Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to promote the National Year of Reading in (1) early years settings, (2) primary schools, (3) secondary schools, (4) further education, and (5) higher education.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment.
It includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout the year. Reading together is one of the most powerful ways to build a child’s language and communication skills, strengthen early bonds, and spark a lifelong love of reading, which is why early years is one of the priority groups for the National Year of Reading.
We are raising awareness of the National Year of Reading through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust, and promotion via the English Hubs network.
All interested parties are encouraged to sign up to the National Year of Reading website for more information: https://goallin.org.uk/.
To further support reading for pleasure, this government has committed over £10 million of dormant assets funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this parliament, and a further £5 million for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading enjoyment amongst their pupils.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking across Government to promote equality and inclusion as part of the National Year of Reading.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign designed to tackle the steep decline in reading for enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults, and to engage new audiences with reading. It aims to achieve a lasting change to the nation’s reading habits and is a campaign made available for all ages and communities. The campaign reflects that the decline in reading for enjoyment affects all sectors of society, however there will be a targeted focus on certain priority groups, including boys aged 10 to 16, parents from disadvantaged communities, and early years children.
‘Go All In’ is a fully inclusive campaign, encouraging people to read about whatever interests them, via any genre and all mediums of reading, from physical books, to comics, to e-books. The campaign includes support from a diverse range of authors, celebrities and content creators representing a range of different ages, backgrounds and cultures from communities across the UK. The campaign will reach communities across the UK through schools, libraries, businesses and local partners. Libraries, as free to access community hubs, will play a central role in supporting participation and helping people of all ages and from all sectors of society to develop a lasting love of reading.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what funding they are providing in 2026–27 for chess in schools; and whether the tendering process for any projects will be completed in time to enable full implementation.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
From the 2026/27 financial year, the department intends to invest up to £250,000 per year for three years (a total of £750,000) to partner with an organisation to deliver a national programme for chess in schools.
It will aim to increase pupils’ participation in chess, embed sustainable provision, and ensure regular opportunities to play chess are made available across all nine regions of England. This includes resources and training for staff, support for pupil-led delivery, and opportunities for schools to join local and online tournaments to celebrate achievement and encourage engagement.
We will prioritise mainstream primary and secondary schools with higher proportions of pupils eligible for free school meals, as well as special schools and alternative provision settings, and improve access for girls and pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.
The department intends to publish an invitation to tender for delivery of the programme in due course.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many private schools have closed since 1 September 2024, or have announced that they will close at the end of this academic year.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of private school closures is publicly available from the ‘Get Information about Schools’ website. Where local circumstances show that converting a private school into a state funded school would meet local demand for school places, the conversion may be considered through the established legal process.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have, if any, to enable private schools to become state schools.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The number of private school closures is publicly available from the ‘Get Information about Schools’ website. Where local circumstances show that converting a private school into a state funded school would meet local demand for school places, the conversion may be considered through the established legal process.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many pupils have switched from private education to state education since 1 September 2024.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information is not held by the department.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what role the Civil Society Covenant will play in the delivery of the National Year of Reading.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults. It is a department initiative, in collaboration with our delivery partner, the National Literacy Trust, who are leading the delivery of the campaign.
The National Year of Reading is operating as a collective impact campaign, allowing multiple partners from a range of sectors to participate, including schools, libraries, publishers, booksellers, media companies, retailers, and charities. It supports the Civil Society Covenant’s aims to build effective partnerships across the breadth of civil society and government, working together to tackle the deep-seated challenges of our time.
Tackling the long-term decline in reading for pleasure requires cross-sector support across the UK, as encompassed by the Go All In campaign which encourages everyone to get involved. The year includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings across the UK throughout the year.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the additional cost required to extend the fruit and vegetable initiative for schools to nursery schools and other early years settings.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme is available to pupils in key stage 1 attending fully state‑funded primary schools. The scheme entitles schools to claim a free piece of fruit or vegetable for all children aged 4 to 6 for each school day. The government has no current plans to extend the scheme.
However, we remain committed to deliver on our pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. This will ensure that every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day, including access to a healthy breakfast which includes fruit. So far, we have delivered over 5 million breakfasts and, following the success of our early adopter scheme, we are rolling out to an additional 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027. This will benefit around half a million more children.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they plan to extend the fruit and vegetables initiative for schools to nursery schools and other early years settings.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme is available to pupils in key stage 1 attending fully state‑funded primary schools. The scheme entitles schools to claim a free piece of fruit or vegetable for all children aged 4 to 6 for each school day. The government has no current plans to extend the scheme.
However, we remain committed to deliver on our pledge to provide a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged children. This will ensure that every child, regardless of circumstance, has a supportive start to the school day, including access to a healthy breakfast which includes fruit. So far, we have delivered over 5 million breakfasts and, following the success of our early adopter scheme, we are rolling out to an additional 2,000 schools between April 2026 and March 2027. This will benefit around half a million more children.
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to publish proposals for the reform of provisions for delivery for special educational needs pupils in England.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
As part of our Plan for Change, we are determined to fix the special educational needs and disabilities system and restore the trust of parents. My right hon. friend, the Secretary of State for Education, wrote to the Education Select Committee in October setting out the decision to have a further period of co-creation with families, teachers and experts from across the sector to design and test our proposals further and our full Schools White Paper building on this work will be published shortly.