. Immigrants with “no workable English” would have to answer a few simple oral questions and could answer in their own language, while more advanced applicants would have to complete a partial written and oral test.

Those with good English would have to sit a full written and oral exam.

The panel rejected an idea that all applicants should reach a certain level of competence in English, Welsh or Gaelic. Instead, they should be expected to have improved their English by at least one level according to standards set by the Department for Education and Skills.

Once an applicant had successfully completed the process, he or she would attend a US-style citizenship ceremony, which would be “something memorable to citizens old and new”. The local mayor or provost would host the ceremony and a celebrity or dignitary could present a certificate to each new citizen who takes the Oath of Allegiance, the report said.

The panel recognised that the Government feared that a widely available handbook might “mislead and raise the expectations of asylum-seekers whose cases have not yet been decided”. The handbook would not be given to asylum-seekers as a matter of course.

Sir Bernard, an Emeritus Professor of Birkbeck College, said: “Becoming a citizen should be no ordinary matter: it is a significant life event. The group saw its task as helping to raise the status and significance of becoming a British citizen.

“We welcome the Home Secretary’s stress on ‘practical knowledge’ for those seeking naturalisation. That should be the first thing that is needed to become settled and to take steps towards becoming a citizen.” His recommendations will form part of a programme under the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act.

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