Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Jonathan Brash and Olivia Bailey

Monday 1st December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Jonathan Brash (Hartlepool) (Lab)]

19. What steps her Department is taking to help support families to read with their child before they start nursery and school.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Olivia Bailey)]

Learning to enjoy books is a critical foundation for every child. As we get ready for the National Year of Reading in Hartlepool and across the country, our new “best start in life” family hubs will support families to read, and new books and libraries for schools will ensure that the benefits of reading reach right into adulthood.

[Mr Brash]

My constituent Lyndsay Hogg has successfully brought a Penguin little library to her community in Hartlepool. It is designed to celebrate Penguin’s 90th anniversary, and the aim is to promote the joy of reading. Hartlepool borough council’s leader, Labour’s Pamela Hargreaves, inspired by Lyndsay’s brilliant work, has promised to expand this excellent idea right across the town. Does the Minister agree that this fantastic initiative will help families with access to books and inspire a love of reading, and will she commit to visiting Hartlepool to see these little libraries for herself?

[Olivia Bailey]

I do agree. I would love to visit, and I congratulate Lyndsay Hogg and Hartlepool borough council on this brilliant idea. “Matilda” is one of my favourite Penguin books, and it is a perfect allegory for our times: smart women who love reading standing up to snake oil salesmen and bullies.