Changes for school visits to Parliament

Torcuil Crichton MP on a visit to Stornoway Primary last year.

Thanks to schools in the constituency who wrote in, the UK Parliament has made some changes to its Educational Visit booking system.

Island schools let me know of their difficulties in booking an educational visit to the UK Parliament. They cited issues with the booking system, where slots were all filled within minutes of visiting the Parliament Educational Visit website, the short lead time between booking a visit and attending Westminster, and of the UK Parliament travel bursary not taking into account additional transport costs.

I’m pleased that after communicating these concerns directly to the Speaker’s Office, the UK Parliament Education team have made some key changes to their Educational Visit booking system.

These changes should improve accessibility for rural schools like ours, and include:

• an improved allocations policy to give schools a better chance of booking a UK Parliament Education tour,

• a longer lead time to help schools book tours further ahead, and

• limiting schools to one visit per term to ensure everyone has a chance.

I’m delighted that these changes are coming into force, but my campaign is not over. I have already requested the Speaker’s Office consider extending travel categories for schools requiring one or more method of transport to visit Westminster, which would increase the amount of travel bursary our schools could apply for.

I will continue to campaign for this to ensure that young people in education in Na h-Eileanan an Iar are not held back from visiting the UK Parliament owing to a financial barrier.

Bookings for UK Parliament Educational Visits for the coming academic terms will open on the 23rd September 2026 at 10am.

Schools should register well in advance of this date should they be interested in booking an educational visit for the coming academic terms. I would encourage you to read the guides here for further information: Educational Visit Booking Guides - Parliament UK Education.