Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies of the findings of the National Literacy Trust’s report on ‘Children and young people’s reading in 2026’ relating to children’s reading enjoyment.

Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

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. That is why this government, in collaboration with our delivery partner, the National Literacy Trust (NLT), has declared 2026 the National Year of Reading (NYR), a UK-wide campaign to inspire a love of reading, combining a universal campaign with a targeted focus on priority groups who are least likely to read for pleasure. We are pleased to see that the NLT’s recent report shows children’s reading enjoyment increased in 2026 for the first time in five years.

Since the launch of NYR in January, the campaign has attracted significant attention and momentum, including 2.1 million children across the UK engaging in NYR events and activities, and over 6,000 schools and 11,000 teachers across the UK registering to get their schools involved in the NYR schools and settings offer, which includes exciting activities, resources, events and continuing professional development webinars.

This government has also committed £12.5 million to provide a library in every primary school in England by the end of this Parliament, alongside £5 million for secondary schools to purchase books and reading material to support reading for pleasure.

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that older demographics in particular are safeguarded from the impacts of digital exclusion.

Answered by Vicky Foxcroft - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport)

Everyone in every community should benefit from technology but we know some people face real barriers.

That’s why in 2025 we published the Digital Inclusion Action Plan, helping over a million people get online and benefitting communities across the UK through the £11.9 million Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund. A significant proportion of funded projects supported older people.

Government is also clear that digital services should work for everyone, including access through offline routes to essential public services.

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Found: Christchurch) Mr Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrat; Newbury) Mary Kelly Foy (Labour; City of Durham) Gill Furniss

Found: Carolyn Harris Navendu Mishra Tessa Munt Apologies: Alex Barros-Curtis, Alberto Costa, Gill Furniss

Found: ND12] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman Gill Furniss

Found: Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman Alberto Costa Mary Glindon Gill Furniss

Found: Members expressed their thanks to Gill Furniss for serving on the Committee and welcomed Bambos Charalambous

Found: Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alex Barros-Curtis Bob Blackman Mary Glindon Gill Furniss

Found: Carolyn Harris Navendu Mishra Tessa Munt Max Wilkinson Apologies: Alberto Costa, Gill Furniss

Found: Room 5 [ND06] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alberto Costa Bob Blackman Gill Furniss

Found: 5 [ND08] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Bob Blackman Alex Barros-Curtis Gill Furniss

Found: in Committee Room 7 [ND07] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Bob Blackman Gill Furniss

Found: Glindon Navendu Mishra Joe Morris Tessa Munt Max Wilkinson Apologies: Alberto Costa, Gill Furniss

Found: present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Mr Alex Barros- Curtis Bob Blackman Alberto Costa Gill Furniss

Found: Curtis Bob Blackman Alberto Costa Mary Glindon Navendu Mishra Tessa Munt Apologies: Gill Furniss

Found: Room 16 [ND05] Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Alberto Costa Bob Blackman Gill Furniss

Found: Members present: Nick Smith (in the Chair) Mr Alex Barros- Curtis Bob Blackman Gill Furniss

Found: Costa (Conservative; South Leicestershire) (Chair) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool Wavertree) Gill Furniss

Found: Costa (Conservative; South Leicestershire) (Chair) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool Wavertree) Gill Furniss

Found: Costa (Conservative; South Leicestershire) (Chair) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool Wavertree) Gill Furniss

Found: David Stirling (Lay member) Carys Williams (Lay member) Paula Barker (Labour; Liverpool Wavertree) Gill Furniss