Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they are taking to promote the National Year of Reading 2026 in early years settings, in schools, further and higher education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
I refer the noble Lady to the answer of 31 March 2026 to Question HL14644.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure the National Year of Reading 2026 has a long-term, positive legacy, extending beyond this year.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Year of Reading 2026 aims to make lasting change to the reading habits of the nation to address the decline in reading for pleasure and unlock one of the most powerful tools for equity and opportunity: a love of reading that lasts a lifetime. The campaign aims for lasting impact by engaging new audiences, making reading relevant, transforming practice, and building infrastructure. For example, we are providing £5 million of funding for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading for pleasure.
The National Year of Reading is grounded in both existing evidence and new research, conducted by an external research agency. This is a critical component of the campaign, to ensure it is impactful and meaningful, both during the year and beyond.
There will also be an independent external evaluation of the National Year of Reading which will be published in 2027. The evaluation will examine how the campaign influences reading behaviours, connects with audiences and shapes attitudes towards reading, particularly among the campaign’s priority audiences, including teenage boys, the early years, and families from disadvantaged communities. It will also assess the wider impact on the literacy sector and the foundations for long-term change.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that workers are able to meet their trade union in an accessible location when their trade union is granted access to the workplace.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In our consultation, Make Work Pay: trade union right of access, we sought views on operational aspects of the new statutory access framework, including steps the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) must consider reasonable for employers to take to facilitate access.
Officials are currently reviewing responses, and the government will publish a response before finalising these details in secondary legislation.
We will also consult on a draft Code of Practice in due course which will provide detail on how statutory access should operate in different types of workplaces.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of workers who work more than their contracted hours.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are no official data sources that provide readily available estimates of the number of contracted hours across the whole labour market. The Office for National Statistics regularly publishes estimates of the number of people on zero hours contracts, where all hours worked are additional to contracted hours: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/emp17peopleinemploymentonzerohourscontracts.
The government has published a comprehensive assessment of the potential impacts of the zero hours contract measures in the Employment Rights Act 2025: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/employment-rights-bill-impact-assessments. We will publish further analysis in due course as we implement those measures.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to setting the fines for employers that break rules on trade union access to the workplace as a percentage of global turnover.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In our consultation, Make Work Pay: trade union right of access, we sought views on several elements of the new statutory access framework, including on the way that the policy is enforced.
Officials are carefully reviewing all responses, and the government will publish a response in due course. This will include next steps on the enforcement model.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps are being taken to safeguard the right of trade union access to workplaces in the warehousing and logistics sector.
Answered by Baroness Lloyd of Effra - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
In our consultation, Make Work Pay: trade union right of access, we sought views on several elements of the new statutory access framework, including steps the Central Arbitration Committee (CAC) must consider reasonable for employers to take to facilitate access, as well as the details on the enforcement mechanism. These will apply to the warehousing and logistics sector.
Officials are currently reviewing all responses, and the government will publish a response before finalising these details in secondary legislation.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask His Majesty's Government what measures they are taking to ensure that those in the criminal justice system benefit from the National Year of Reading 2026.
Answered by Lord Timpson - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The National Year of Reading is a welcome opportunity to promote a wide range of activity to improve literacy and engagement with reading for people in custody and on probation.
As part of this work we have appointed the first ever Prison Reading Laureate, the author Lee Child. He will champion the transformative power of reading across the criminal justice system, continue expansion of his successful literacy pilot programme which has been running in a number of prisons since 2025 and will bring in more authors to work with prisons across the country, promoting the benefits of reading to rehabilitation.
Reading is a priority for HMPPS who work with many voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations such as the Reading Agency and National Literacy Trust. A programme of work is planned throughout this year to improve national access to books and facilitate workshops with authors. The Youth Custody Service is also launching its first ever Literacy Festival to inspire reading amongst some of the most complex children in our society.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask His Majesty's Government role public libraries will play in the delivery of the National Year of Reading 2026; and what steps are being taken to increase library engagement with the campaign.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
On 2 March DCMS announced £150,000 for public libraries to support the National Year of Reading. Funding will be delivered by The Reading Agency in support of the Go All In campaign to reconnect people with reading for pleasure.
The £150,000 fund is expected to support projects across 72 library authority areas which are disadvantaged by high deprivation, weak social infrastructure and low library engagement with the aim of encouraging greater library use and new members.
Public libraries are central to the success of the National Year of Reading’s campaign to engage people of all ages with reading across the UK. The Reading Agency has been appointed to work with sector partners to deliver and support public library engagement. The Summer Reading Challenge in 2026, and World Book Night, the annual celebration of reading for adults on 23 April 2026, will be key moments for libraries during the National Year of Reading 2026. Throughout the year, The Reading Agency will provide public libraries with resources, toolkits, and print and digital materials to support their work and boost engagement.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how they plan to hold public bodies to account in the light of the findings of the report Hillsborough Disaster: The report of the IOPC and Operation Resolve investigations, published on 2 December.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The unlawful killing of 97 people at Hillsborough 36 years ago remains a stain on our nation’s history, and publication of the Independent Office for Police Conduct’s (IOPC) report serves as a stark reminder of one of the most significant failings in policing the country has ever seen.
The IOPC’s report is clear there was a lack of candour from the police officers involved. Thanks to the tireless campaigning of the families and survivors of the Hillsborough disaster, this Government is introducing the Public Office (Accountability) Bill, otherwise known as the Hillsborough Law. This landmark legislation will place a new legal duty of candour on all public servants and authorities, requiring them to act truthfully and to fully support inquests, investigations and inquiries. It will also bring clarity to the offence of Misconduct in Public Office by placing it on a statutory footing, introduce a new criminal offence of misleading the public, and provide legal aid for victims of disasters and state-related deaths.
Whilst it is extremely frustrating that none of the police officers named in the IOPC’s report will face disciplinary action, the Policing and Crime Act 2017 now ensures that police officers cannot evade misconduct proceedings by retiring or resigning, meaning this failing can never be repeated.
These measures directly respond to the failings identified by the IOPC and ensure that, if a similar situation were to arise today, those responsible would be held to account.
Asked by: Baroness Griffin of Princethorpe (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all future use of hydrogen in the UK is of green hydrogen.
Answered by Lord Whitehead - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Government encourages a range of hydrogen production technologies, including CCUS-enabled ‘blue’ and electrolytic ‘green’ hydrogen technologies, provided they can meet the Low Carbon Hydrogen Standard, they fit within our broader strategic approach to hydrogen, and that we understand the system and environmental impacts.
‘Blue’ hydrogen is an important tool for scaling up the hydrogen economy while electrolytic hydrogen costs fall and the power system decarbonises. It is well-suited to provide continuous predictable 'baseload' supply of hydrogen to industrial clusters as both hydrogen storage and electrolytic production increase.
‘Green’ hydrogen is likely to be a core long-term hydrogen production technology as it is expected to be able to operate flexibly, responding to the availability of electricity inputs, and when paired with renewable electricity, can deliver zero carbon hydrogen.