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 in Knowsley constituency.

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 the Plan for Change, we will give children the best start in life, and that means providing them with an excellent foundation in the 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 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 academic year 2024/25. NELI is an evidence-based programme targeting reception-aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development and is proven to help them make four months of additional progress, seven months 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. So far, the department has invested over £90 million in the programme, with funding continuing and £23 million committed for academic year 2024/25 to support this work. Knowsley’s nearest English Hub is St John Vianney English Hub.

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.