Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government, following the National Literacy Trust’s findings on the long-term impact of improved literacy, what assessment they have made of the economic and social benefits of investing in primary school libraries.

Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Education)

School libraries complement public libraries by giving pupils access to a range of books and other kinds of texts, both in and out of school. The national curriculum states that teachers are expected to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. There are a number of strong links between reading for pleasure and attainment. For example, the 2021 progress in reading literacy study report found a 34 point difference in reading performance between pupils in England who ‘very much’ liked reading and pupils who ‘do not’ like reading. Additionally, the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment study found that enjoyment of reading links to pupils’ reading engagement, that reading engagement was strongly positively correlated with reading performance and that reading engagement mediated effects of gender or socio-economic status on performance. There is also a strong evidence base linking reading for pleasure to other positive effects, such as improved text comprehension and grammar, increased general knowledge and character development.

It is for individual schools to decide how best to provide and maintain a library service for their pupils, including whether to employ a qualified librarian. Headteachers have autonomy to decide how best to spend the core schools funding that is allocated to them by the department. The Autumn Budget 2024 announced an additional £2.3 billion for schools for the 2025/26 financial year compared to 2024/25, bringing the total core schools budget to almost £63.9 billion in 2025/26.

Given this autonomy, the department does not collect information on the number of school libraries or school librarians.

​The government’s reading framework offers non-statutory guidance for teachers and school leaders, including helpful guidance for schools on how to organise their school library, book corner or book stock to make reading accessible and attractive to readers.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government for how many universal credit claimants the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance, broken down by (1) gender of claimant, (2) whether it is a single or joint claim, and (3) whether the claimant has children or not.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below provides the number of Universal Credit claimants in October 2024 where the calculation of earnings includes a work allowance, broken down by gender of claimant, whether it is a single or joint claim, and whether the claimant has children or not.

Note: the data in the table above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024 and those with positive earnings recorded in their award calculation. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figures above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many Universal Credit claimants receive the lower rate of the standard allowance due to being below the age of 25, broken down by (1) gender of claimant, (2) whether it is a single or joint claim, and (3) whether the claimant has children or not.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

The table below provides the number of Universal Credit claimants who receive the lower rate of standard allowance due to being below the age of 25. The data is for October 2024 and broken down by gender of claimant, whether it is a single or joint claim, and whether the claimant has children or not

Note: the data in the table above is from Universal Credit administrative data from October 2024 and subject to retrospective changes. The volumes are of people who were in payment of UC in October 2024. The figures have been rounded to 2 significant figures. Those with missing values have been excluded from the figure above. We have defined single status and couple status according to their standard allowance amount.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what statistics have been published regarding the gender of the bank account holder for Universal Credit since the 2019 publication Universal Credit Statistical Ad Hoc: Gender of bank account holder on Universal Credit; and what information is available, broken down by gender, of the person nominated as the lead carer in couples with children.

Answered by Baroness Sherlock - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

There have been no further publications since 2019 on the gender of the bank account holder for UC.

A flag was developed to identify lead carers in our administrative data in July 2023, to enable us to monitor the rollout of the 2023 changes to lead carer conditionality. Based on data from October 2024, there were around 825,000 lead carers in receipt of UC with a couple claim: 87% are female, 13% are male. The tables below provide a breakdown of some further characteristics:

Characteristics of lead carers who are part of a couple claim on Universal Credit, October 2024

Note: totals may not sum to 100% due to rounding. These figures are from DWP administrative data.

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