Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans the department has to promote the National Year of Reading in a) early years settings, b) primary schools, c) secondary schools, d) further education and e) higher education.

The National Year of Reading is a UK-wide campaign to address long-term declines in reading enjoyment.

It 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 the year. Reading together is one of the most powerful ways to build a child’s language and communication skills, strengthen early bonds, and spark a lifelong love of reading, which is why early years is one of the priority groups for the National Year of Reading.

We are raising awareness of the National Year of Reading through a range of methods, such as via departmental communication channels, the National Year of Reading mailing list and social media, communications from the National Literacy Trust, and promotion via the English Hubs network.

All interested parties are encouraged to sign up to the National Year of Reading website for more information: https://goallin.org.uk/.

To further support reading for pleasure, this government has committed over £10 million of dormant assets funding to guarantee a library for every primary school by the end of this parliament, and a further £5 million for secondary schools to purchase books to encourage reading enjoyment amongst their pupils.