Charles Dickens: Bicentenary

Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury Excerpts

Thursday 9th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Rawlings]

I am afraid that I do not know.

[Baroness Bonham-Carter of Yarnbury]

My Lords, Dickens referred to this House when he was a reporter here as,

“a conglomeration of noise and confusion”.

It probably continues to be so. As Matthew Parris wrote, the culture of our country is its heartbeat. Who more exemplifies that than Charles Dickens? Can the Minister confirm that the cultural education review due to be published this month will call for a national plan for cultural education and that the coalition Government will celebrate Dickens’s bicentenary by putting into practice the teaching of creativity at the heart of the educational curriculum?

[Baroness Rawlings]

My Lords, my noble friend Lady Bonham-Carter brings up a very good point. We are committed to encouraging wider reading. I am sure that we will include in the culture education review that is about to come out the various points that she brought up. The Secretary of State for Education has talked frequently about the importance of encouraging children to read books. It is often said that those who read well-written books usually achieve better standards. Dare I quote from Dickens, as everyone has done?

“No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot”.

That is from Our Mutual Friend.