Less than two years after the first edition was published, a new second edition of the test handbook appeared in 2007. The test's design was led once again by the Advisory Board on Naturalisation and Integration, but with a new chair, Mary Coussey, following Sir Bernard Crick's retirement in May 2005. The Home Secretary's Foreword to the second edition, by John Reid, now Lord Reid of Cardowan, thanks ‘heartily’ the Board's members for their having ‘led this task’ of revising ‘this handbook thoroughly’. This echoes the explicit claims in the first edition that it was a product of this independent group, which has the further benefit of insulating the government from direct criticisms arising from any defects with the test.

However, an official memorandum from July 2008 concerning the closure of this Board notes that it offered only ‘ad hoc advice’ about the test and ‘other integration issues’. In Parliament a month earlier, Home Office minister Liam Byrne said the questions were ‘drawn up by experts in computer- based assessment from UfI (the organisation that holds the current contract for providing the testing service) and representatives from the Advisory Board for Naturalisation and Integration. The current database of test questions was approved by Ministers’. In other words, on the one hand, the government was claiming publicly the main work for the test was done by an independent Board while, on the other hand, it said privately that its contribution was only ‘ad hoc’, giving the appearance of creating a scapegoat to protect the government from any further problems with the new test. However, while Crick was singled out for criticism over the first edition where he played a clear leading role, the government was unable to pin the blame on others for its new edition as the name on the front was the Home Secretary's and the Board was disbanded shortly after the new test was launched.

The second edition saw itself as an updated and expanded version of the original test handbook, or what it should have looked like if there was sufficient time to put it together. A few chapter titles were amended, such as chapter 3 (from ‘Britain Today: A Profile’ to ‘UK Today: A Profile’) and chapter 4 (from ‘How Britain is Governed’ to ‘How the United Kingdom is Governed’).