A week ago last Friday in the House of Commons a written question was answered by Robin Walker who is the Minister of State for Education. To be clear he did not respond specifically to the reference for Brighton and Hove Schools although he did make a broad statement. The strange element of this was that it came as a question from Julian Lewis who is the MP for New Forest East and his also the Chair of the of the Intelligence and Security Committee which is a role he took on in 2020, succeeding Dominic Grieve who is of course no longer an MP having lost the Beaconsfield Constituency following his Independent decision in September 2019 and he sadly did not get re-elected although he got significantly more votes than any other party apart from the Conservatives. Most of the question from Julian Lewis was not strange or concerning until he got to the last sentence and then it became very disturbing. Julian is an MP for New Forest East and there are no members of the Committee who are based in Sussex so where has this come from? The committee can be seen here. He stated

what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of enforcement of education legislation, by authority; and if he will take steps to ensure that schools in Brighton and Hove comply with statutory bans on the political indoctrination of schoolchildren.

So the full question and answer can be found here but the closest aspect from Robin Walker was

Legal requirements on political impartiality in schools fall specifically on local authorities, governing bodies, academy trust leadership (including senior managers and academy trustees) and, in the case of maintained schools and academies, headteachers.

Where there are concerns about what is being taught, we expect that, in most instances, these can be addressed through dialogue and agreement, and simple steps can be taken to resolve any issues.

We clearly need to find out what led Julian to ask that element of his question!