Just before Christmas, SDLP MLA Justin McNulty hinted at giving children and their parents the greatest gift of all.

In a written assembly question, he asked DUP education minister Paul Givan “for his assessment of the merits of abolishing homework”.

Givan replied with a bland restatement of his department’s long-standing position.

There is no law governing homework in Northern Ireland, so every school must devise their own policy and share it with parents.

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The department’s guidance is that homework should not be stressful and should be “balanced against time for family life and the need for children to develop other interests”.

However, it would be odd if the minister and his officials were not giving some thought to updating this position.

Abolishing homework has been a live debate in Scotland for a decade.

Since 2016, a growing number of Scottish schools have banned homework on their own initiative.

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