Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to encourage boys of all ages to read more books.

The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding.

In 2014, the Department introduced a new, more rigorous national curriculum. The programme of study for English states that teachers are expected to encourage pupils to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information. There is a focus on reading and a requirement that pupils study a range of books, poems and plays to encourage the development of a life-long love of literature. The programme of study also puts significant emphasis on the importance of early reading and teaching systematic synthetic phonics in Key Stages 1 and 2.

In 2016, England ranked joint 8th of 50 in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). Our average score was the highest of the four PIRLS studies to date and statistically higher than our average performance in 2011 and 2006. The 2016 study also indicates that, while girls in England scored significantly higher than boys, the overall improvement in England's average score is largely attributable to increases in the average performance of boys and lower-performing pupils. Further to this, while girls continue to outperform boys in England, there were no countries participating in PIRLS in which boys outperformed girls.

Building on this success, in 2018, the Department launched the English Hubs Programme, establishing 34 hubs in primary schools across England, initially with a £26.3 million funding and with a further £17.1 million awarded in 2020. The programme supports nearly 3,000 schools to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure. While early stages focused on systematic synthetic phonics, hubs have now started introducing medium-level support in priority areas, including developing a love of reading. Recognising the importance of reading during the disruption to education caused by COVID-19 this year, the Department also published a Reading Together Day to celebrate the benefits of reading.

Laying the groundwork for reading standards starts in the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) with children aged 0-5. Over 3,000 early adopter schools are implementing the reforms to the EYFS statutory framework this September, a year in advance of statutory roll out of the reforms in September 2021. One of the key aims of these reforms is to improve outcomes for all children at age 5, particularly in the areas of early language and literacy which are key predictors of later success.