Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the year one phonics screening check.

High and rising school standards, with excellent foundations in reading, writing and mathematics, are at the heart of the government’s mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Through our Plan for Change, we will give children the best start in life and that means an excellent foundation in core subjects.

Since the right hon. Ruth Kelly, as a previous Secretary of State for Education and Skills, accepted the recommendations of the Rose Report in 2006, England has made significant progress in the teaching of early reading, especially phonics.

The current national curriculum at key stage 1 states that “skilled word reading involves both the speedy working out of the pronunciation of unfamiliar printed words (decoding) and the speedy recognition of familiar printed words… phonics should be emphasised in the early teaching of reading to beginners when they start school”.

The department has introduced a range of measures to support early reading and help increase the proportion of pupils meeting the expected standard in the year 1 phonics screening check.

In July 2024, we announced that funded support for the 11,100 schools registered for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention (NELI) programme would continue for the 2024/25 academic year.

NELI is an evidence-based programme targeting reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development. It is proven to help children make four months of additional progress, with seven months progress for those eligible for free school meals.

Further, the English Hubs school-to-school support programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. Since starting in 2018, the programme has engaged over 10,000 schools (60% of all primary schools). So far, the department has invested over £90 million in the programme, and a further £23 million has been committed for the 2024/25 academic year.

The government’s reading framework also provides guidance on improving the teaching of reading from reception to key stage 3, including guidance on how to help pupils who need more support to learn to read proficiently.