Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans her Department has to promote reading through (a) digital formats and (b) media platforms commonly used by young people.

The department wants children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information, and teachers should encourage pupils to develop reading habits by listening to, discussing, and reading a wide range of literature. Departmental officials are working with the sector and other departments to consider how we can encourage reading for pleasure across a variety of formats and support children to develop a lifelong love of reading.

The National Literacy Trust's 2025 annual literacy survey shows that more children who enjoyed reading engaged with a variety of formats, both on paper and on screen. It showed that paper remained the most popular format for reading among children and young people in 2025, but some types of content were preferred on screen, such as song lyrics and news articles.