Question to the Scotland Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what steps his Department is taking to promote the National Year of Reading in Scotland.

The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment amongst children, young people and adults. For example, only this week our delivery partner for this campaign, the National Literacy Trust, revealed that fewer than 1 in 10 teenage boys read daily for pleasure.

The National Year of Reading aims to engage new audiences, reshape public attitudes and embed lasting, meaningful change on attitudes to reading. The campaign includes a major physical and online marketing campaign, as well as exciting events, webinars, resources, and activities in communities, libraries, schools and early years settings throughout 2026.

We are working in collaboration with the Scottish Government and lead delivery partners - DC Thomson, The Scottish Book Trust and The Scottish Book and Information Council - to deliver this important initiative in Scotland. ​​