The department has not carried out a unique assessment of the effect of screen-based learning on the concentration, handwriting, and reading comprehension of school children in England.

The department expects schools to use screen-based learning only where it supports effective teaching and improves pupils’ learning. Schools are responsible for deciding when technology is appropriate, based on pupils’ age, curriculum needs and the evidence about what works.

To support schools with choosing technology, the department is investing £24 million in the EdTech Testbeds programme to help generate evidence of the impact of technology on pupil outcomes, inclusion and teacher workload.

The information requested is not held centrally. The department holds information on pupils’ special educational needs and their attainment by 14 types of primary need. Dyslexia is usually included in the wider category of primary need ‘specific learning difficulty’. In 2025, 33% of pupils with ‘specific learning difficulty’ recorded as their primary need met the expected standard in the phonics screening check in year 1. The English Hubs programme is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on supporting children making the slowest progress. Reading Ambition for All is a continuous professional development programme to support schools help struggling readers, delivered by our 34 English Hubs, reaching more than 600 schools this academic year.

Headteachers have the freedom to make recruitment decisions, including the use of volunteers in their schools. This freedom allows schools to tailor their provision to the needs of their pupils and provide safe, effective, and bespoke volunteering programmes. Schools are required to follow employment laws and statutory guidance, including crucial safeguarding guidance.

To support the government’s commitment to strong foundations in reading and writing for all children, we have launched the National Year of Reading 2026, a UK-wide campaign to address the steep decline in reading enjoyment.

The National Year of Reading is spotlighting the vital role that volunteers play in supporting literacy in schools, including helping children discover the joy of reading. We recognise the important work of reading volunteer charities such as Bookmark Reading Charity, Chapter One, Coram Beanstalk and Schoolreaders, who are partners of the National Year of Reading.

The National Year of Reading website includes a tool to find reading volunteering opportunities, information about how to become a National Year of Reading Champion, and case studies showing how volunteers are supporting reading for pleasure.

More information for those interested in reading volunteering is available here: https://goallin.org.uk/get-involved/volunteers/.

The ‘Go All In’ campaign aims to increase reading engagement across all ages and encourage young people to see reading as enjoyable and rewarding, prioritising certain groups, such as boys aged 10 to 16, with a focus on key stage 2 to key stage 3 transition.

To strengthen literacy at the start of secondary school, the department is introducing a mandatory statutory reading assessment for all year 8 pupils, designed to identify gaps in reading fluency and comprehension early, ensuring schools can provide the right support. This academic year we have also launched a secondary pilot of the English Hubs programme, investing £2.3 million to support reading, alongside a national continuing professional development programme, Unlocking Reading, delivered by the Fischer Family Foundation to improve support for struggling readers. These measures collectively aim to strengthen reading engagement and improve literacy outcomes throughout key stage 3.

This government’s ambition is for every child and young person to receive a rich, broad, inclusive and innovative education.

The department agrees with the Curriculum and Assessment Review that building the skills for young people to critically engage with and assess information from a range of sources, including multi-modal texts, is increasingly important.

The reformed English programme of study and English language GCSE will expose students to the study of a wider range of text types and genres, including transient texts, supporting them to analyse and challenge arguments, building media literacy.

Media literacy is an increasingly important skill to enable young people to identify “fake news” and to spot different types of mis- and disinformation, especially online.

Secure, well-founded knowledge is essential for students to understand how arguments are constructed across different types of media and to recognise the various ways in which language can be used to persuade.

The government's Opportunity Mission aims to remove barriers and ensure every child achieves and thrives by providing the best start in life. We are building the evidence base on the impact of technology in education through the EdTech Evidence Board, the Testbed programme, and research into technology and cognitive development.

In its interim report, the Curriculum and Assessment Review noted the importance of the curriculum keeping pace with the rise of artificial intelligence and trends in digital information. The Curriculum and Assessment Review’s final report and recommendations will be published in the autumn, at which point the government will respond.

The department recognises a strong foundation in early language, reading and writing is crucial for children to achieve and thrive.

We are:

• Funding the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme (NELI), an evidence-based programme targeting reception-aged children needing support with their speech and language development.
• Funding the Early Years Evidence Store which includes a theme on Communication and Language.
• Working with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders.
• Working with partners to deliver the Early Language Local Innovation and Excellence programme which includes implementation of Speech and Language Communication pathway guidance and an early language identification measure.
• Funding the English Hubs Programme to improve the teaching of reading.
• Enabling schools to access the department’s list of high-quality phonics programmes.
• Investing £10.7 million in 2025/26 to deliver home learning environment services through Family Hubs helping parents create settings that support early communication and literacy. The Little Moments Together campaign provides free resources that encourage parents to chat, play and read with their children.

Giving young children the best start in life is the foundation of the government’s Opportunity Mission. The department has set a milestone of a record proportion of children starting school ready to learn. We will measure progress through 75% of children at the end of reception reaching a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile assessment by 2028.

To support early language and literacy skills, the department is:

• Funding the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme (NELI), which is an evidence-based programme targeting reception aged children needing extra support with their speech and language development.
• Funding the Early Years Evidence Store, which includes a theme on Communication and Language and supports educators to put evidence-informed approaches into practice.
• Working with NHS England to deliver the Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinders.
• Working with partners to deliver the Early Language Local Innovation and Excellence programme, which includes implementation of Speech and Language Communication pathway guidance and an early language identification measure.
• Funding the English Hubs Programme, which is dedicated to improving the teaching of reading, with a focus on phonics, early language development and reading for pleasure. The reading framework provides guidance for schools to help improve reading for all pupils.
• Investing £10.7 million in 2025/26 to deliver home learning environment services through Family Hubs. These services help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication, confidence, and literacy. The Little Moments Together campaign complements this by providing free, accessible resources that encourages parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that support early development.

I refer the noble Lord to the answer of 08 July 2025 to Question 60798.

The government is committed to improving early literacy and ensuring children have the best start in life. Strong early foundations are essential for school readiness and long-term educational success. That is why we are focused on strengthening the home learning environment and supporting families from pregnancy through the early years, as part of our wider ambition under the Plan for Change. This includes the national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028.

Family Hubs are central to this ambition, providing joined-up support for families across health, education and early years services.

In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication and confidence.

On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme as part of the Spending Review 2025. Through our ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign and partnerships with the voluntary sector, we continue to support parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that make a lasting difference to early literacy and school readiness.

The government is committed to improving early literacy and ensuring children have the best start in life. Strong early foundations are essential for school readiness and long-term educational success. That is why we are focused on strengthening the home learning environment and supporting families from pregnancy through the early years, as part of our wider ambition under the Plan for Change. This includes the national target for 75% of children to achieve a Good Level of Development by 2028.

Family Hubs are central to this ambition, providing joined-up support for families across health, education and early years services.

In 2025/26, we are investing £10.7 million in home learning environment services through Family Hubs to help parents create language-rich, nurturing settings that support early communication and confidence.

On 11 June, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer confirmed that the government will continue to invest in and expand the Family Hubs programme as part of the Spending Review 2025. Through our ‘Little Moments Together’ campaign and partnerships with the voluntary sector, we continue to support parents to chat, play and read with their children, simple, everyday actions that make a lasting difference to early literacy and school readiness.

My Lords, reading achievement for 10 year-olds in England is higher than the international average, and the last Government are to be congratulated on all their efforts towards achieving this. However, as we have heard, England ranks in the bottom third of countries for children enjoying reading. Does the Minister agree that, although the mechanics of reading are of

course a vital foundation, it is the enjoyment of reading that gives transformative benefits across mental health, creativity, imagination and attainment across the curriculum? What will her department do to encourage partnerships with cultural organisations locally, which can help deliver projects and programmes that will bring reading to life and help deliver enjoyment to young people, rather than just the mechanics of reading?

My Lords, following on from the answer that my noble friend has just given, does she agree that the most important starting point for children to allow them to go on to enjoy reading in the way that the noble Baroness, Lady Bull, described, is if they are read to when they are very young? Nearly all of us probably had that experience and have probably gone on to deliver it to our children and grandchildren, if we have them. What efforts are the Government making to explain more clearly to people who might otherwise not understand the benefits of reading to children how important it is, and how important it is to start really early, long before children can speak?

My Lords, following on from the general theme of the importance of very early reading, what emphasis is given in primary schools to ensuring that primary children enjoy reading?

Why waste an opportunity?

Touching on the Answer from the Minister earlier on, she will be aware of the many reading charities that help adults and children to improve their reading skills, or actually learn to read in the first place. Can the Minister tell us a little more about the work that her department does with many of these civil society organisations and charities to increase literacy, not only for children but for adults?

And the noble Lord will be marking my homework later.

The National Literacy Trust says that one in seven primary schools in the UK does not have a library, and in London it is one in four. It has a ready-made Libraries for Primaries campaign set up with Penguin. Will the Government think about sorting this out now?

My Lords, some of the findings from the National Literary Trust report are particularly striking in relation to reading. Only half as many boys as girls in secondary schools say they enjoy reading, but the trust also has interesting findings on the drop in the enjoyment of writing. We know

from many experts in the field how important writing is for a child’s development. Can the Minister reassure the House that writing will retain at least the same importance in the curriculum and assessment review, and is she able to update the House on when we will see that interim report?

My Lords, I am sure that my noble friend the Minister would like to take this opportunity to thank Frank Cottrell-Boyce for the sterling work that he is doing to promote the fact, precisely as my noble friend said, that reading begins not at the door of the school but when parents and carers share books with children in a safe, warm and comfortable environment. It is that that inculcates the love of reading and the love of books.

I thank my noble friend for that Answer but, notwithstanding it, reading levels among school age children have plummeted recently. That is not just because of the prominence of mobile phones, because comparable-aged children in comparable EU states have higher reading levels. I believe it is very much the case that the closure of school libraries has an important impact on that. While school leaders do indeed have the right to decide the best delivery of library services, as my noble friend said, for whatever reason it is not working. I suggest to my noble friend that, if figures are not collected on school librarians and libraries, they ought to be, and that school leaders need to be reminded of their role in encouraging reading for pleasure, to assist with children’s development and literacy and oracy skills.

To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the National Literacy Trust’s 2024 annual literacy survey showing that children and young people’s reading for enjoyment has fallen over the past year to an all-time low, and of the link between this and the fall in the number of secondary schools with a designated onsite library area.