Written question asked by Fabian Hamilton (Labour) on Tuesday, 24 January 2012, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 26 January 2012. It was answered by Nick Gibb (Conservative) on Tuesday, 31 January 2012 on behalf of the Department for Education.

Primary Education: Literacy

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what support his Department is giving to primary schools to develop pupils' literacy skills in years two to six.

Answer: We are determined to raise standards of literacy in schools in order to equip all children with the basic skills they need to succeed. We are promoting the teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, in line with strong evidence on its particular benefits for children aged 5-7. This includes making match-funding of up to £3,000 available to all state-funded schools with key stage one pupils (up to year two), so that they can purchase approved systematic synthetic phonics products and training; introducing a phonics screening check for pupils at the end of year one; and improving initial teacher training in systematic synthetic phonics.The investment in reading in key stage one will have a positive impact on literacy skills in later years. In addition, our other reforms, including to Key Stage 2 assessment, and the future changes to the national curriculum, will all support improvements to literacy standards in primary schools.

Secondary information