Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to increase library engagement during the National Year of Reading.

Public libraries are central to the success of the National Year of Reading’s campaign to engage people of all ages with reading across the UK. The Reading Agency has been appointed to work with sector partners to deliver and support public library engagement. The Summer Reading Challenge in 2026, and World Book Night, the annual celebration of reading for adults on 23 April 2026, will be key moments for libraries during the National Year of Reading 2026. Throughout the year, The Reading Agency will provide public libraries with resources, toolkits, and print and digital materials to support their work and boost engagement.

Within Northern Ireland, The Department of Communities funds the public library service and it is administered by the Northern Ireland Library Authority, known as Libraries NI. The National Year of Reading in Northern Ireland was launched on 2 February at Stormont with a roundtable event that brought together primary school pupils, authors, government officials, community groups, charities and businesses to explore how the initiative can help more of the nation’s children, young people and adults to rediscover reading through the things they already love. Libraries NI is actively celebrating and participating in the National Year of Reading programmes with various activities and events at their library branches throughout the year.