Westminster Hall

Thursday 5th March 2026 Westminster Hall

Thursday 5 March 2026

[Emma Lewell in the Chair]

Local Museums

Thursday 5th March 2026 Westminster Hall

13:30

[Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered the contribution of local museums.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell.

Colleagues will know that I am incredibly proud to call Thurrock home. I am the first local MP to be was born and raised in the constituency, and it is an honour to represent the people I grew up alongside. Thurrock has a fighting spirit. Our small part of the world punches well above its weight, with thriving ports, historic forts and the river on our doorstep. Geographically, we sit right where the Thames starts to narrow on its way into London, and because of our strategic location, we have always served as a gateway to the city. It was Thurrock where Queen Elizabeth rallied her troops to fight off the Spanish armada, where brave, ordinary people gathered and prepared for the D-day operations and where the Empire Windrush disembarked, bringing all those who answered the call to help restore and rebuild after the war.

Our history has shaped this country, and it is only right that it is recorded, remembered and celebrated. That is where our local museums play a critical role. They keep our local histories alive and engender a sense of pride in where we are from. They show young people, like my daughters, who are growing up in Thurrock—which, to be honest, does not always get the attention it deserves—that they are right to be proud of the place where they live. That is why I am so grateful to have such fantastic local museums on our doorstep.

The Thurrock museum is a prime example. More than 250,000 years of our history can be found in the display cases, and more than 1,500 objects are on show. I would really recommend a trip to take the kids to learn about the mammoths that once lived in Aveley or to look at the medieval relics from Grays. I am very grateful to the current Labour council for keeping the place up and running. Despite being under an immense amount of financial pressure, it recognises how much the whole Thameside complex, where the museum is housed, means to families in our area.

Just outside my constituency but still within the boundary of Thurrock, we have Coalhouse fort, which has just received heritage lottery funding to secure its long-term future, and the small but powerful Bata Museum, which tells the fascinating story of how an eastern European shoe manufacturer changed the face of this small village in Essex.

I primarily want to focus on the Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre. On Sunday, the centre reopened after a three-month renovation period. Volunteers have put in an immense effort to pull together a series of new exhibitions and revamp old ones. If someone wants to know something about our little corner of the world, I can guarantee that it can be found there. It tracks the Royal Navy from Nelson’s era to world war two, the RAF from its very beginnings all the way through to the battle of Britain, and the Army from the battle of Waterloo right up until the Falklands. On top of that, there is information on the local home front, the Royal Flying Corps and the Purfleet gunners.

In fact, even the building itself is a piece of history: it is a former gunpowder magazine built in the mid- 18th century, and for more than 200 years it formed an integral part of the UK’s military infrastructure, stashing the gunpowder that supplied our Army and Navy during countless wars, as well as both sides in the American civil war. One of my favourite exhibits in the museum is a model of an L-15 zeppelin, which is strung up on the ceiling above the shelves. It was the first zeppelin to be shot down in world war one; that achievement earned each of the gunners at the Purfleet garrison a gold medallion from the Mayor of London.

The museum also houses an exhibition celebrating and commemorating the achievements and history of the Gurkha regiments, and a significant portion of veterans from those regiments now call Thurrock home. I am extremely proud that the museum also plays host to the only Gurkha memorial in Essex, which was unveiled in 2024 thanks to the tireless efforts of the Thurrock Nepalese Gurkha community and its work with the museum volunteers. It sits alongside the museum’s proud tradition of remembering those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country and way of life.

I want to be clear that Thurrock’s place in the history books extends well beyond our military contribution. New displays at the Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre also show off the borough’s sporting success, our railways and industry, our geology, and perhaps most fascinatingly, our Dracula connection. Most people do not know that the infamous Carfax residence is based on Purfleet House, so for anyone who might be a goth, or of a gothic persuasion, do not go to Whitby—get the train to Purfleet, as we have a much bigger connection to Dracula than Whitby. For anyone who is interested, I am told that there is still space on the Halloween Dracula tour, which is a lot of fun.

Such tours are part of a whole range of visits and walks put on by the centre. Like everything else at the site, these are run by a group of volunteers, who work tirelessly year round. We are very lucky to have some of them in the Gallery today, including Trevor, Polly, Ollie, Paul, Sylak, Jeff, Phillip, Claire and Yvette. They follow in the footsteps of Alan and Sue Gosling, the husband and wife duo who saved the building, set up the museum and dedicated years of their life to researching local history. Sadly, Alan passed away last year, but his legacy lives on in the volunteers who have come after him. The 20-strong team have spent months renovating, organising donations and putting together collections. They do it because they love it, and are passionate about the story of our area.

It certainly is not easy. When I asked Trevor how the team created the new exhibitions, he told me, perhaps too candidly, that they “begged, borrowed and stole.” They have medal cases from London-based museums, old photos from Thurrock residents, original weaponry and even a 5-foot model shark up on the roof. Trevor says the museum receives very limited funding. It makes most of its money from small donations, the £5 entrance fee or yearly subscriptions from supporters. As a result, the team struggle with the cost of maintaining such an old building, and have to pull together to make basic upgrades, such as putting hot water in the toilets—I am pleased to announce that they now do have hot water in the toilets, following the renovations.

Many museums in other hon. Members’ constituencies will face similar challenges. That is why I am so glad that this Government are committed to offering more support. Ministers have earmarked more than £100 million to cover the costs of maintenance, backlogs and bills, and have put £20 million towards the new museum renewal fund, which is reserved entirely for local civic organisations. This is positive progress, and I am so pleased that the Government recognise the value of local museums up and down the country.

[Neil Coyle (Bermondsey and Old Southwark) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for making an amazing speech and celebrating local history. In my constituency we have the Brunel Museum, which is a fantastic local resource covering engineering history, the Thames and the Brunel family. It makes an estimated £150,000 social value contribution, but it struggles to compete for resources. Does she agree that councils, Ministers and the Department should ensure that resources made available by this Government and at a local level can be received by smaller community museums, and not just the main national museums, which tend to take the lion’s share?

[Jen Craft]

I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution; I think he may have had a sneak peek at my speech, as that is just what I am coming to. Let me give a huge shout-out to the Brunel Museum—I am a big fan. It includes a replica of the first ever boring machine— I am sorry to be boring, but it is a boring machine—the technology of which is still used today. On Thursday next week, I believe, I am going to open a new one in my constituency, which will still be using exactly the same technology that Brunel pioneered at the Rotherhithe tunnel. It is really interesting; I love it.

It is important to ensure—this is the point I was coming to—that smaller, volunteer-run sites can access the help that is available. Such museums do not always have the capacity to work through complex application processes, and they are up against bigger organisations that have the time and expertise to put together more competitive bids. To give a bit of context, the Arts Council’s application guidance for the museum estate and development fund is just over 50 pages long, and it asks candidates to have detailed plans and proposals, as well as a recent costed condition survey. For places such as Purfleet Military and Heritage Centre, that is a big ask.

[Carla Denyer (Bristol Central) (Green)]

The hon. Member is making an important speech, and is particularly talking about small independently run museums. Does she agree that, since many local museums are owned and run by local authorities and face the risk of closure because of severe underfunding, the Government must ensure that local authorities have sufficient funding to keep those local museums open, especially given that all the research shows that they have a huge benefit in our local economies? In Bristol, for example, our arts and culture sector created nearly £900 million of economic and social value this year.

[Jen Craft]

I agree; it is really important to make sure that those museums are properly funded. As the hon. Member will be aware, they run by and large on voluntary efforts and voluntary contributions. Sometimes, although the local council owns the space, it does not necessarily pay for the upkeep, running and staffing. Looking at how best to fund those museums going forward, while recognising the contributions made by volunteers, is perhaps key.

There is no question that criteria need to be in place when looking at funding bids to make sure that money is well spent, but the process needs to be accessible. If we could provide smaller pots of money aimed at hyper-local, volunteer-run sites, perhaps the application could be simplified. At the moment, most grants start at around £50,000. In the east of England, recipients of the museum renewal fund were typically larger local organisations that were awarded upwards of £60,000. I have two questions for the Minister. First, how will he make sure that small museums can access Government support? Secondly, would he consider offering more small grants with a simpler application process?

It is right that we recognise the value of small museums. Although they do not attract massive numbers of visitors or bring in loads of tourist revenue—I am hoping to change that at Purfleet; we could be the outlier—they help to keep our local histories alive. That contribution cannot be measured in figures or footfall. Places such as Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre and the Thameside complex remind us to be proud of where we are from. They engage with schools, scout groups, cadets and guides, celebrate the legacies of local people and honour the efforts of extraordinary ordinary residents. Those stories would never find their way into a national exhibit. They are the histories of our grandparents and their grandparents, and they deserve to be remembered. They are keepers and tellers of our local story, and they contextualise it within our wider national story.

I want to finish by thanking the brilliant volunteers in the Gallery again. I have three questions for the Minister, actually—I want to encourage him to visit the rather fabulous Purfleet Military and Heritage Centre, where he will be sure of a very warm welcome and a lovely cup of tea. He will also be in the company of Benjamin Franklin, William Bligh, Captain Cook and Queen Victoria, who have all made the trip to Purfleet-on-Thames over the years. Most importantly, he will get the chance to learn about some of our fascinating local history.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Emma Lewell (in the Chair)]

With a time limit of four minutes on Back-Bench speeches, I call Dr Kieran Mullan.

13:42

[Dr Kieran Mullan (Bexhill and Battle) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) on securing this debate, which I think may become a battle royale of whose constituency has the best museums. I will begin with Bexhill and Battle, which has a remarkable number of both local museums and national heritage sites. Let me take you on a tour of what we have to offer, Ms Lewell.

Bexhill Museum, founded in 1914, has been educating and inspiring the community for well over a century. It remains a traditional local museum run largely by volunteers, yet it continues to thrive and evolve. It is currently completing the final stages of a comprehensive refurbishment made possible through a £390,000 grant from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport via Arts Council England in 2023. The museum holds an extraordinary and eclectic collection across four galleries, ranging from dinosaur footprints and Viking swords to a model of the town with a railway inherited from the Izzard family. It also has a restored 1895 fire engine, soon go on display. Around 1,500 schoolchildren visit each year, with a further 2,000 benefiting from loan boxes of artefacts and replicas used in the classroom. It even has a replica of the Bayeux tapestry.

That takes me a few short miles away to the historic town of Battle, most famously known as the site of the battle of Hastings in 1066, where we have the Battle Museum of Local History. Housed in the historic Almonry building, this volunteer-run museum complements the internationally significant Battle abbey, which is one of the most visited heritage sites in the country. The town’s identity is naturally shaped by the events of 1066, but the museum rightly takes a broader approach, bringing together the collections and historical knowledge of the town while engaging the public in researching and understanding the area’s wider story. Its displays explore topics ranging from the development of public health and medicine to the experiences of local residents during the second world war.

It does not stop there—we have museums in each and every corner of the constituency. In the west, we have Pevensey Courthouse Museum and Gaol. Current curator, Robert Slater, told me about the role that ultra-small local museums like that one play. They keep history alive not only through the stories of kings and battles, but through the ordinary lives of local people. Visitors to the courthouse can see coroner’s records and records of those who fell foul of the law—facing anything from fines to public whipping—and stories of smuggling along the Sussex coast. What makes these museums truly special is the extraordinary commitment of local volunteers and trustees. Despite being run by volunteers, the Courthouse Museum welcomed nearly 5,500 visitors last year alone.

On the other side of the constituency is the Bright Foundation, founded by the Oscar-winning costume designer John Bright. Over the past 50 years, he has collaborated with and made costumes for a wide range of designers for productions ranging from “Pirates of the Caribbean” to “Downton Abbey”. His generosity underpins the Bright Foundation, which includes the Barn Theatre and Museum. This remarkable local charity, based in Westfield, gives children and young people opportunities to engage with arts and creativity. It includes John Bright’s toy museum, with a collection of more than 400 puppets, 400 dolls’ houses, and even a trainset that was featured in the 1997 film “The Borrowers”. With his support, the foundation engages more than 4,500 people a year, 44% of whom are in receipt of free school meals or have special educational needs.

However, the contribution of that museum, and others, is sometimes overlooked when budgets are being drawn up and limited resources are available. For example, for every £1 of revenue that Bexhill Museum receives from the Government, it has to generate £8 of its own through the work of the volunteers in the shop and so on.

I have a few questions for the Minister. To build on the excellent point from the hon. Member for Thurrock about small pots of money, we need transparency on what local government actually spends in this respect. We also need to understand, at a time of local government reorganisation, how museums can sometimes fall between the cracks among the various responsibilities. The Government need to understand that museums are not just receivers of funding but parts of local government infrastructure that contribute to the economy and to jobs.

I will finish by thanking all the volunteers across all the museums in Bexhill and Battle who make such a fantastic contribution to our culture and heritage.

13:46

[Terry Jermy (South West Norfolk) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft). She is a passionate advocate for Thurrock, as she has demonstrated again today.

I am not sure whether my hon. Friend the Minister is a fan of “Dad’s Army”, but it was filmed in my hometown of Thetford. We have a fascinating museum full of “Dad’s Army” memorabilia. I am sure it is for that reason alone that some of my constituents refer to me as, “You stupid boy.” The museum is well worth a visit. There is a statue of Captain Mainwaring himself, and it brings visitors from far and wide to the town.

We also have the Charles Burrell Museum in Thetford, which focuses on the town’s industrial heritage. The museum is housed in what was once the Burrell factory, where steam traction engines were produced before being shipped around the world, driving the industrial revolution. The museum is working hard to obtain formal accreditation. I pay tribute to the work of local Labour councillors Annie Blackbourn and Doug Jefferson, who have worked so hard alongside other museum volunteers including Sheila Childerhouse, Will Bridgman, Teresia Stock and Richard Curtis. I hope that, following accreditation, they soon get the funding they need to repair and improve the museum, and I will continue to support them however I can. The recently announced heritage and museums funding made available by the Government will certainly be in their sights.

In Downham Market at the other side of my constituency there is the fantastic Discover Downham museum, which details the remarkable history of the area. The museum covers the history of the Clackclose hundred, which was one of Norfolk’s ancient administrative divisions. It was a structure rooted deep in the Anglo Saxon era when the kingdom sought to organise justice, taxation and local governance through hundreds—probably a much simpler system than what we have today.

Local museums are not just a “nice to have”. Tourism is the biggest economic driver in Norfolk. It contributes approximately £3.6 billion in value to the local economy and supports over 120,000 jobs, with roughly 20% of total employment in Norfolk and Suffolk linked to tourism. I am glad that the Government acknowledge the uniqueness of different areas of the UK and the importance of museums. I very much welcome the £1 billion cultural capital fund, which will go towards maintaining and improving regional museums and galleries. Through such measures, I hope we will be able to preserve local spirit and local history for future generations to come.

Rather than, “We are doomed,” as Private Frazer may say, I say, “Don’t panic”—be more Corporal Jones. With this Government, we are supporting local museums.

13:49

[Tom Gordon (Harrogate and Knaresborough) (LD)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) on securing this debate.

North Yorkshire is blessed to have some of the UK’s finest and quirkiest small museums, from the Richmondshire Museum and the Green Howards Museum, and the Workhouse, Courthouse and Prison & Police Museums in Ripon, to Nidderdale Museum in Pateley Bridge and the Royal Pump Room Museum in Harrogate, which outlines our spa town’s history and heritage. A new, even smaller museum that I was unaware of until doing research for this debate is the New Park heritage centre. It tells the story of New Park, a suburb of Harrogate that began life as a tiny hamlet to house a gasworks—which served the neighbouring, more affluent High Harrogate and Low Harrogate—and its employees.

I also want to highlight the remarkable work of the team of volunteers behind Knaresborough Museum Association. They run the Knaresborough Heritage Centre, which I had the privilege of attending when it opened on the high street before the general election. Their work goes far beyond operating the museum, gallery and heritage centre: they have around 70 local volunteers who give their time and support to local schools to help with curriculum-linked workshops, and they run weekly heritage walks through Knaresborough, conduct original historical research and provide activities for groups of adults ranging from those with learning disabilities to people with early onset dementia.

All that highlights some of the fantastic work that our small museums can carry out. They are not just cultural assets: they are community anchors. They foster local pride, protect stories that might otherwise be lost and play a real role in our towns’ visitor economies. That is why investment in local heritage matters so much.

Last year, I handed in a petition calling for a long-term package of support to restore and protect Knaresborough castle. If we want our towns to thrive, we must recognise that small museums, volunteer heritage groups and historic sites work together as part of the same local economy. With that in mind, what support can the Minister provide to fantastic assets like those in Harrogate and Knaresborough that I have outlined? Will he meet me to talk about my campaign to save Knaresborough castle? What steps is he taking to make the case to local authorities about the importance of our small museums?

13:51

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for introducing this excellent debate. I am proud to represent a constituency shaped by 2,000 years of history—a history of conflict, dispute, industrial growth, people and, above all, resilience. Nowhere is that story told more vividly than in its museums.

At the heart of England’s most northerly city stands Tullie House, Carlisle’s museum, art gallery and community hub. It is a place proudly described as

“a home for the eternally curious.”

Tullie is run as an independent trust. It has nationally important collections of art, archaeology and natural sciences and, since 2017, it has been undergoing a transformation. The 2017 future plan has enabled the museum to attract more than £14 million of investment to make the museum the heartbeat of the city’s cultural life.

The development is being done in phases, and is supported by a broad range of investors including the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Collections and community are at the centre of the transformation strategy. The capital programme that Tullie is undertaking is part of a city-wide investment in Carlisle, with the Tullie initiative being fundamental to supporting communities and driving the visitor economy. Tullie is maximising its heritage to drive more tourists to explore our historic city, which also includes an outstanding Norman castle, a cathedral and the nearby Hadrian’s wall.

However, pressure on local government funding is having a direct and immediate impact on Tullie. Tullie’s Carlisle gallery explores the people and organisations that have shaped our city, its industrial heritage, social change and resilience, and our deep connection to the natural world. Beyond its galleries, Tullie has strengthened its role in the community, offering a new space for family activities, school workshops and exhibitions that ensure that heritage is accessible to everyone.

It was my pleasure to open the “Colour” exhibition at Tullie last September, which brought together Andy Warhol, bronze-age gold and the Rudd women, who once sold red stone for colouring the doorsteps of house-proud Carlisle residents. Our small local museums’ ability to bring together internationally famous exhibits alongside locally significant artefacts is one of their strengths.

As befits a city seeking to be the UK’s city of culture 2029, Tullie is not Carlisle’s only museum. We also have a vintage motorcycle museum and the nearby Solway Aviation Museum—a Duxford for the north. It is volunteer-run, under the inspired leadership of museum chairman Dougie Kerr. There, visitors can see the Blackburn Beverly, a Fairey Gannet anti-submarine aircraft and a recently acquired Sea Harrier.

While we are on the subject of military service, no visit to Carlisle would be complete without stopping off at Carlisle castle, where Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life can be found, offering exhibits on more than 300 years of our military heritage. It is all under the expert direction of museum director Jules Wooding, who not only secured a grant of almost a quarter of a million pounds from the National Lottery Heritage Fund last year, but plays an active role in supporting Carlisle’s large veteran population every single month.

These museums exemplify the unique contribution that local museums make, not just to keeping the past alive, but to supporting our communities today and into the future.

13:55

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for leading the debate. She has done it again: she has brought an excellent debate to Westminster Hall. Whenever she speaks, she always draws a crowd, so well done to her—we can see the number of people here.

Local museums are terribly crucial for society. Far beyond the displaying of artefacts, they safeguard a community’s history, traditions and collective memory— I know that my community is so proud of ours. Northern Ireland in general, but specifically my constituency of Strangford, is steeped in culture and history. For being only 104 years old, we have made our mark in ensuring that future generations understand their roots.

There is currently a debate in the main Chamber about Commonwealth troops in the first world war. We have a museum at Conlig where we commemorate the battle of the Somme in particular, with the artefacts and all that goes with that. It opened in 1994, and was built with the help of grants to commemorate the involvement of the 36th (Ulster) Division, the 16th (Irish) Division and the 10th (Irish) Division. Since 2000, the museum has expanded to cover the second world war and other modern international conflicts. The museum has an extensive collection of materials from the great war, and in the last number of years has grown its collection of world war two artefacts, including with a large oral history archive.

I am very proud of what we have there. It is a much loved centre for all sorts of school and educational visits. I loved history at school—it was the only subject that I managed to do well in, to be honest. The fact of the matter is that children love history as well, and we should be teaching them all about it.

I should also mention the constituency of my right hon. Friend the Member for Belfast East (Gavin Robinson), which has the Ulster Folk Museum, the Ulster Transport Museum and a museum to commemorate the Titanic. The Titanic Museum is where my staff member Ashley got married last year. She has now been married some 16 months and is still smiling, and that sounds pretty good.

The Ulster Folk Museum brings Ulster’s rural and urban history to life, set over a large site with reconstructed buildings, streets and countryside scenes. There is even a section where people can watch proper Ulster soda bread being made. I do not know whether anyone knows what Ulster soda is, but there is nothing as nice as an Ulster soda that has been baked and cooked there and then, with a big dollop of butter on top. It really makes me feel that life is a good place to be. There is also the St Patrick Centre in Downpatrick, and the Schomberg Society in Kilkeel, which was formed in 1998 by a group of Ulster-Scots enthusiasts, of which I am one. There, we celebrate the culture, heritage, language and traditions from the kingdom of Mourne and beyond.

Museums partner directly with schools to align visits and activities with the national and local curriculum. This often piques the interest of young people, and gives them a vision of the industry offered. For me, that is mostly what museums are about: the young people of today learning for tomorrow. We can learn from history, and learn what history can teach us, and thereby hopefully not make the same mistakes that have been made many a time. It is also a fun way to learn—it is not sitting in a classroom, reading endless pages of history—and it is visual and interactive, giving children the opportunity to learn in a different way.

Many museums rely solely on grants and donations, and today’s debate is a fantastic opportunity to remind the Government and the Minister in particular—it is lovely to see him in his place—of the need for long-term sustainability. Whether it be a museum here in London, a locally run museum in Belfast, the Somme Museum in Newtownards or anywhere else, they all deserve the opportunity to remain. I hope we can do more to protect them and properly fund them.

13:59

[Melanie Ward (Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing this debate on local museums.

Local museums play a crucial role in our constituencies. They not only bring people to visit from all corners of the country and, indeed, the world, but strengthen the ties that bind us to where we live, giving us pride in the contributions that our homes have given to the world. Nowhere is that more evident than in the Kirkcaldy Galleries and War Memorial, which celebrated their centenary last year. They were the gift of John Nairn, whose family’s linoleum-making business helped to make Kirkcaldy the linoleum capital of the world. He paid for the construction of the galleries, in memory of his only son, Ian Nairn, who was killed in the Somme in 1918.

The galleries building is one of the first things that people see as they leave the train station in Kirkcaldy and head to our town centre. The award-winning art galleries have a large collection of paintings by William McTaggart and Samuel Peploe, and have hosted exhibitions by Diane Arbus and Fife’s very own Jack Vettriano, who was heavily influenced by the works on display in the galleries. As it is World Book Day today, it would be remiss of me not to mention the excellent children’s library that is there, too, which my own kids spend many a happy hour in, usually looking for one particular Mr Men book or another.

The galleries also contain a first edition copy of Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations”, which celebrates its 250th anniversary this year. The father of economics was born and grew up in Kirkcaldy; there is a commemorative plaque on the high street marking his mother’s house, where he completed writing that book. Adam Smith’s titanic legacy has been preserved by the excellent work of the Adam Smith Global Foundation, which manages the heritage centre and Adam Smith Close, where the stones mark significant events in Smith’s life, by the Old Kirk where Smith was baptised.

The Minister will be aware of concerns that Church leaders have expressed about the closure of the listed places of worship scheme; I wonder whether he might address those concerns in his response. While I have him here, I must also take the chance to give my utmost support to Kirkcaldy’s bid to be UK town of culture 2028. I am sure that all hon. Members present will agree that it would be a worthy winner. The bid has been led by the Lang Toun Partners, formed by the Adam Smith Global Foundation and other fantastic organisations from our town.

Our town has so much going on, but it is a well-kept secret to too many outside the Lang Toun. It is time that we shouted louder, so I am delighted to support the bid to cement our position on the cultural map and make Kirkcaldy the UK’s town of culture for 2028.

I would also like to mark the important contributions of Burntisland Heritage Trust, who do so much to celebrate Burntisland and preserve its important history, as well as the excellent Museum of Communication in Burntisland.

Finally, with International Women’s Day taking place this weekend, I end by recognising the work of Jennie Lee, who grew up in my constituency, in Cowdenbeath. Jennie was the UK’s first ever Minister for the Arts. She trebled Arts Council funding, was a strong supporter of regional and national arts, and founded the Open University. Jennie’s legacy is truly one to be proud of. Perhaps the Minister finds her as much of an inspiration as I do. Her picture hangs in my office and I take inspiration from her important work every day that I sit in this place.

14:03

[Dr Allison Gardner (Stoke-on-Trent South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing this debate today.

Our local museums are at the heart of our communities. I am incredibly lucky to have important museums in my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent South that proudly champion our pottery heritage—Gladstone Pottery Museum and World of Wedgwood. Museums are not just about the past; they can be living museums that illustrate our past, present, and indeed our future—a point that I hope to illustrate through those two museums.

For generations, our famous tableware brands have crafted household favourites and shipped bespoke British products all over the world. From Wedgwood to Gluggle Jug, our companies were and are at the centre of the world’s pottery industry. That is what makes us the Potteries.

Gladstone Pottery Museum in Longton showcases the skills, craftsmanship and economic contribution made and curated by local people. Gladstone is the only complete Victorian pottery factory in the country set within a preserved coal-fired factory with traditional bottle ovens. I am sure that hon. Members will be familiar with—and not just because I talk about it all the time—“The Great British Pottery Throwdown” on Channel 4, which Gladstone Pottery Museum proudly hosts and which draws in visitors and TV presenters from across the world. That shows the importance of museums to tourism and the local economy.

Visitors to Gladstone can watch live demonstrations of traditional crafts, explore galleries showcasing historic ceramics, tiles and sanitaryware and learn about the pottery-making process from clay to finished products. Visitors gain an incredible insight into what working conditions were like for the men, women and children who powered the pottery industry throughout the Victorian era. The museum is sited in Longton; there are many working potteries and china companies around Longton, including Susan Rose, Gluggle Jug and, further away, 1882 Ltd. Many of their skills are heritage skills, which we need. They were developed in, for example, Gladstone pottery, and are now used in places such as Mantec, an advanced ceramics company. In its research laboratory, one can see a big view of Gladstone Pottery Museum. The skills used at Gladstone are now being used to make parts for jet engines. I find that very iconic.

A short drive away is the World of Wedgwood, an award-winning tourist destination and living museum that has the V&A Wedgwood collection and a working factory. Wedgwood’s founder, Josiah Wedgwood, was an incredible innovator and entrepreneur who invented creamware, green glaze and much more, and helped to drive the industrial revolution. Sadly, given the pressures of today, the Wedgwood factory is in discussions to reduce production and make redundancies. The financial sustainability of the World of Wedgwood and its factory is vital. This is about not just the factory workers and the skills but local hospitality such as Lunar restaurant and other shops, which we must try to save.

It is precisely because I wish to save those places and create jobs that I want to support the project for the Lunar Gardens—a cultural destination that would draw on heritage while engaging with the future of the industry. It would include residencies and studios for creative work, a training centre for heritage crafts skills, continued industrial ceramics production, a park and an adventure-themed forest playground, as well as a contemporary art gallery.

The proposal would not only promote our proud heritage and boost local tourism but create employment and education opportunities at the working factories. Before I close, I should also say that Longton is also putting in a bid to be town of culture. Will the Minister meet me to discuss the Lunar Gardens project and support for Wedgwood, to develop its business case and keep this important museum open?

14:07

[Catherine Atkinson (Derby North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for the opportunity to debate this hugely important issue.

Dinosaurs, Egyptian mummified people, a bronze age boat, Viking weaponry, rare native animal species, jet engines, rockets, a working modern railway, the remains of the world’s first factory and the largest collection of works by the Enlightenment artist Joseph Wright of Derby can all be seen in Derby museums. Some of the Wright collection is currently up the road at the National Gallery, but it will be back in Derby in June. My children’s favourite are the Egyptian mummies, which prompted my five-year-old’s recent demand that at Halloween, her mummy has to be wrapped up as a mummy—I have a lot to be thankful for. My children are three of the nearly 15,000 schoolchildren who visit Derby museums each year.

Derby is blessed with museums, including Derby Museum and Art Gallery, the Museum of Making at the Derby silk mill—a UNESCO world heritage site and the location of the world’s first factory—and Pickford’s House. Given that so many of our regional museums have faced financial difficulties because of 15 years of reductions in funding from local councils—the result of the previous Government’s austerity policy—I was delighted that Derby Museums trust received £800,000 from the Government’s museum renewal fund via the Arts Council England last year.

In addition, Derby also has the National Sikh Heritage Centre and the Derby Computer Museum, which has loads of computers from the ’80s and ’90s. People can have some hands-on, retro fun there by playing a game on an old Nintendo, writing basic software on a BBC or loading games from tape on an old Sinclair—it is even harder to tear my husband away from there than it is my children.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock for securing this debate, because regional museums are vital to the renewal of town and city centres, and provide places of inspiration and curiosity on people’s doorsteps. Derby museums welcome over a quarter of a million visitors each year and are vital to our visitor economy.

I conclude by saying to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock that the Dracula that we would all recognise was in fact made in Derby. One hundred and one years ago, Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” was staged in Derby, and for the first time appeared as the charming, sophisticated vampire, with his trademark cloak and cane, that became a cultural icon. I thank Derby Museums trust, the QUAD and, particularly, the University of Derby, as well as many other partners, for their work in reclaiming Dracula as a son of Derby. If she and the Minister bite at the invitation, they could attend the international Dracula conference in Derby next year.

14:10

[Douglas McAllister (West Dunbartonshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Lewell. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) on securing today’s debate. In my constituency of West Dunbartonshire, local history and strong ties to our past have shaped our communities and towns. In post-industrial areas such as mine, stories of the past are closely linked to identity, pride and local history.

We have a rich industrial heritage, particularly in shipbuilding, distilling and textiles. Local museums remind people of their place in history, while attracting tourism, allowing us to share our story and support the local economy. We are fortunate to have several local museums in my constituency, each offering fascinating insights into our past through social history and local stories. West Dunbartonshire’s story is one of innovation and craftmanship.

Dumbarton castle, owned by Historic Environment Scotland, is one of the greatest visitor attractions of my constituency, and one of only three royal castles in Scotland. Covering 1,500 years of recorded history and military use as recently as the second world war, the “Rock of Ages” exhibition in the Governor’s House Museum connects visitors with artefacts that tell stories of resilience throughout history. For centuries, Dumbarton has stood as a place of strategic importance, later becoming home to the renowned Denny’s shipyard, the engineers of which built celebrated vessels, including the famous Cutty Sark.

In the last surviving building of the Denny’s shipyards sits the Scottish Maritime Museum, known locally as the Denny Tank Museum—a reminder of the area’s rich shipbuilding and engineering heritage. Visitors can learn about the Denny ship model experiment tank, the world’s first commercial ship model testing tank. It is an example of engineering heritage that can inspire the engineers of tomorrow.

In Alexandria, the Vale of Leven Heritage Centre, located beneath the newly renovated library, tells another chapter of our story: textile print blocks, Turkey red cottons and the Argyll motor works. Run by dedicated volunteers and supported by West Dunbartonshire council, it reflects the passion of local people to preserve their history.

Clydebank Museum reopened after refurbishment in August and stands in testament to West Dunbartonshire’s industrial strength and community spirit. The nationally recognised Singer collection tells the story not only of sewing machines that transformed domestic life, but of generations of families such as mine whose livelihoods were tied to the factory floor. Singer’s factory was where my father worked.

Maritime art and model ships recall a town that built vessels for the world, while exhibits such as “John Brown’s shipyard” honour iconic liners, such as the Queen Mary, the Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Yacht Britannia—all of which were Clydebank-built. By bringing these stories together, the museum preserves our past, and shows why continued investment in local museums matters.

At the heart of Dumbarton high street stands Glencairn House, the town’s oldest surviving building, built in 1623 for the seventh Earl of Glencairn. It will be opened to the public this April after a £7.2 million transformation, supported by the UK Government and funded jointly by West Dunbartonshire council and the UK Government. It will serve as a modern combined library and local history museum in the centre of town. The Minister could visit in April, and perhaps even open it. It will bring footfall to local businesses, renewed pride for residents and a reminder that our past belongs at the heart of our communities.

Local museums must be seen as an essential investment in identity, education and local economic vitality. West Dunbartonshire’s story, from ancient rock fortress to global shipbuilding powerhouse, reflects Britain’s story. Let us ensure that local museums have the support they need to keep telling it.

14:14

[Luke Myer (Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) (Lab)]

It is always a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) on securing this debate on such an important issue, which matters to communities across our country. I thank her for mentioning Captain Cook, who is my constituent—give or take three centuries. I have to disagree with her on one point: I represent the neighbouring constituency to Whitby, which is, of course, a fantastic tourist destination—second only to those slightly further up the coast in my patch.

One of those destinations is the village of Skinningrove, which is just on the edge of the North sea. In that village stands Land of Iron, the leading ironstone mining museum in the country. It is built on the site of the old Loftus mine, which was the first mine to open in the Cleveland area, in 1865. Cleveland’s ironstone travelled across the world from our region and was part of the industrial revolution. The bridges, railways and ships of the industrial age carried the mark of the people who laboured under our cliffs and hills. Today, Land of Iron holds the largest collection of ironstone mining artefacts in the country, telling that story of graft, ingenuity and pride. It hopes one day to be designated as the national ironstone mining museum. I am proud to support it in that fight, and I hope the Minister will commit to meet me to discuss it.

A little further inland, in Stewart Park in Marton, stands the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, marking the spot where Middlesbrough’s most famous son first saw the world before going on to chart much of it. Ahead of the tricentenary of his birth in 2028, I look forward to working with the museum and the many volunteers who tell that story to make sure that we commemorate the moment appropriately.

Both museums are cherished locally, yet both have faced financial uncertainty in recent years. As Members across the Chamber have mentioned, that issue affects many of our museums across the country, whether they are independent and volunteer-run or run by local authorities. My point to the Minister today is simple: places like these may be small in scale, but they are enormous in meaning for our communities. They keep alive the memory of the communities that built modern Britain, and they deserve support to allow them to keep their doors open for the next generation. I look forward to working with Ministers, our two councils—Middlesbrough, and Redcar and Cleveland—and the museums themselves to maintain our heritage and tell our story for years into the future.

14:17

[Wera Hobhouse (Bath) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair, Ms Lewell. What a wonderful debate we have had this afternoon. From Egyptian mummies and vampires to castles and royal pump houses, from the history of textiles and shipbuilding to Captain Cook and the Cutty Sark, the whole colourful history of our country has passed through our mind’s eye this afternoon.

We all agree that local museums are cultural anchors that connect people, place and history. Museums support our local economy by driving tourism, creating jobs and encouraging visitors, but foremost they are there for the enjoyment of the people who live near them. In 2023, the independent museum sector alone contributed nearly £900 million to the UK economy and attracted almost 20 million visitors.

The sector supports thousands of jobs, alongside more than half a million volunteer days. It is important to dwell on the volunteers; of course they provide an important local service for all of us, but they also love what they do, and they are so connected to their local place. In Bath, we are so fortunate to have a plethora of museums—large, such as the Roman baths, and small, such as the Museum of Bath Stone. Together, they celebrate our rich heritage and tell the story of our people.

The Museum of Bath at Work is a particular standout. That independent, self-funded museum is housed in a grade II listed real tennis court. It operates with just one permanent member of staff, but is supported by over 40 volunteers, including working trustees and friends. Last year, it staged an exhibition on tennis in Bath, which won a national sporting heritage award for research. This year, it is planning exhibitions on cinema and film. All that is done without a single penny of financial support from the Government.

The Roman baths are so popular that they received a 93% enjoyment score—whatever that is, and however it is measured—which is the highest ever. Victoria Art Gallery celebrated its 125th anniversary this year and made major investments, including the launch of a dedicated community engagement and school room. Bath council is in the process of bringing together £54 million for a new fashion museum in Bath—I am particularly excited about that, because I like fashion. It will hopefully open in 2030 and will be a fabulous place to show the transformative power of fashion, stimulate the local and regional economy, and inspire citizens like me. I am sure I will be one of the first through the doors. We have to remember that fashion is not just for the people with money, but what do every day—we wear clothes and we create fashion.

We also have the American Museum, which is set within 125 acres of outstanding natural beauty. Apart from telling the history of America in a very engaging way, it showcases colourful and beautiful American decorative arts to UK audiences and helps to reduce the perception that we have of America as a bang-bang culture of cowboys—I blame Hollywood for that. That mission is all the more important today.

In Bath we are so lucky, but the picture nationally is far more sober. Decades of local authority funding cuts leave local museums unable to open their doors or plan for the future. As non-statutory services, museums are too often the first to go. Councils face impossible funding choices. Spending on museums fell by 27% between 2009 and 2020—a shocking legacy of the last Conservative Government. A study published by the Mapping Museums Lab documented that, across the UK, over 500 museums have closed in the last 25 years.

When such valuable cultural assets vanish, it affects some of the most disadvantaged in our society. Children from more deprived backgrounds are already significantly less likely to visit museums. They are less likely to have parents who take them, to attend a school with the budget for trips, and to live near a major national museum, so the small local museum might be the only point of cultural contact available to them. If such museums are forced to close, we are not just losing buildings; we are pulling up the ladder and telling whole communities that their history does not merit preservation, that culture is something that happens elsewhere and that heritage is only for those with money.

The economic case for keeping our museums open is compelling, and the social case is equally strong. Museums improve wellbeing, reduce social isolation and strengthen community cohesion, and volunteers find community and purpose in them—but I want to dwell on education. Local museums offer something that national institutions cannot: proximity. A child visiting a local museum is not learning about history in the abstract; they are learning about the people who lived in their own town or city, worked their land and built their streets. That sense of belonging to a story that stretches back centuries matters enormously for how young people understand themselves and their place in the world. Many schools build museum visits into their curriculum because they are fun and different from what happens in a classroom. Many schools’ trips are now under enormous pressure, but trips to the local museum are inexpensive. It may be the only cultural institution that a child visits all year, and for some children it will be the first time they have been to a museum.

In this country, culture is not equally distributed. Access to museums, galleries, theatres and heritage sites is closely linked to income and social background. We need a fair deal for funding local authorities that properly reflects the value of cultural services. The Government must place far greater emphasis on heritage and local history as a public good. Every community deserves a museum. Every child deserves access to their heritage. That should not depend on where they live, how much money their family has or whether enough volunteers can hold things together for just one more year. I urge the Government to act before more of our local museum treasures are lost for good.

14:23

[Gregory Stafford (Farnham and Bordon) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Lewell. What an inspiring tour we have had of museums up and down the nation. I am grateful to the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) for securing the debate and inspiring speeches about so many opportunities. She mentioned everything from Zeppelins to Gurkhas. I do not think anyone was expecting an argument over who owned Dracula—certainly something for us to get our teeth into. [Interruption.] I apologise.

More importantly, I thank the hon. Member for giving me the opportunity to promote and champion the museums in my constituency. The Museum of Farnham, Haslemere Educational Museum and the Rural Life Living Museum in Tilford are not only recognised throughout Surrey and Hampshire but attract visitors from far and wide. People are drawn by the rich local history that they preserve and the way that they celebrate and bring to life the heritage of our local market towns.

Museums are deeply valued by the public. Some 89% of UK adults believe that museums are important to our national culture—I do not really understand what the other 11% are thinking, but never mind—and three quarters agree that having a local museum adds real value to their area. Indeed, 54% of people say that they would feel “disappointed” if their local museum were to close and 41% say that they would feel “genuinely sad” at such a loss.

Over the past 25 years, under Governments of all colours, about 138 independent non-profit museums and 152 private museums closed, while 418 independent non-profit museums and a further 209 museums opened. That tells us two things: the sector faces real pressures, but it also shows remarkable resilience, and there is such enthusiasm for local museums and heritage. Each museum is different. Some are run by charities, others by local authorities, universities, the armed forces or Government-sponsored bodies. The sector supports about 33,000 jobs and has more than 93,000 volunteers. Yet, increasingly, museums are forced to diversify their activities and income simply to stay afloat as costs continue to rise.

The challenges facing museums are clear at the Rural Life Living Museum in my constituency. It began as a private collection in 1968 and has grown into a significant open-air museum in Tilford, with about 40,000 objects and 20 historical buildings that bring 19th and 20th-century rural Britain vividly to life. My family and I thoroughly enjoy visiting the museum, in particular with its open-air, hands-on approach and the volunteers who quite literally inhabit that history. They immerse visitors through working demonstrations at the forge, in the woodyard and along the narrow-gauge railway. The museum operates entirely on ticket sales and donations, but with costs rising faster than income, its future is far from certain. Sadly, that story is being repeated in museums across the country, as we have heard from several hon. Members today.

We see similar pressures in Farnham, where the Museum of Farnham sits at the heart of a vibrant and creative community and celebrates the town’s long artistic and craft heritage, recognised in 2020 when Farnham was designated a world craft city. The Haslemere Educational Museum benefits from the expertise of individuals such as Richard Sabin, a trustee of the museum but also the principal curator of mammals at the Natural History Museum in London. The museum in Haslemere specialises in human history, natural history and geology, and provides invaluable educational opportunities for local schools through key stages 1 to 4.

Some of my fondest childhood memories involve being taken to the Haslemere museum by my parents to see Arthur the Siberian bear and the 2,500-year-old mummy, with its toes visible through the bandages—I encourage the hon. Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) to bring her children to see another mummy. For a small boy, that was extraordinary. The museum was founded in 1888, but this year marks 100 years on the High Street site. It launches a centenary appeal this evening—I appeal to the Minister, because I am sure any donation that the Government were to give would be welcome.

More nationally, local museums play a vital role in our communities and in education. Under the Conservative Government, following publication of the culture White Paper, the Mendoza review was launched. In the public consultation that followed, 85% of the more than 1,200 respondents agreed that museums and galleries are primary places for education. The review led directly to the establishment of the museums estate and development fund, which distributed about £100 million in grants to support essential repair and renovation work. The levelling-up fund, shared prosperity fund and towns fund also provided much needed investment in museums and, during the extraordinary challenge of covid-19, the £1.57 billion culture recovery fund safeguarded the UK’s heritage, with £296 million specifically supporting museums, heritage sites and historical places.

I am proud of that record—the practical support, serious investment and clear commitment to protecting our cultural heritage that the previous Government showed. Unfortunately, by contrast, Labour’s first tranche of funding, announced in summer 2024, disproportionately benefited national museums. Those institutions are already protected by grant in aid and are largely insulated from the financial pressures facing local authorities. Meanwhile, the smaller museums that form the backbone of local cultural life are left to struggle.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan) stated, many of our local museums are charity-run or heavily reliant on local funding. They often occupy historical buildings that are expensive to maintain, difficult to modernise and in urgent need of repair. In Farnham, for example, the repair bill for a relatively modest museum building has already reached £2 million. When council budgets are squeezed, culture is often the first thing to be cut. At the same time, many charity-run museums face falling donations, fewer volunteers and rising operating costs, including higher employment costs and increased national insurance contributions introduced by this Government.

In short, the pressures are growing, but the support is not. The result is that smaller museums are left exposed. Too many lack the staff, time or specialist expertise needed to navigate complex funding systems, co-ordinate bids or build partnerships with larger national institutions.

When public money is spent, it must be spent wisely. Last year in Wales, the National Museum Cardiff reportedly faced a £4.5 million deficit, yet at the same time taxpayers’ money was spent on exhibitions such as “The Dynamic”, which explored radical newspaper culture, alongside displays of Extinction Rebellion posters. It is entirely reasonable to ask whether institutions facing serious financial pressures should prioritise political activism over the core mission of preserving and presenting the nation’s history and heritage. Museums should bring communities together around shared culture and shared history. That must remain the central purpose, especially when budgets are tight and buildings are in need of repair.

[Jen Craft]

Does the hon. Gentleman not think that political activism is part of our nation’s story and of local history in certain places? The People’s History Museum in Manchester springs to mind at the top of the list, but there are many more. Activism and political interest form the path of our nation and our local history.

[Gregory Stafford]

I thank the hon. Lady for her intervention. It is rare that we agree on anything, so she will be slightly disappointed now. There is a distinct difference between looking back at movements and discourse that happened in the past and what that museum was doing: promoting a political cause of the moment.

I want to ask the Minister three questions. First, have the Government considered ringfencing local authority funding for cultural purposes in order to safeguard local museums? Secondly, what practical support is available to smaller museums to help them to navigate funding applications, manage financial risk and collaborate more effectively with national institutions? Finally, how do the Government intend to encourage private and corporate philanthropy beyond the major cities—for example, through place-based giving incentives, as suggested in the Hodge review?

Our museums are not just custodians of the past, but living educational and cultural resources at the heart of our communities. They deserve practical support to ensure they can continue to thrive, educate and inspire future generations.

14:32

[The Minister for Creative Industries, Media and Arts (Ian Murray)]

It is a great pleasure to see you in the Chair again, Ms Lewell. I do not know what you have done to upset someone—you are in the Chair constantly—but thank you very much indeed for chairing this debate. It is a great pleasure to respond to it.

I echo the congratulations to my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft) on securing the debate. What a tremendous champion for her constituency she is. We could probably conclude the debate now with me saying that Edinburgh is the permanent city of culture in this country—it does not need a prize to be told that; it has some of the best museums. We could put that to a debate if Members so wish.

My hon. Friend is right to highlight the tremendous value of local museums, history and culture in our constituencies. The Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre, which we have heard a lot about, is an excellent example of a museum working for and with its local community. It tells the varied local histories of its community with pride, from Purfleet’s national impact as a key player in the UK’s military and industrial story, to the town’s links to Bram Stoker and Dracula—although we have heard some debate about whether it is indeed the home of Dracula. That is not to forget the museum’s sell-out ghost tours. I think I have seen an advert saying that tickets are still available for the tours coming up at Halloween.

The Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre achieves all that without any paid staff at all; it is entirely volunteer-led, like 30% of museums in England. I pay tribute to the immense contribution that volunteers make in sustaining our local museums, transmitting local history and identity to new generations, and preserving our proud heritage. I congratulate those volunteers—Trevor, Polly, Ollie, Sylak, Jeff, Phillip, Claire, Yvette, and, of course, Alan and Sue Gosling—and thank them for all they do for the Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre. Alan has passed away, but he left a significant legacy. I thank them for all they do.

As noteworthy as Purfleet is, I am pleased to say that it is not an isolated case across the country. Today, I have had the privilege of outlining the vital role that museums up and down the country play in celebrating our local and national stories. As civic institutions, integral to our national and local cultural life, they are hugely valuable as places of learning, community and, of course, entertainment. This Government are committed to championing our local museums, and to working in partnership with councils and communities across the country to see them flourish for the future.

[John Slinger]

On my right hon. Friend’s point about working closely with local councils, will he join me in congratulating Rugby borough council on its work in running the superb Rugby Art Gallery and Museum? It is currently exhibiting its entire art collection as well as a history of Rugby in 50 objects, and is planning an exciting expansion in the coming years. I am sure its staff would be very grateful if my right hon. Friend might get on the West Coast Main Line and visit to see their excellent work and their plans to reach out even more effectively to our community in future.

[Ian Murray]

I can certainly congratulate everyone in Rugby, and especially at the museum, on that particular project. Throughout the course of this debate, I have been invited to a number of museums across the country. I am very happy to report that it is not my ministerial responsibility, so I will accept all those visits on behalf of Baroness Twycross in the other place; I am sure she will have a lovely time touring the country.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bermondsey and Old Southwark (Neil Coyle) mentioned the Brunel Museum and the work that it does. I was struck by the fact that it has the very first boring machine in Britain, and by that did in terms of building under the Thames, and all that infrastructure of the industrial revolution. Now, I would perhaps suggest that my hon. Friend is the very definition of a boring machine, and that is why I think he quite rightly represents the Brunel Museum.

[Neil Coyle]

Ms Lewell, given all the references to Dracula, I am tempted to point out what a shame it is that none of the bloodsuckers from Reform is here. Given the point the Minister has just made, I invite him—and colleagues—to visit the Golden Hinde in my constituency. We have corresponded regarding the Golden Hinde, because it has been the pearl of Bankside in Southwark for 30 years, and next year is the 450th anniversary of the original Golden Hinde setting sail—the first British vessel to circumnavigate the globe. However, because of its unique status, the Golden Hinde struggles to access funds. Can the Minister outline how he is expanding the museum renewal fund and working with the British Business Bank to ensure that such unique museums can access resources and continue their fantastic work in communities such as mine? I hope that was not too boring a point.

[Ian Murray]

My hon. Friend proves my point! But yes, he raises a key point about funding for not just large and national museums, but local ones. We have been trying to put together a package of measures for museums and for culture across the whole country, consisting of everything that is written into the creative industries sector plan.

The key part there is for the British Business Bank to look at new financial models to help museums and the cultural and creative parts of the industry, but it is also about philanthropy and making sure that we have that corporate sponsorship as well. There is also public funding through Arts Council England and the money that DCMS is directly putting into museums.

Of course, a key part of that is local authorities, which have been hollowed out over the last 15 years. The hon. Member for Bath (Wera Hobhouse) was right to mention that culture—including museums—is one of the first things to fall off a local authority’s agenda when it is struggling to pay for key statutory services. Those are all things that this Government are trying to fix, but I am very happy to talk to my hon. Friend further about the Golden Hinde in particular.

This Government believe that arts and culture should be available to everyone, everywhere, regardless of background and location. We are committed to broadening access to culture so that everyone has the opportunity to explore our shared heritage and feel connected in some way. We have heard that from right across the country today, so I will just concentrate on a few of the contributions that have been made.

My hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock was correct in the way she presented this issue on behalf of her communities. She asked a number of questions about recognising the value of small museums and making more small grants available. I can tell her that small museums are an essential part of our national tapestry of museums and we very much recognise that as a Department. Indeed, 40% of all museums are small attractions with fewer than 10,000 visitors, and our funding streams must reflect that in what we are trying to achieve.

Our museum estate and development—or MEND—fund is open to museums of all sizes. Capital grants do require some paperwork, but the Hodge review into Arts Council England, which my hon. Friend will be aware of, is considering a proportionate application process for smaller museums, particularly those run by volunteers, to try to ensure that it is as easy and streamlined as possible for the very smallest museums and organisations to apply for those kinds of funds. That is very much at the forefront of our mind.

The hon. Member for Bexhill and Battle (Dr Mullan) and I discussed this topic in last week’s Adjournment debate on the Bayeux tapestry, and he is absolutely right to showcase what his part of the country does for our culture and heritage. He also talked about the transparency of funding, reorganisation and infrastructure in local authorities, which the Hodge review deals with very clearly. I appreciate that not all museums are part of Arts Council England, and there is a process to become accredited. We must ensure that local authorities regularly produce plans on updating arts, culture and museums, so that the public can then hold them to account. We are actively considering that matter in response to the Hodge review.

My hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) mentioned “Dad’s Army”—I think “Don’t tell him, Pike!” was the other quote. Indeed, the statue of Captain Mainwaring in his constituency is fantastic, and it shows the real breadth of what we are talking about: ranging all the way from “Dad’s Army” to Dracula and industrial heritage, as well as all the other things that museums do so well.

The hon. Member for Harrogate and Knaresborough (Tom Gordon) talked about how museums help town centres to thrive, and that is key to regenerating them. He asked about a meeting about saving Knaresborough castle; my hon. Friend in the other place, Baroness Twycross, would be delighted to meet him, and I will ensure that it happens.

My hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) highlighted how the Tullie House museum is an international home for curation. It is also near to Hadrian’s wall, which I have a special interest in: I think that we should preserve Hadrian’s wall, or even build it a bit higher—some of my nationalist colleagues would certainly agree with that. I also congratulate my hon. Friend on her lobbying for Durham to be city of culture.

I know that DCMS officials had the pleasure of attending the reopening of Tullie House following the remarkable makeover that we heard about this afternoon. I hear that the museum’s new galleries fantastically showcase the area’s history, and that its nationally important history collections, reorganised by the Arts Council, are of outstanding significance—congratulations on that and on the funding that has been put in.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) does not miss an opportunity to participate in these debates; he talked about the Titanic museum, and his titanic contributions should surely mean that he has an exhibition there. I am sure that every Member would be delighted to visit the special exhibition, “Jim Shannon has intervened in the Adjournment debate”, and see what that has to offer. He is a great champion for Northern Ireland’s museums and culture.

My hon. Friend the Member for Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy (Melanie Ward) is looked on with admiration and envy by a lot of colleagues for the way in which she has championed her local area and secured £20 million to transform Kirkcaldy city centre, due to her tenacity in representing her constituents. She talked about how local museums keep that local history alive, mentioning Adam Smith and Jennie Lee. I know that the Jennie Lee lecture is now part of the suite of things that the DCMS does, so I am very keen to take that forward.

My hon. Friend specifically mentioned the campaign by church leaders in Scotland on the places of worship fund. I would like to spend 30 seconds on this subject, because I think it is really important, as church buildings are part of our heritage. The Government extended the listed places of worship scheme to 31 March this year, or until the £23 million figure is exhausted. That was a VAT reclaim scheme of up to £25,000, with an average claim of about £3,000, but that has now been exhausted.

We have replaced that scheme with the £92 million places of worship renewal fund, but that applies only to England, and the Scottish part of the churches renewal fund is a devolved function for the Scottish Government. The £92 million that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has put into this new fund comes from our departmental budget in the spending review, so the Barnett consequential will also have come as part of the spending review. We are spending that budget; if the Scottish Government wish to replicate the VAT reclaim scheme, or introduce a new scheme for Scottish churches, they have the power and the money to do so. I would encourage Scottish churches to get in touch with the Scottish Government on that matter.

[Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)]

Does the Minister share my concern that, rather than increasing funding for Historic Environment Scotland, the Scottish Government appear to have cut it by £3.7 million in last week’s Budget?

[Ian Murray]

The key thing is that responsibility lies with the Scottish Government, and it is for them to determine how they spend the money. I am very clear in acknowledging and understanding the concerns of Scottish churches about no longer having access to the UK-wide VAT reclaim scheme. The UK Government have introduced a scheme for England, and the Scottish Government have to determine how they spend their budget, and whether they introduce a scheme for Scotland. However, based on the Budget they have just passed, they seem to have reduced the funding for historical places, rather than increase it. I encourage all those in the Scottish diaspora to get in touch with the Scottish Government to push the Culture Secretary to replace that scheme.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) represents the centre of the world for the Potteries. I feel as if I live in Longton, I have heard so much about it in the lobbying that is going on for town of culture. I am very happy to be bribed further.

[Dr Mullan]

The right hon. Member helpfully reminds me that I forgot to mention that Bexhill is also putting itself forward for town of culture. I am happy to bribe him any time.

[Ian Murray]

Sir Phil Redmond is chairing the panel to determine which will be the first town of culture, and I do not envy his task. I met him last week, and we went through the number of applications—it is not public yet, but it is significant. It probably covers the constituencies of almost half the Members of Parliament. It is going to be tough. We may need to come together, across parties and as a Parliament, to celebrate everywhere that has entered the competition to make sure they get something out of it. Winning is important, but the process of taking part will help arts and culture right across the country.

[Wera Hobhouse]

Since we have a little time, we should congratulate the whole sector for making museums so much more engaging and fun. I remember being dragged to museums when I was young. They were boring places to be, and I could just about survive for half an hour. These days, museums are places where people really want to stay, because the whole sector has been transformed into something with which everybody can engage. We should take this opportunity to congratulate the museum sector for all it has done in the last generation.

[Ian Murray]

We should congratulate everyone involved. The way that we curate and develop museums is renowned across the world. Many countries look to the UK for the expertise to build their own capability, because we do the best museums and exhibitions in the world and have the best skills. Congratulations to all of them.

My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South wants to talk about the Lunar Gardens project. Baroness Twycross will be delighted to talk to her about that, and we will make sure my hon. Friend has an appropriate meeting in place as soon as possible.

My hon. Friend the Member for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) talked about her three children, and how museums are a key component of the local community and education. She also talked about entertainment and telling the stories of the past that shaped future generations. I have a five-year-old and a one-year-old, and my five-year-old loves being in museums. He loves looking at the exhibitions, but he loves just being in big spaces he can enjoy and run around in. I do not know if Dracula is a son of Derby, but it is something that we should perhaps debate further, maybe in an Adjournment debate with the lights out.

My hon. Friend the Member for West Dunbartonshire (Douglas McAllister) is absolutely right that Denny’s shipyard built the Cutty Sark, and it celebrates the proud innovation and heritage of shipbuilding on the Clyde. It might not be an entirely accurate statistic, but I think I am right in saying that, 150 years ago, 90% of the ships sailing anywhere in the world were built either on the Clyde or somewhere near the Clyde. That innovation and heritage has to be respected and celebrated. He rightly talked about the local pride of maintaining and developing local museums that tell local stories. I think the statistics show that 89% of adults say that museums are important to their local pride and local culture.

My hon. Friend the Member for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Luke Myer) said that Captain Cook would probably have been a constituent 300 years ago. I would probably describe him as an L5Y—only half the Chamber will know what I am talking about. Again, Baroness Twycross will be delighted to meet my hon. Friend to talk about some of the issues he has with museums in his constituency. He said something important that sums up the whole debate: “Some museums are small in scale but enormous in impact.” That is great for telling local stories. It is the impact on young people, schools and heritage that he is talking about. He also talked about the Land of Iron getting a national title. Arts Council England, via accreditation, will consider all requests from museums to become nationally styled where they have a strong story and strong case to make.

On the Captain Cook Museum, Middlesbrough council museums were awarded £240,000 from the museum renewal fund last year, and the Land of Iron was awarded a MEND grant worth £650,000 in February last year, so we are supporting those museums. For the hon. Member for Bath, we had 93% satisfaction for her speech as well. She talked about what is happening with the Bath museums, and she talked about museums closing and the delicate position that many local museums, particularly smaller ones, are in.

I do not want to diminish the seriousness of a lot of the stories we have heard about our local museums, but an independent academic study has found that since 2000 the number of museums in the UK has risen. Despite the 500 closures since 2000, there have been more new museums in the UK, although it has plateaued since about 2015-16. There is a lot of work to do, but it is not all bad news in our museum sector. Arts Council England supports the museums and schools programme with £1.2 million a year to make sure it happens.

It is wonderful that the shadow Minister has some Dracula jokes, but they are so old that perhaps they should be in a museum themselves. However, museums need local authority funding. We should not turn this into a political debate, as it has been so collegiate today, but the last Government, during their 14 years in power, completely and utterly decimated local authority funding right across the country. That was the starting point for culture and arts to be diminished—they are not statutory, so they fall away.

On the Hodge review, Arts Council England has been looking not only at how local authorities can be better supported but at how they can be better held to account for what they do on arts and culture. Hopefully, the review will come through and we can respond very soon.

The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Farnham and Bordon (Gregory Stafford), made a strange point about freedom of speech and editorial freedom. I do not think it is for the Government or the Opposition, or indeed any politician, to tell museums how they should celebrate our heritage. Many of the political issues we are dealing with today relate to the past. Some of the best museums in the world that I have visited address political issues such as slavery, and we should make sure that we maintain that approach. Actually, a lot of the stories we tell in politics today are not new—they are stories of the past—and I hope the public engage with them, and the public will determine whether they are good things to reflect.

[Gregory Stafford]

I think I made the point very clearly to the hon. Member for Thurrock (Jen Craft), but I will repeat it now. My concern is not about museums representing accurately what happened in the past—that is obvious. What I am against is museums using taxpayers’ money to push a current political cause. Extinction Rebellion is not a historical organisation. It is active now, and museums should not be pushing its agenda.

[Ian Murray]

I do not want to get into a debate about Extinction Rebellion or any other organisation, but I feel obliged to respond directly to that point. If my five-year-old daughter sees an exhibition on Extinction Rebellion and starts to talk about climate and other current political issues, I think that is what museums are there to do. They are not just there to celebrate heritage and the past; they are there to educate and inspire for the future. We do not have to agree with any of those exhibitions. In fact, I have not particularly agreed with some of the exhibitions and creative curation I have seen, but I have still engaged with them to be able to have a political debate.

[Dr Mullan]

Members of Parliament and the public are also perfectly within their rights to say that they think they are a bad idea. It is a free speech issue, as much as anything. If a museum wants to put on an exhibition and then introduce all sorts of other political elements, the museum’s members and politicians—all of us—are perfectly free to say that we think it is a bad idea and a bad use of time. What is wrong with that?

[Ian Murray]

It seems to me that some Opposition parties like to be bastions of freedom of speech until they disagree with what that freedom of speech is used to say.

[Gregory Stafford]

It is taxpayers’ money.

[Ian Murray]

It is all taxpayers’ money and public money, and it is the public’s money as well. The public can decide whether they wish to attend these exhibitions. They can even ask their local museums to put on other curations. However, it is important to see that in the context of what our museums do. We might not agree with everything we see—in fact, we might agree with only a small proportion of all the stuff we see—but we should be exposed to it. That is what art and culture have been doing for centuries: expressing views. Looking at a painting is just about as politically expressive as seeing an exhibition about Extinction Rebellion.

I am conscious of time, so let me conclude by saying two more things. First, I will say a little about the vital role that museums play in schools and communities. For example, the Essex Fire Museum in Grays, in the Thurrock constituency, is a brilliant example of a museum partnering with schools in its local area to deliver practical, hands-on education that engages children in learning environments outside the classroom. The museum runs an impressive learning programme in schools, offering immersive experience of fire service history, as well as sessions designed to engage children with subjects such as home safety, cyber-safety and the environment.

Arts Council England’s museums and schools programme, which is funded by DCMS, works with 18 museum partnerships across the country—from Blackburn to Scarborough to Bristol—providing money to connect museums with local schools. The programme reaches over 200,000 pupils across the country, which is key.

There is also placemaking and tourism, of course, as they are great drivers of footfall, and not just on our high streets but anywhere there is a museum. They drive footfall towards the areas where we want people to spend their money. Reviving our town centres is a key component of what the Government want to achieve. The average museum contributes nearly £350,000 to its local economy through visitor numbers alone.

The role of local museums, as the cultural heart of our communities, in protecting, exploring and sharing our diverse local stories is undeniable. Today we have heard examples of the immense and varied contributions that museums have made across the country. The Government will not neglect local museums. We have committed significant new funding to the sector— historically high funding—and forthcoming publications and policies, including our response to the Hodge review, will further our commitment to the museums sector right across the country. That will outline the breadth of our ambitions for the sector, now and into the future. I thank all hon. Members for championing their local museums.

14:55

[Jen Craft]

I thank all Members who have taken part in today’s debate. I appreciate their time, and I am sure that VisitBritain will contact us shortly about our commissions. We have had a brilliant whistle-stop tour of fabulous local museums around the country, from the Bayeux tapestry to the Dad’s Army Museum, which I very much want to visit. I will make my own pitch for town of culture, and Thurrock has submitted several—we should obviously be a recipient because we have so much to offer, as I said in my opening remarks.

To my hon. Friends the Members for Derby North (Catherine Atkinson) and for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland (Luke Myer), “fangs” for entering the Dracula debate. I will bat away any suggestions that Purfleet-on-Thames is not the epicentre of Dracula lore.

I will touch on a few things that have been mentioned. The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) said that local museums are an opportunity to learn from what history can teach, and perhaps not repeat the same mistakes. The Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre has an exhibit that lists the human toll and cost of war, which is incredibly timely with the discussions that are currently under way.

To my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner), I am friends with a very proud potter who has taken me to a number of the museums. I look forward to visiting the Gladstone Pottery Museum when I can. It is important to have a cultural exhibit that informs how modern techniques and practices deliver. My hon. Friend the Member for Carlisle (Ms Minns) spoke about how a museum can transform a town and about the power of arts and culture to drive a real sense of place.

I thank everyone for taking part in the debate, despite some of the fractious exchanges at the end. Local museums contextualise the people and history of a place, and they put it very firmly in the present and in our national story.

I once again thank the excellent volunteers at the Purfleet Heritage and Military Centre for the shift they have put in over the last few months to bring the museum up to where it is now. I again encourage everyone to get on the train and visit. It is only half an hour from London, and they will have an excellent time.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered the contribution of local museums.

World Book Day

Thursday 5th March 2026 Westminster Hall

[Wera Hobhouse in the Chair]

[Relevant documents: oral evidence taken before the Education Committee on 3 February, on Reading for Pleasure, HC 1528; and written evidence to the Education Committee, on Reading for Pleasure, reported to the House on 24 February, 10 February, 3 February, 27 January and 20 January, HC 1528.]

11:59

[Helen Hayes (Dulwich and West Norwood) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered World Book Day.

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. I am grateful to the Backbench Business Committee for allocating time for this debate. I am tempted to dedicate this debate to every parent or carer whose child has ever announced that they wanted to go to school for World Book Day as the Very Hungry Caterpillar, Flat Stanley or the tiger who came to tea; who has looked optimistically at their floor mop late at night, wondering whether it would pass as a Harry Potter broomstick; or who celebrated quietly when their child’s costume of choice was a more modest “Where’s Wally?” or Mr Bump.

It is important to be clear at the outset, however, that while dressing up for World Book Day is a source of great joy and excitement—sometimes accompanied by a degree of last-minute panic—for children and parents across the country, and for the commuters who get to appreciate the wonder and creativity of the costumes during the morning school run, that is not the core purpose of World Book Day. It is also important that any dressing up to mark World Book Day is done in an inclusive way, so that no child misses out on the opportunity to dress up because of a lack of resources or parental time.

[Amanda Hack (North West Leicestershire) (Lab)]

I want to celebrate our local libraries and how much they give to our communities. Castle Donington library hosts not only a uniform swap but a dress-up swap, which is so important for affordability. Libraries are also working hard to tackle the literacy crisis that we face, as just one in three children aged eight to 18 say that they enjoy reading in their spare time. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking libraries in North West Leicestershire, many of which are run by volunteers, for their dedication and the abundance of good that they give back to our communities, not just on World Book Day but week in, week out?

[Helen Hayes]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. World Book Day is a collaboration between lots of different organisations across our communities, and libraries are central to that.

This year, we mark the 30th anniversary of World Book Day, which was first celebrated in 1996. Although it was founded by UNESCO, it was based on an idea from Pere Vicens, a prominent Spanish publisher from Barcelona and a former president of the International Publishers Association. He and his colleagues were reacting to the notion, common in the early 1990s, that books would be obsolete within 25 years. Their idea was to promote the Spanish tradition of giving books and roses on St George’s day, 23 April. That date did not work so well in the UK, as it regularly clashes with the Easter break, so we mark World Book Day on the first Thursday in March—today, in fact.

This year, World Book Day takes place during the Government’s National Year of Reading, which is supported by the National Literacy Trust and other partners. I pay tribute to the parents, carers, teachers, support staff, early years practitioners, librarians, bookshops, authors, illustrators, publishers and others across the country who support and facilitate the celebration of World Book Day in numerous and ingenious ways.

[Ms Julie Minns (Carlisle) (Lab)]

On that point, I invite my hon. Friend to pay tribute to my constituent Hayley Slack. She wrote the book “Little Coffee Cup”, copies of which are printed entirely on recycled coffee cups. Does my hon. Friend agree that such an innovative approach to book writing and publishing encourages young people not only to read, but to think about sustainability?

[Helen Hayes]

That is a wonderfully creative way to engage children, not only in reading but in a wider and important area of learning.

I pay particular tribute to the schools and public libraries across my constituency of Dulwich and West Norwood; they are going above and beyond this week. I also pay tribute to the wealth of independent bookshops with which my constituency is particularly blessed, including the Paper Cat children’s bookshop, where I recently had the privilege of meeting the Gruffalo in person, and to the brilliant Stepping into Stories children’s literary festival, which goes from strength to strength each year.

The core purpose of World Book Day is to promote reading for fun. World Book Day is the UK’s largest reading for pleasure campaign and is run by a charity of the same name. World Book Day is a delivery partner for the National Year of Reading. This year it is encouraging children to “Go All In” for World Book Day. The charity distributes 23.5 million £1 book tokens annually—sent to every UK primary school, plus secondary schools and nurseries on request—which children can exchange for a book from a selection chosen with the input of children and publishers.

World Book Day is enormously successful. In 2025, 91% of UK children aged five to eight took part in a World Book Day activity, and 93% of UK adults are aware of the event. A quarter of children on free school meals said that the first book they owned came as a result of the World Book Day £1 book tokens.

This is important because reading has such enormous benefits. A child who is read to at ages one to two scores more highly in reading, spelling, grammar and numeracy skills at ages eight to 11. Reading for pleasure at ages 10 to 16 has a substantial positive effect on vocabulary, spelling and maths performance by the age of 16. Children who are read to frequently at age five are over half a school year ahead in reading performance at age 15 compared with those who are read to infrequently or not at all.

For children growing up in poverty, being read to daily at age five is significantly associated with a greater chance of avoiding poverty in adulthood. The Education Committee, which I Chair, has heard that reading for pleasure is a “driver of social mobility” and an “anti-poverty strategy”.

Reading helps develop children’s vocabulary. Studies have shown that the language used in books is more complex than spoken language, helping children learn more words and get used to more complex sentence structures. Reading has been shown to help develop empathy, especially towards stigmatised groups. Professor Jessie Ricketts, professor of psychology at Royal Holloway, University of London, said that reading allows children to learn about things outside of their own experiences. She said:

“When we pick up a book, there may be characters and environments that are not part of our lived experience. That is particularly important for people who are not moving around much and may not have access to those things.”

Shared reading in the early years improves emotional closeness between child and caregiver. It lifts the parent’s mood, increases warmth and reduces stress, enabling the sensitive and nurturing interactions that young children need to thrive.

Reading also helps children with their cognitive development. Reading with young children helps develop their attention and memory skills, and learning to read helps develop the area of the brain responsible for processing language. Evidence from neuroscience states:

“There is clear evidence that learning to read shapes the brain, resulting in the tuning of an area specialising in word processing”.

Yet despite this huge range of benefits, the number of children reading for pleasure—choosing of their own volition to read when they have a choice about how to spend their time—is declining.

The National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey 2025 found that the percentage of children and young people who enjoy reading is at its lowest in 20 years, with just one in three children and young people aged eight to 18 saying that they enjoy reading in their free time. That is a decrease of a third since 2005. Fewer than one in five children and young people aged eight to 18 read something daily in their free time in 2025. The decline is not evenly distributed across all demographics. Girls are significantly more likely to read for pleasure than boys. In 2025, 39% of girls aged eight to 18 said that they enjoy reading, compared with just 26% of boys.

Reading for pleasure also declines as children get older. Among children aged five to eight, 63% say that they enjoy reading, declining to 47% of eight to 11-year-olds, 30% of 11 to 14-year-olds and 29% of 14 to 16-year-olds. The situation in England is substantially worse than internationally, with the most recent progress in international reading literacy study in 2021 finding that 29% of English pupils said they “very much like” reading, compared with the international average of 42%.

Children’s reading patterns are not established in a vacuum. It is striking that a recent BookTrust survey found that 70% of parents and carers said they face challenges in sharing books with their child. That rises significantly to 75% for those parents on low incomes.

It is in that context that the Education Committee is undertaking an inquiry on reading for pleasure. We are exploring why there has been a generational shift in reading for pleasure and what can be done to reverse the trend. We are looking across the sector to assess the role of schools, early years settings, libraries, parents, authors, publishers and more, and we are looking at the different groups of children and families who are least likely to read for pleasure and how they can be supported to read more.

So far, the inquiry has received around 180 pieces of written evidence and has held two oral evidence sessions during which we have heard from academics, charities and experts. I would like to put on record my thanks to children and their teachers from Mulberry Canon Barnett primary school, who came into Parliament today to talk to the Committee about their experiences of reading.

The evidence we have received cites a number of possible reasons for the decline in reading for pleasure. Barriers to children’s reading for pleasure include an increase in recreational screen use. Onyinye Iwu, a children’s author and secondary school art teacher, said that her pupils told her,

“we have TikTok. What’s the point?”

As she continued,

“You’ve got TikTok, you’ve got Netflix, you’ve got the film coming out, so why would you read the book?”

We also heard that the focus on reading proficiency and an overcrowded curriculum can mean that reading for pleasure is seen as a “nice to have”, crowded out of the everyday practice of some schools. A Department for Education survey found that 21% of parents of secondary-aged pupils and 14% of parents of primary-aged pupils said their children were too busy with homework to find time for reading.

We have heard that cuts to library services and school libraries have limited access to books. Local authority spending on public libraries decreased from £1.5 billion in 2009-10 to £673 million in 2022-23, followed by a slight increase the following year. The Great School Libraries campaign found that there were 10% fewer libraries in secondary schools between 2019 and 2022, and that 15% of secondary schools had a library but no budget at all for it. I warmly welcome the Government’s commitment to ensure that every primary school has a school library by the end of this Parliament and to provide funding for secondary school libraries.

The lack of a quiet reading environment due to overcrowded housing and reduced community provision is also making a difference to the reading habits of children from the lowest income backgrounds. The evidence also points to a decline in reading among adults, leading to less shared reading with children and less role-modelling of reading by adults. The Reading Agency found that only 53% of UK adults now read regularly for pleasure, compared with 58% in 2015. Children are more than twice as likely to report seeing parents relax by watching TV than by reading. Luke Taylor, senior researcher at the Centre for Social Justice, told the Committee that it is particularly important for boys to see men reading, and highlighted a lack of male role models as a factor in the lower levels of reading among boys.

It is also important that children can find themselves in books. Children from minoritised communities are particularly likely to say that they do not see themselves in what they read. Only 24% of children’s books published in 2024 featured a racially minoritised character. Onyinye Iwu said that although there was a boom in ethnically diverse books in 2020, it has not been sustained.

The Committee also reviewed evidence on what works to get children reading. We have heard that connecting reading to children’s interests is important. The National Literacy Trust survey found that two in five children and young people were motivated to read when material related to a favourite film or TV series, or matched their interests or hobbies. Debbie Hicks, creative director at the Reading Agency, told the Committee that tying reading in with interests such as sports, music or science, technology, engineering and maths can offer

“really familiar entry points for reluctant readers.”

Our witnesses spoke of the need for “mirrors and windows” to ensure that children are represented in books while also being exposed to different cultures and experiences. Onyinye Iwu said that there has been a “big jump forward” in the availability of books with diverse characters and stories, but a much narrower range of authors is still being regularly highlighted and promoted in shops and in the curriculum. Witnesses spoke of the need for children to have genuine “choice and agency” over what they read. The National Literacy Trust survey found that a quarter of children said that being free to choose what they wanted to read was a motivating factor.

The Committee has heard that children with special educational needs and disabilities, especially those with dyslexia, can struggle to access traditional texts. Ellen Broomé, the chief executive officer of the British Dyslexia Association, said that dyslexic children can find reading

“difficult, exhausting and something they avoid”

and that they can have

“feelings of failure and embarrassment and stigma around their reading.”

The evidence that we have received has emphasised the importance of accessible texts for children with SEND and ensuring that read-for-pleasure initiatives are inclusive.

We have also heard that seeing reading as a social activity is a motivating factor for children. Children are motivated to read by social factors such as having opportunities to discuss books with their peers or—as we heard from children at Mulberry Canon Barnett primary school this morning—to act out the story in class or have the opportunity to continue or finish the story themselves. Professor Jessie Ricketts highlighted the special importance of social factors for teenagers, as they are

“very much guided by what their peers think”

and often do not see reading as a social activity.

There is much to be learned from World Book Day for the encouragement of reading for pleasure all year round. Professor Teresa Cremin told the Committee that teachers should aim to

“spread World Book Day practice…throughout the year”

by supporting children to read in their own time and to develop the habit of reading. She said:

“If you had a rich reading pedagogy in your classroom, every day is World Book Day. Every day I am trying to support you 32 as readers. It is my job...not an occasional piece”.

Jonathan Douglas, chief executive of the National Literacy Trust, and Annie Crombie, co-chief executive of BookTrust, told the Committee that events such as World Book Day have “immense value” in creating a buzz of excitement around reading and making partners on the ground feel that they are part of something bigger. However, they highlighted the need for that to be built on a wider infrastructure of reading activity throughout the year.

The Education Committee will make our recommendations to the Government later this year. The benefits of reading for pleasure for children and adults are enormous; they speak directly to some of the most significant challenges that children and young people face around mental health and wellbeing and the impacts of screen time and social media. Reversing the decline must therefore be an urgent priority.

I will end by once again thanking everyone who is involved in supporting this year’s World Book Day and the National Year of Reading. Whether they are marking World Book Day by dressing up as their favourite character or simply curling up in a corner with a good book, I hope they enjoy the day.

15:17

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) for setting the scene incredibly well. It is a real pleasure to have her back in a very constructive role; I thank her for her work on the Education Committee. Her speech today demonstrates her energy and her deep interest in the subject. I am also pleased to see the Minister back in her place. We were both here at 3 o’clock last week—we meet again!

Books are wonderful. As an avid book lover, I read many books. For thrills at the office, I read Andy McNab or Chris Ryan’s books about the SAS or thrillers about MI5, MI6, wars and so on; I am almost 71, but maybe at heart I am still a boy of 16. I love those books, but I read many others as well, and there are many that interest me.

The girls in my office know that at the end of a working day, I always take 15 or 20 minutes to read another couple of chapters of a book that is completely different. It is the true story of a young boy who left Afghanistan. His dad was killed in the Afghanistan war. His mum saved up to send him across the world, not as a trafficked person but as a refugee, and ultimately he ended up in the United Kingdom. That is what I am reading: the story of a young boy’s troubles. I am only a third of the way through, but every week I take a few minutes to read the story of that wee boy, who is a young man now.

Two young girls who work in my office are perhaps—can I say this?—unhealthily obsessed with reading all types of books, notably ones that I would have zero interest in. They swap books with each other—something I have enjoyed doing for many years. They were talking recently about the fact that many fantastic books are now made into films, such as “Wuthering Heights”. I presume they were referring to the new one—I nearly fear to look at it, but that is by the way. Their words were, “It was a good film, but it wasn’t as good as the book.” That is perhaps the opposite of what the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood said. Films do not always fully illustrate the content or the interest of a book. A good novel— a real good read—very much resonates with people.

I believe that more must be done to make the shift away from screens and to get more young people into books. That is why celebrating World Book Day is so important. I submitted an early-day motion on that just last week because I recognise that importance. I have five grandchildren. Two of them are really wee small ones—one is five and one is three. They are staying at our house at the minute while my son builds his house on the farm. They have an insatiable hunger for books. The wee girl came home from a weekend away with her other granny with about 12 books—they have to go with her everywhere. That encourages me.

Surveys have shown that a significant minority of schools in Northern Ireland lack dedicated library spaces. It is really important to have a library in every school. The schools that do not rely instead on classroom shelving, rather than formal library accommodation. There is work to be done. That is not the Minister’s responsibility, because education is devolved in Northern Ireland, but it is something that we need to do, as the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood said in her introduction. Many things happening here on the mainland also happen back home.

In Northern Ireland, nearly 25% of primary school pupils reached the advanced benchmark, showing very high literacy skills. Very few pupils scored at the lowest international reading level. For secondary school reading, in the programme for international student assessment 2022, Northern Ireland’s 15-year-olds performed above the OECD average in reading literacy, showing strong comprehension and analytical skills. There is great achievement in Northern Ireland. As the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood said when she talked about her Select Committee’s report, there is much to do here. We may be slightly ahead in literacy and reading skills, but that does not mean that we should sit on our laurels. We have to strive to do better. However, these are promising statistics with scope for improvement.

The hon. Member for North West Leicestershire (Amanda Hack) was right to say in her intervention that libraries do incredible work. I want to put on record my thanks to the library in Newtownards in my constituency for all it does and the service it provides to the public. Libraries do not just lend thousands upon thousands of books every week that then come back in again—whenever I call the library, it is always busy with people coming and going—they do other things as well. Elderly people come to read a magazine or a book, do a bit of knitting or just have a little natter or wee chat. Libraries are an important focal point for people, and the library in Newtownards is that for my people. It is a fantastic initiative, as books and Kindles can be so expensive. They are some people’s choice, but not everybody’s.

To conclude—I am ever conscious that others need a chance to speak as well—World Book Day reminds us that books are more than words on a page. They are doors to new worlds, new ideas and new possibilities. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they are where the new adventure begins. Let’s keep turning the pages, sharing the stories and celebrating the incredible magic of reading every day of our lives.

15:24

[Richard Quigley (Isle of Wight West) (Lab)]

May I say what an incredible pleasure it is to serve under your superb chairship, Mrs Hobhouse? I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) for securing this debate.

As in so many other ways, I am proud to represent an area that truly punches above its weight in literary tradition, not only through the talent the Isle of Wight has produced past and present, but through the inspiration the island has offered to many of our country’s most celebrated authors. Just two weeks ago, I was honoured to attend the Isle of Wight story festival, a wonderful event supported by the national lottery and Arts Council England created for island families during the February half term. The festival showcases not only the passion for creativity and storytelling across all ages on the island, but its founding principle that stories are around us, wherever you live, whoever you are and whatever your circumstance. It is a precious reminder that imagination and creativity exist in all of us, even people in this place.

I touched only briefly on the island’s rich literary tradition earlier, so I hope Members will indulge me as I offer a small humblebrag about the remarkable authors and the stories that have been produced on or inspired by the Isle of Wight.

Charles Dickens spent several months on the island while working on his semi-autobiographical novel “David Copperfield”. During a visit to Bonchurch, he described it as

“quite the prettiest place I have seen”.

Despite not being in my constituency, I agree. Today, the island proudly commemorates his 1849 family holiday through the Charles Dickens trail, which guides visitors around the locations he knew and loved.

The Isle of Wight was also home to Queen Victoria’s beloved poet laureate, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, who lived at Farringford House in Freshwater. Although he ultimately felt compelled to leave due to the rather overenthusiastic attention of local residents and curious tourists, he maintained ownership of Farringford House until his death. Upon his elevation to the House of Lords in 1844, he took the title Baron Tennyson of Aldworth and Freshwater, suggesting he did not harbour too much ill will towards the island, despite the disruptions he endured during his time there.

However, the island is so much more than its literary past. I think of the Isle of Wight literary festival, which has not only hosted such authors as Dr Stuart Lawrence, Susie Dent and Martin Edwards, but also does fantastic outreach through its schools programme, which brings these celebrated authors into almost every local primary classroom, allowing local children to see these stories and the authors behind them in real life.

While I am pleased to celebrate the island’s rich literary heritage, it would be remiss of me not to highlight that, despite the inspiration that the island has provided to some of our greatest writers, we remain one of the UK’s most disadvantaged areas for literacy and have the second-highest level of educational deprivation in the south. One in three children leaves school unable to read at the expected level. Without straying too far from the subject of today’s debate, the contrast speaks to why the island is so often left behind in terms of funding and outcomes.

Our historic reputation and perception as a holiday destination for the wealthy masks the reality experienced by most islanders, particularly our children. Too often, these outdated assumptions rather than the stark realities I have set out influence funding allocations. When I have spoken to officials inside Government, there has been genuine shock to learn that relative child poverty on the island is 10% higher than the regional average and nearly 3% higher than the national average. That goes a long way to explaining the gap between the perception of the island and the reality.

Despite these obstacles, I know there is a strong determination, nationally from the Education Secretary to the brilliant education team in the Isle of Wight council, to improve that picture. I am absolutely certain that the talent and determination is there to ensure that our literary tradition is matched by equally strong outcomes from young readers and students.

As we celebrate World Book Day, I end with a nod to author and admirer of our island, Jane Austen. In the novel “Mansfield Park”, Maria and Julia tease their cousin Fanny for her devotion, saying:

“She thinks of nothing but the Isle of Wight, and she calls it the Island, as if there were no other island in the world.”

As any Austen reader knows, it is Fanny and perhaps the Isle of Wight itself that has the last laugh, proving in time to have a depth of understanding and awareness that her cousins never quite match.

15:27

[Peter Swallow (Bracknell) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I declare an interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for schools, learning and assessment, and the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on social mobility. This debate was opened so passionately by my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), Chair of the Education Committee, who rightly reminds us of the role of parents in World Book Day, scurrying around and supporting their young people to dress up in fantastic costumes. One of my happiest memories of World Book Day is of when I was a teacher and put together a fantastic costume of the Cyclops from Homer’s “Odyssey”—I do not think the pictures are still online, so do not try to look for them.

Reading is one of life’s joys. It is a bridge to new worlds, to new opportunities and to new ideas. One of my proudest and happiest moments so far as Bracknell’s MP was having the honour to open a new school library at Fox Hill primary in my constituency. Seeing the excitement from so many young readers who could not wait to make use of the new renovated space warmed my heart. So too did visiting Uplands school in Sandhurst alongside the Education Secretary last year, and speaking to students there about the books they were reading and why they had chosen them.

I take this opportunity to officially wish everyone here, in Bracknell Forest and across the country a happy World Book Day, and a happy National Year of Reading. The Government are marking the event with a commitment to ensure that every primary school in England has a library by the end of this Parliament.

Reading has proven benefits for attainment. It has been linked to stronger writing skills, improved brain development and even higher future earnings, but it is not just academically that it benefits young people. It also has a demonstrable impact on wellbeing, including on confidence, empathy and emotional intelligence. Given the challenges facing young people in our modern world, these are the skills we need to help them develop.

As the Chair of the Education Committee said, we are conducting an inquiry into reading for pleasure. We have heard evidence about the wide range of benefits of reading for young people, and that reading for pleasure—reading what we want to read, because we want to read it—has particular advantages. We have also heard alarming evidence that there has been a 36% decrease in the number of children between eight and 18 who are reading for pleasure since 2005. Only a third of children are now picking up a book and enjoying doing so. We are seeing that decline in two particular groups—those with special educational needs and boys.

There are obvious barriers to reading for many SEND learners, particularly those with dyslexia, but that does not mean that they should not be afforded the same opportunities as their classmates to access the benefits and joys of books, or that they do not stand to benefit from reading just as much as their peers. There are many ways to access the world of reading, from traditional physical books to audiobooks, graphic novels, newspapers and e-readers, and it is not just format where inclusion matters. What international evidence exists suggests that the systemic use of age-appropriate, culturally inclusive children’s literature, coupled with an engaging reading experience, can help build positive reading habits and enhance comprehension for SEND learners. For that reason, it is so important that we support and empower schools to create inclusive cultures around reading.

The British Dyslexia Association, a fantastic organisation that just so happens to be based in my constituency, has stressed that there are concrete measures that schools can take and Government can promote that would make a real difference. Those include funding widely stocked and accessible school libraries, providing training and technology to support staff, and early intervention to identify reading difficulties as soon as possible.

According to the National Literacy Trust, reading rates are lower for boys than for girls at every age, and fewer than one in 10 boys aged 14 to 16 read for daily pleasure. That is an important point. Reading is important for attainment but, as I have said, it is already a joy, and it should be encouraged not purely for academic purposes but simply for fun. It is especially interesting that the NTL’s research shows that reading for pleasure dips for both girls and boys in early adolescence, but recovers for girls while remaining persistently low for boys. That drives the widening gender gap on reading for pleasure in the teenage years, so why do young men not pick up books again while their female classmates do? We do not have all the answers to that, but we need to find them.

[Liam Conlon (Beckenham and Penge) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend mentions that reading is so important for children’s development and enjoyment. None of that is possible without the work of incredible children’s authors. Beckenham and Penge was home to Enid Blyton, with over 700 books including the Famous Five series, and Walter de la Mare, with his incredible series of children’s ghost stories. Today, we are home to some fantastic children’s authors, including Penny Chrimes and Peter Bently. Will my hon. Friend join me in thanking every children’s author, past and present, for their incredible contributions?

[Peter Swallow]

Absolutely. As we heard, the range of children’s books is growing. It can be slightly reductive to suggest that a single type of book appeals to a single kind of child, so we need to see a broad range of books. We need non-fiction as well as fiction, because lots of young people love to get into reading by picking up a non-fiction book. Whatever we can do, with the help of children’s authors, to encourage young people to find the thing that gets them reading and gets them hooked so that they carry on reading, including a broader range of works, is important.

This is a world where boys and young men are facing unique pressures. They are increasingly vulnerable to turning away from the world and towards the misogyny and hatred they too often encounter online. Hon. Members in the Chamber may have heard me speak many times about the importance of skills in our education system, but it strikes me that this debate concerns the most essential skill of all, which goes to the heart of how we equip our boys to become healthy and happy young men in today’s world—not reading per se, as important as that is, but empathy. Ultimately, whatever the genre or type of book, reading is about seeing the world from a new perspective and a point of view that is different from our own. That is why it speaks to our common humanity.

As we come together as a nation this year to celebrate our shared love of reading and our mutual responsibility to foster that in the younger generation, we must ensure that that effort is inclusive and inspiring. That is perhaps the biggest challenge, but it also holds the greatest rewards. If we can take reading for pleasure as our starting point, not our ending point, everything else will follow.

I will finish by sharing the book that I am reading at the moment, which is “Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead” by Olga Tokarczuk. I am reading it with my book club. I thought I would finish with that, purely to point out that no one is ever too old or too young to pick up a good book.

15:36

[Patricia Ferguson (Glasgow West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Mrs Hobhouse. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) for securing the debate, and for her excellent contribution that set the scene for our discussion.

I am sure we all remember what triggered our own love of reading—a particular book or story, or perhaps a movie or play that inspired us to read the book upon which it was based. For me, it was the birthday gift of two books from my grandfather when I was six. They were “Heidi” by Johanna Spyri and a follow-up called “Heidi’s Children” by Charles Tritten. I admit that it was the illustrations in “Heidi’s Children” that first attracted me, because they were so beautiful, but I was soon drawn into the story of the orphaned Heidi as she made her home in the Alps with her elderly grandfather. Reading has been important to me ever since. It is something I do every day—and I am not talking about emails.

This year I decided to organise a competition among the primary schools in my constituency of Glasgow West to mark World Book Day. I thank Liam, the librarian at Drumchapel library who judged the competition. On World Book Day, I thank him and all the librarians across Glasgow West for the work they do throughout the year. I also thank all the schools that took part in the competition and, of course, the winners: Mac Wallace of Scotstoun primary, Yahia of Hyndland primary and Robert Kwiatkowski of Knightswood primary, and the overall winner, Martha Cavanagh of Notre Dame primary school.

All entrants were asked to write about their favourite book, and Martha chose “Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery. Martha explained that she enjoyed that book, and highlighted its “heartwarming touch of funniness” as one of the reasons for her choice. As Martha rightly says, books can be funny and make us laugh, they can be thought-provoking and they can help us learn. They can also take us to places we might never visit and open our minds to new ideas. We owe the National Literacy Trust a debt of gratitude for consistently promoting World Book Day on an annual basis over the years.

I want to mention another initiative that I had the pleasure of being a very small part of last year. That is the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which operated, among other places, from Drumchapel library, which I mentioned earlier. That initiative provides young people with one free, high-quality, age-appropriate book per month, from birth until the age of five. So far, it has distributed more than 7 million books in the UK.

When researching for this debate, I noticed an interesting poll from More in Common—maybe I pay too much attention to polls in my reading. That poll suggested that Conservatives and Reform have more in common than just the revolving doors of Tories defecting to Reform. It would seem that supporters of both parties identified “Paddington” as their favourite children’s book. “Paddington” is a terrific book, as we all know, but I think it is a wee bit ironic that it tells the story of a displaced bear who comes to the UK from his home in Peru due to a change in family circumstances.

To be more serious for a moment, we know how unstable the world currently is and how vulnerable children are in so many countries. Their opportunity to learn and to benefit from education is greatly diminished, and their access to books, which could make such a difference to their lives, is often non-existent. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has long called for education to be safeguarded in times of conflict; perhaps we could agree to add access to books to his call.

15:40

[Alex Mayer (Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse. I want to put it on the record that Paddington is my favourite bear, and I have a large poster of Paddington in Westminster in my office, so I do not want people to get the wrong end of the stick and think he is only liked by certain other parties.

In the early years of the 20th century, a young girl was growing up in a Georgian house at the end of the high street in Leighton Buzzard. As a child, she would often wonder why things went missing or were not exactly where she remembered leaving them: a stamp that had disappeared, a safety pin that turned up somewhere entirely unexpected, or maybe a missing potato. She imagined that tiny people were living quietly in the corners of her home, borrowing things. She was Mary Norton, who became the author of the world-famous book “The Borrowers”, putting Leighton Buzzard on the map for readers forever.

Today, the house that Mary Norton grew up in is part of Leighton middle school, which I had the pleasure of visiting recently, where I met enthusiastic, curious and thoughtful pupils. I love going to schools across my constituency—it is one of my favourite things to do. In Lime Tree academy in Houghton Regis I recently met Fatima, who told me that she had read every single book in the school library. Sadly, not all her peers are such strong readers.

Less than half of white working-class pupils in central Bedfordshire reach the expected standard of reading in year 6—that is the lowest figure in the entire country. Can the Minister tell me what bespoke help is available for schools that have been let down for decades by Tory Governments and the council’s local education authority? I know from visiting classrooms that the teachers are just as dedicated and the children are just as eager to learn as elsewhere in the country. There are systemic problems that need to be sorted out, including the three-tier system that we have.

I welcome the new National Year of Reading. I note that it is the third: there was one in 1998, one in 2008 and now one in 2026. Those years are linked, I think, by the fact that we had Labour Governments in all of them. The campaign asks families across the country to read together for just 10 minutes a day.

As has been noted before, there are fantastic places to read, including local libraries. Over the summer I went to Dunstable library, which is a fantastic facility. I met a young girl there who was reading all about Arrietty, star of “The Borrowers”. My constituency also has brilliant bookshops, including Book Leighton Buzzard, an independent bookshop that is bringing authors into classrooms throughout 2026 as part of the Year of Reading.

One thing that I do rather a lot is turn to a little part of a book that people may not always read—the bit that says where it is printed. I have a reason for that, which some hon. Members may know about. In my constituency there is a facility run by Amazon, which prints books on demand. When I went there for the first time I found it a fascinating place, because they print lots of individual books. It looks like a shelf, a bookshop or a library, because all those books are different shapes, sizes and colours.

I flicked through a book at the facility and it said in it, “Printed by Amazon in the UK.” I thought, “That’s not good enough, is it? I want people to know exactly where in the UK it was printed.” I asked the bosses whether they would change it, and I think they thought I was being a bit daft about the topic. I thought, “Well, I am going to keep on asking about this,” but I kept on being ignored for a little while.

Then I stumbled upon an idea. I thought, “I know— I am going to write my own book: a little children’s book about a book with an identity crisis, who goes all around the country trying to find out where he was printed.” He goes all the way to the west of England to see if he was born—printed—there, and he goes all the way up to Scotland. He goes to Liverpool and finds out about the Beatles, but does not think he was published there. Finally, the local MP intervenes, and thankfully, the book finds out that he is actually from Dunstable.

I sent the book to the Amazon bosses to be printed, and said, “All the best stories have happy endings, so please make my story have a happy ending too,” and they did that for me. Now every single book printed on demand by Amazon proudly says, “Printed in Dunstable” on it.

The self-publishing industry is really changing: the number of self-published books now exceeds the number of traditionally published ones. My office manager has penned one called “Ash”, a thriller set in Iceland, and I have a friend called Stephen Rogers who wrote about a nuclear disaster in the Bristol channel. In Dunstable, publishing has truly been democratised. More than a million books have now flown off the printing press there, all proudly saying, “Printed in Dunstable”, which has put the town on the map and is a phrase that I will always enjoy reading.

15:45

[Caroline Voaden (South Devon) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse, and to respond on behalf of my party to this debate on World Book Day. I commend the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes) for her excellent opening speech and for securing the debate.

World Book Day gives us a wonderful opportunity to discuss the power of reading, and we have heard some wonderful contributions about favourite books, much-loved authors and the transformative effect of a special book. Arguably the most important of Labour’s five missions for Government is breaking down barriers to opportunity for disadvantaged children, improving social mobility and seeking to lift children out of poverty. An incredibly powerful and often overlooked way of progressing towards those goals is by ensuring that more children are reading for pleasure, especially in their early years. Research shows that young children whose parents read just one book a day to them will hear about 290,000 more words by age five than those who do not regularly read books with a parent. Consistent, early exposure to books, rather than just infrequent reading, is crucial for closing a vocabulary gap that can stunt a child’s prospects all the way through school.

I hope that the Government’s support of family hubs will include a focus on educating parents about the importance of early reading, because it is crucial that all new parents are aware of the powerful, transformational difference that it can make to their children’s life chances. The Chair of the Education Committee, the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood, spoke passionately about the enormous value of shared reading between parents and very young children.

[Patricia Ferguson]

I draw the hon. Member’s attention to a scheme that has been running in Scotland since about 2000. It used to be called “Bookstart” and is now called “Bookbug”. New-born babies through to children at the beginning of primary school go along to the library with their parent or carer and take part in communal reading, singing and action. It is an amazing experience to see, and a wonderful way of getting those children hooked on reading and communicating about it with other children.

[Caroline Voaden]

Communal groups where children can read together and parents can be encouraged can really boost a parent’s confidence in their ability to share a book with their child, because some parents to do not feel as confident reading as others do.

Last Friday night, I had the pleasure of reading “The Gruffalo” to my 18-month-old grandson. It was the first time that I have sat and read him a bedtime story, so I am starting again that long journey of reading to children, which ended with my eldest daughter after the fifth “Harry Potter” book, at which point I said, “No more,” and that she would have to read the last two on her own.

[Peter Swallow]

The hon. Lady provokes me to add a huge thank you to all the grandparents, kinship carers and extended family who support parents in reading to their children. In my family, it is often my dad who reads to my nieces and who they run to for a book at bedtime, so I say a huge thank you to the surrounding family who support our young people to love reading.

[Caroline Voaden]

The hon. Member is absolutely right. When I was a rather frazzled single parent of two young children, I remember that my mum would sit calmly and quietly with the girls and read them stories when I did not have the headspace. It was a lovely thing to see, and they developed a very special bond.

This week, we on the Education Committee have heard some powerful evidence from experts on reading. Reading to children exposes them to millions of words that differ substantially from everyday spoken language, as books contain a wider range of vocabulary, more complex sentence structures and richer narrative forms. Reading helps children to develop their own vocabulary that they can go on to use during their school years and beyond. Dr Jo Taylor, associate professor of language and cognition at University College London, explained to us how exposure to language leads to vocabulary development.

There is also clear evidence that reading improves cognitive development, tuning an area of the brain that specialises in word processing. Several studies show that, alongside those developmental benefits, young people who develop the habit of reading in early childhood are likely to achieve higher qualifications and better upward social mobility later in life. An evidence review by BookTrust found that shared reading is consistently associated with stronger academic performance. By age 16, reading for pleasure is a much stronger predictor of progress in vocabulary, mathematics and spelling than parental educational attainment. Compared with their peers, disadvantaged children who achieve highly at the end of primary school are twice as likely to have been read to at home in their early years. Reading is such an important thing to do with young children.

That evidence shows how vital it is for improving social mobility that we strongly encourage and educate parents to read to their children regularly, throughout the early years, and that we continue to push children to keep reading for pleasure throughout their childhood and into their adult lives. No opportunity is better than World Book Day to demonstrate to children the simple joy of reading. World Book Day is a wonderful reminder of the difference that reading can make in a child’s life, not just in the classroom but far beyond it. I commend the hon. Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) for her competition. I love the fact that she knows someone called Liam the librarian—he sounds like a character from a children’s book.

Dressing up as a favourite book character is great fun for children. It is a fantastic way for them to bring their fantasies to life and to live, if only for a moment, the life of their favourite character. It is perhaps less enjoyed by the frazzled parents, and I think that World Book Day has the potential to become a bit of a competition about who has the best fancy dress costume, so I welcome the alternative approaches taken by some schools to avoid that, and welcome costume lending libraries. I clearly remember the horror of, the day before World Book Day, remembering that a costume was needed.

I am very proud to say that my younger daughter is now a professional costume maker in film, trained at a very early age by her disappointment in her mother’s attempts. She would begin deliberating about her World Book Day costume weeks before the event. Although I am biased, I have to say that her costume of Effie Trinket, from “The Hunger Games”, was quite phenomenal. So, for all those parents who did not manage it this year there could be an upside.

Beyond the fancy dress, it is important that we remember what World Book Day is really about: reading. That is especially so this year, the National Year of Reading. The current state of children’s reading in this country is deeply concerning. We heard a lot of evidence about that in today’s debate. Reading rates are plummeting: the National Literacy Trust’s annual literacy survey found that in 2025 the percentage of children and young people who said that they enjoy reading was at its lowest level in 20 years. Just under a third of children aged eight to 18 said that they enjoyed reading in their free time last year—that is a shocking decrease of 36% over the last 20 years—and less than a fifth of eight to 18-year-olds said that they read something daily in their free time last year.

As hon. Members have discussed, there is a noticeable gendered aspect to the decline in the love for reading. Some 39.8% of girls aged eight to 18 said that they enjoy reading, compared with just a quarter of boys. That gap has expanded massively in recent years. It is also important to note that in 2020, research by the National Literacy Trust found that children and young people from minority ethnic groups, particularly those from black ethnic backgrounds, reported that they did not see themselves in what they read. It is far harder for children from such groups to find pleasure in reading when they struggle to find a book that they can relate to, or feel a cultural connection with. This week in the Education Committee we heard that that might have as much to do with the marketing of books, and with the industry, as with anything else.

How do we address the concerning trend of reading rates that continue to fall? As we have heard, libraries are a good place to start. The importance of a child having the opportunity to choose any book they like and take it home for free cannot be overestimated, especially for those who cannot afford to buy new books. Access to books is a key issue for disadvantaged children. The National Literacy Trust’s research found that one in 10 children and young people reported having no books of their own at home, rising to one in six for those who receive free school meals. That is why the Liberal Democrats would fund additional library opening hours as part of our commitment to hobby hubs—community third spaces where people can gather and enjoy hobbies, including reading. We would encourage children to utilise these spaces, providing access and opportunity for them to read more.

It is a sad fact that Libraries Unlimited in Devon has just had to declare that it can no longer sustain the opening hours of our much-loved libraries as they are, due to the chronic and sustained underfunding of local authorities like Devon county council over the past decade or so. I am pleased that my Liberal Democrat colleagues in Devon have just committed an extra £1 million to help libraries transition to a more sustainable footing, although that will have to rely on volunteers as well as paid staff—and it should not have to be that way.

I am really encouraged by the extraordinary response to my colleagues’ consultation, showing just how important libraries are to the people of Devon, who are clearly readers. We have an astounding array of bookshops in my constituency, and I commend everyone in the East Gate Bookshop, Castle Books, Oxfam Bookshop, the Harbour Bookshop, Another Chapter, Browser Books and Dartmouth Community Bookshop—I hope I have not forgotten any.

Additionally, like public libraries, libraries in schools need proper resourcing, and school librarians need training to encourage children to find books that will light a spark for them. Reading for pleasure means that children need to find something that they genuinely enjoy reading, so on this World Book Day I welcome the Government’s ambition to have a library in every primary school by the end of the Parliament. I hope the Minister can set out how the Government will invest specifically in school libraries, including all those that already exist, to ensure that children have access to books and support with fostering a love for reading, especially children with SEND, who may find reading more of a challenge but can still enjoy it.

When trying to explain the recent decline in reading rates, we cannot ignore the recent increase in recreational screen use. Children are being engrossed by addictive algorithms, swiping through TikTok rather than investing time and attention in a book. That is why the Government’s campaign to increase the number of children reading for pleasure must be accompanied by stronger measures to crack down on addictive social media platforms and children using phones in schools. That should start with legislating to introduce film-style age ratings for social media platforms that use addictive algorithms, as proposed by the Liberal Democrats, and legislating to ban smartphones from all school premises.

[Alex Mayer]

I recently ran a survey in a local school and asked the children what they thought they would be doing if they were not spending as much time on smartphones. About a third of them said they thought they would be reading more if they were on social media less, so I am really pleased that the Government are running a consultation and are about to take serious action.

[Caroline Voaden]

The hon. Member’s contribution illustrates the draw of the smartphone, which is pulling children away from books—and it is not just children. I am sure many of us in this room are guilty of being addicted to the algorithm late at night, rather than going to bed early and reading a book.

Finally, we need to pay more attention to the curriculum and how we teach English, especially in secondary school. For many, English has become a box-ticking exercise where students are taught to answer exam questions on specific books, rather than being given the space to foster a love of reading. We need children to read for pleasure, rather than being forced to trawl through the same books repeatedly in order to answer set questions for their GCSEs. It is no coincidence that rates of reading decline with age. Over twice as many children aged five to eight said they read something in their free time daily compared with those aged 11 to 14.

We need space in our curriculum, especially in secondary schools, for reading for pleasure, which is why the Liberal Democrats are committed to a broader curriculum that makes genuine space for the arts and humanities and expands extracurricular enrichment, especially for disadvantaged children. That should include reading for pleasure. The Liberal Democrats believe that every child deserves an education rooted in curiosity, creativity and critical thinking. Reading sits at the heart of all of that—it opens doors, builds empathy and gives children the tools they need to thrive.

Every child deserves the chance to find a book that changes their life, so let us celebrate World Book Day and all the other initiatives designed to get children and adults reading for pleasure. The opportunities, ideas, dreams and passions it can unlock are endless.

15:59

[Jack Rankin (Windsor) (Con)]

It’s a pleasure to serve ’neath your chair’ship today,

And I hope you’ll forgive if today—just today—

I do not speak

In the usual way.

For today—yes, today!—is World Book Day, they say.

A day made for books and bright words at their play.

I thank my Honourable Friend with a cheer and a grin,

The Member for Dulwich and West Norwood—who let the debate on reading begin!

And today—yes, today!—on this most Bookish of days,

I won’t stick to the script in much-loved Erskine May.

No dry phrases today in the proper array—

I’ll try it instead in a Seussian way!

So today—yes, today!—we can happily spend

Time on good stories from beginning to end.

With a flip and a flourish, a swish and a sway,

For books are the best thing to brighten the day!

Here comes a test for my rhyming wordplay

For a brief jot in time while I quickly relay

The wisdom and pearls of Honourable Friends here today

I’ve made up on the spot in the Seussian way.

If it’s “Reading for fun and going all in”,

Grab that book off the shelf—take your mind off for a spin.

Each little child with a token and smile

Turns books into grammar, spelling and maths improved style.

From Strangford, we heard about Andy McNab

His strong love for reading shows in his gift of the gab

We thank all the libraries that open their doors

Not just to the building but lands on strange shores.

Like Isle of Wight West where Dickens and Tennyson called home

But not, to my knowledge, did Jerome K Jerome.

From Bracknell we heard about Fox Hill primary’s new library,

Something we want in every secondary and primary.

Glasgow West told of how Heidi inspired

As well as how books during conflict required

Too many speeches—I can’t do them all

But all of them wonderful in Westminster Hall.

I’m not quite yet done with my Dr-Seuss speech

There’s more—yes, some more—’fore the exits you reach.

For I haven’t yet shared my own greatest tale

Of two little boys from near Sunningdale.

A hop and a skip to the next village along

Are two little boys who love books, deep and strong.

The older loves space, rockets and sky

The littler one dinosaurs

who roar as they fly.

By accident or luck did it happen? It did not!

For many things quickly take the top spot!

Grown-ups are tired and they work all day through

So easy it is to forget what is true.

But the truth is that after another long day,

The thing I love most when I’m tired is say,

“Sit on my lap, boys. Rest your sleepy heads down,”

For a tale before bed will melt any frown.

It needn’t be complex or long as a Tolkien,

A Tolstoy or Dickens, James Joyce, and be hulking;

Few words here and there—what a difference they make

To children’s vocabularies and the brain cells they shake.

For Maths chaps like me who like numbers, not words

Books we still need for fractions like thirds

Whether green eggs and ham or bears from Peru,

Scientists can still marvel at brave Cindy Lou Who.

If kids 10 to 16 read for fun, not by force

They’ll get better jobs in the future workforce.

It has much more effect than if Mum or Dad went to uni,

So pick up that book and make your OWN dreams come true-ni!

When the Blue team were boss back in two thousand and twelve

Just 58% of six-year-olds reached the standards we delved

By the time we had gone

and up to the now,

The figure has soared to 80%

Wow—oh wow—wow!

Primary aged bookworms in England are best,

Now the best of the best—oh, yes—in the West.

Of Europe at least, and on this I don’t jest!

The best little readers of the rest in the West!

The Blue team are glad that the Red team agreed

In their Curriculum Review our reforms they still need

For phonics are king when it comes to learning

How to decode the letters and for stories yearning.

In the Lorax, Seuss taught us to love trees a lot

and said: “Unless someone likes you cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better.

It’s not.”



So now comes the time for my ask of the Reds.

Don’t worry or wobble—there’s nothing to dread.

For many of them are already decided.

With parents they agree and with their views they’ve sided.

For now is the time to ban phones from school proper.

Guidance alone means schools still come a cropper.

Despite their best efforts, it’s hard to stop-per.

So come on now Red team—stop delaying and do!

And while we’re at it,

ban social media for under-16s too.

There’s votes just next week; it isn’t too late

To do the right thing ’stead of making us wait.

I thank Honourable Friends for their patience and time.

I’ve enjoyed all the speeches, although none others rhymed.

But isn’t that the wonder of novels and stories

It matter not whether Lib Dem, Labour or Tories—

There’s one thing on which we can all agree

On World Book Day we can be one and not three!

[Wera Hobhouse (in the Chair)]

I sincerely hope that was not AI-generated; it was a very special effort. Follow that, Minister!

16:04

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Olivia Bailey)]

I am not sure it is possible to follow that, although I congratulate the hon. Member for Windsor (Jack Rankin) on his efforts and his speech entirely in rhyme. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship today, Mrs Hobhouse.

I thank all hon. Members for attending and contributing to this debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood (Helen Hayes), on securing it and on the valuable work that she is doing as Chair of the Education Committee. I look forward to hearing the outcomes of her inquiry into reading for pleasure.

I really love World Book Day, and I have had a wonderful World Book Day today; I went on a visit to talk about school food, and the entire school was dressed up, including the executive headteacher, who was dressed as a very impressive Gandalf, complete with a full beard. It was quite fun to have a full meeting with her to iscuss school food, and I congratulate her on her efforts and on her lovely school. I also have very fond memories of World Book Day with my children—who I packed off this morning in their outfits—especially from when they were younger. One year, my son chose to dress up as the green frog from “Room on the Broom”, which I think is a very good choice of outfit.

I was pleased to hear all Members’ reflections today. My hon. Friend the Member for Dulwich and West Norwood was right to thank all those involved in running World Book Day and, of course, all parents scrabbling around to create outfits from brooms and the like. I look forward to hearing the outcomes of her inquiry. I also agree with her on the importance of children being able to find themselves in books—a theme that we have heard throughout the afternoon.

The hon. Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) gave a characteristically engaging speech, and I really enjoyed hearing about the joy that his five grandchildren find in reading—

[Jim Shannon]

Six.

[Olivia Bailey]

Six! I misheard the hon. Member; I do apologise. And I am sure that they really enjoy listening to him read to them.

My hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight West (Richard Quigley) made a wonderful speech celebrating the literary past and present of the Isle of Wight, and was powerful in his clear determination to secure strong outcomes for his constituents.

My hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) painted a wonderful picture of his Cyclops outfit—I will be trying to google it—and made a powerful case for inclusive reading.

For my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson), I would like to congratulate Martha on winning her competition, and all the entrants in my hon. Friend’s constituency.

My hon. Friend the Member for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer) told an amazing story about the book that she wrote to persuade Amazon to put Dunstable on the books. I congratulate her on that —what fantastic efforts!

The hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) rightly highlighted the importance that this Government place on breaking down barriers to opportunity, and I agree with her that reading for pleasure is a central part of that—my speech will come on to that. She asked me about the role of family hubs and the importance of encouraging children to read at the earliest ages. I reassure her on that point: it is central to what we are trying to do with our best start in life strategy.

The hon. Lady—and the hon. Member for Windsor—also talked about screen time, which is very important to this Government. I am pleased that we are co-creating with parents the first ever guidance on screen time for the under-fives. We have published research that shows that too much screen time can cause challenges for language development. The research also says that the best thing people can do is pick up a book with their child. We are also publishing screen-time guidance for older children.

We have also published tougher guidance on phones in schools to be clear that, from bell to bell, there should be absolutely no phones in schools. We are working with attendance and behaviour hubs to make sure that schools are supported to deliver that, and Ofsted will also be inspecting on it. We do not want children in schools being distracted by buzzing phones in their pockets, and we are clear about that. On the wider question of the harms of the online world, I encourage all Members to contribute to our extensive consultation on social media and the online world, which is live now.

As Members have said today, World Book Day is a fantastic worldwide celebration of books and reading, marked in more than 100 countries around the world. I thank everyone for their enormous contribution. We know that reading for pleasure is hugely important and brings a wide range of benefits from increased wellbeing, confidence and empathy to better vocabulary and aptitude for learning, yet just one in three children says that they enjoy reading, which is an all-time low. That is why this Government have launched the National Year of Reading, a UK-wide campaign to tackle the steep decline in reading enjoyment among children, young people and adults.

The National Year of Reading campaign, “Go All In”, emphasises that reading is a great way to explore and deepen our interests and passions. Put simply, if you are into it, read into it. That might be a book about a fairytale world, a fascinating period of history or, for those of us who are passionate about parliamentary procedure—perhaps the hon. Member for Strangford were he still in his place—I suggest “Erskine May”.

Regardless of what we choose to read, the year is packed full of exciting events, webinars, resources and activities happening in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings up and down the country. I encourage all Members to get involved. World Book Day sits right at the heart of the National Year of Reading, offering children a selection of books to choose from for free with their £1 book token, and a range of activities and resources for schools to help generate a national buzz around reading.

As has been noted, libraries are at the heart of the National Year of Reading campaign. I am delighted that this Government have committed more than £10 million to ensure that every primary school in England will have a library by the end of this Parliament and, for secondary schools, my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced £5 million to purchase books and reading materials.

Alongside school libraries, public libraries have a strong offer to support children’s development as readers beyond school—for example, through the summer reading challenge—and are part of the vital social and cultural infrastructure of the country. This week, to support the National Year of Reading, the Government announced a funding boost to support local library services in areas with the greatest need to go further in engaging communities to boost library use. Further to that support, the Government will build on excellence by awarding a £1,000 cash prize to each of the five English regional winners of the library of the year award to continue local reading projects.

Reading is not just important for pleasure; it also holds the key to the rest of the curriculum. This financial year, therefore, we have committed £28 million to drive high and rising standards in reading and writing. That funding is delivering a range of support for schools, including new training for primary schools, to help children progress from the early stages of phonics to reading fluently by the time they leave primary school.

For secondary schools, we have launched a new continuing professional development programme, Unlocking Reading, to improve support for struggling readers in key stage 3. Our aim is that by the end of this academic year, 75% of secondary schools will have access to that training. Also, our RISE, or regional improvement for standards and excellence, English hubs are dedicated to improving the teaching of reading. Since their launch, they have provided targeted support to more than 3,000 schools across England.

In closing, I recognise the important contributions of charities and organisations to promote the importance of reading for pleasure, including World Book Day, the National Literacy Trust, the Reading Agency, the Book Trust and many more. Last year, I had the absolute privilege of meeting Peter Rabbit and the Queen at the Book Trust’s centenary celebration. It was one of my favourite days in the job so far. Reading books like “Peter Rabbit” shaped my childhood and I want that same joy for every child.

Ensuring that our young people in every corner of our country learn to enjoy reading is one of this Labour Government’s key priorities. In this National Year of Reading, we are laying strong foundations for learning, wellbeing and success throughout life. By working in partnership with schools, families, libraries and communities, we can create a lasting legacy where reading for pleasure is valued as an integral part of our childhoods.

16:13

[Helen Hayes]

I thank all hon. Members who contributed to this debate. It has been a consensual debate, celebrating the power of World Book Day and the benefits of reading.

It has also been an enlightening debate, in which we have learnt about the poetic talent of the hon. Member for Windsor (Jack Rankin), which he should be congratulated on. We have learnt about the Cyclops costume of my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow), which he has mentioned previously in the Select Committee. We are all very anxious to see it in real life. We have heard from the hon. Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) about how a whole career can be built on World Book Day costumes, and from my hon. Friend the Member for Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard (Alex Mayer) about the book she wrote. Congratulations are due to her on her success in getting Dunstable the recognition it deserves.

It was lovely to hear from my hon. Friend the Member for Glasgow West (Patricia Ferguson) about the benefits of Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. Many years ago, I spent a summer at Drumchapel, and it is lovely to hear that the community there has benefited from that brilliant initiative. We have heard about literary traditions on the Isle of Wight, and the benefits of reading for communities across the country, including in Northern Ireland.

This has also been a serious debate, in which we have recognised that reading is a powerful part of our toolkit for tackling many of the serious challenges that our children face, from closing the disadvantage gap to improving mental health and wellbeing. We will take those lessons forward from the debate, with a commitment to spread throughout the year all the good practice and benefits of the fun and excitement of World Book Day, as we continue to grapple with the challenge of how we support more children in getting back into reading for pleasure.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered World Book Day.

16:16

Sitting adjourned.