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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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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—
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.
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.