Education

Debate between Nick Gibb and Sally-Ann Hart

Thursday 20th July 2023 Ministerial Corrections

[Sally-Ann Hart (Hastings and Rye) (Con)]

13. What steps her Department is taking to improve standards of reading of primary age children.

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study was published in May this year. England had come fourth among 43 countries that tested children of the same age, nine and 10-year-olds. In 2012 we introduced the phonics screening check, testing six-year-olds for their progress in reading and phonics.

[Official Report, 17 July 2023, Vol. 736, c. 608.]

Letter of correction from the Minister for Schools:

An error has been identified in the response given to my hon. Friend the Member for Hastings and Rye (Sally-Ann Hart).

The correct response should have been:

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Nick Gibb and Sally-Ann Hart

Monday 17th July 2023 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Schools (Nick Gibb)]

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study was published in May this year. England had come fourth among 43 countries that tested children of the same age, nine and 10-year-olds. In 2012 we introduced the phonics screening check, testing six-year-olds for their progress in reading and phonics. In that year, 58% of pupils reached the expected standard; by 2019, just before the pandemic, the proportion had risen to 82% following a transformation in the teaching of phonics in nearly all primary schools.

[Sally-Ann Hart]

Will my right hon. Friend join me in thanking the National Literacy Trust and Bloomsbury Publishing for including a number of schools in Hastings and St Leonards in their pioneering new reading programme, which is specifically aimed at persuading more children to read for pleasure, and will he encourage parents and carers to engage in a programme that is a vital part of their children’s development?

[Nick Gibb]

I recently met Jonathan Douglas of the National Literacy Trust, and I thank the trust for its enormous contribution to raising the profile of reading for pleasure in schools. Its new programme—which, as my hon. Friend said, it launched in partnership with Bloomsbury—involves working with seven Brighton Academies Trust schools throughout Hastings to encourage more children to read for pleasure.