Committee publication · Report · 17 July 2026 · HC 150

2nd Report - Reading for Pleasure

Government response deadline: 17 September 2026

Summary

The Education Committee's inquiry into reading for pleasure finds that only 36% of UK children aged 8-18 enjoy reading in their free time—down from 51% in 2005. The report examines the causes (screen time, poverty, curriculum pressures) and benefits (academic attainment, mental health, empathy development) of reading, and calls for a National Reading Guarantee and systemic reforms across early years, schools, and libraries to reverse this generational decline.

Key findings

Reading for pleasure improves academic attainment, mental health, vocabulary, cognitive development and empathy; children read to at age five are over half a school year ahead by age 15.
Only 33% of children aged 8-18 enjoyed reading in 2025, down from 51% in 2005; boys (29%), teenagers, low-income children, and those with dyslexia are significantly less likely to read for pleasure.
Screen use is a major factor displacing reading time and weakening attention spans, though poverty, parental stress, lack of library access, and curriculum pressures also drive the decline.
Schools overwhelmingly prioritise reading proficiency over pleasure, with an overloaded curriculum and heavy assessment focus crowding out joy; secondary English curriculum and GCSE Literature are turning children away from reading.
School libraries are statutory in prisons but not schools; public library closures and cuts have disproportionately harmed disadvantaged children; shared reading in early years and parental engagement are critical foundations.

Recommendations

The government must implement in full remaining recommendations on Growing up in the Online World, introducing mandatory restrictions on addictive design features (infinite scrolling, disappearing messages, algorithmic feeds) for under-18s with age-related defaults.
The government must commit to a National Reading Guarantee ensuring every child has frequent, regular opportunities to enjoy books and shared reading experiences from birth to 18 as part of everyday life.
The Department for Education should build on the National Year of Reading and turn it into a National Decade of Reading to ensure reading for pleasure remains a long-term priority.
The Department must focus all work on developing the new English curriculum through the lens of reading for pleasure and take steps to improve diversity of texts pupils study, particularly addressing GCSE English Literature's negative impact.
The Department should extend its pledge to fund a library in every primary school to include every secondary school and place school libraries on a statutory footing.
The government must commit to restoring public library funding lost since 2010 by end of Parliament; support an auto-enrolment scheme issuing library cards to all children at birth registration.
All Best Start Family Hubs must embed reading for pleasure into their work by offering sessions and advice for parents and carers as well as training for early years practitioners.
The government should work with the literary industry to set measurable goals and outcomes on improving diversity in texts available to children, to be achieved by end of decade.

Tone

Critical

Topics

education-curriculumchild-developmentpublic-librariesdigital-harmspoverty-inequality

Key actors

Helen Hayes, Olivia Bailey MP, Jonathan Douglas, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Ellen Broomé, Onyinye Iwu, National Literacy Trust, Department for Education

Notable line

“"No parent says to a child, "When you've learned the offside rule, then I'll play football with you."" Early years settings must 2 ensure that they are leading with …”

Key Quotes

“No parent says to a child, "When you've learned the offside rule, then I'll play football with you."”
— Frank Cottrell-Boyce · On the importance of leading with pleasure and enjoyment in early years reading

“It is about enjoying the content, reading age-appropriate stuff. Something that is attractive to a 14-year-old, is not going to be the same as something attractive to an eight-year-old.”
— Ellen Broomé · On the need for a broad definition of reading including audiobooks and comics for dyslexic children

“… from birth girls are more likely to be bought books as presents and to be taken to the library, so the gendering of reading as an activity happens almost unconsciously at quite an early stage.”
— Jonathan Douglas · Explaining the gender gap in reading enjoyment between boys and girls

“It is very important, especially for ethnic minorities, for readers to see themselves, to feel like they can be part of the conversation, part of literature and part of art, because that makes a person feel that they are part of the society.”
— Onyinye Iwu · On the importance of representation and diversity in children's literature

“I told my students that I was coming here and I asked them, "Why do you guys not read?" A lot of them were like, "Miss, but we have TikTok. What is the point?"”
— Onyinye Iwu · On competition from social media and streaming services displacing reading

“If you are moved into social housing as a result of an emergency, it tends to be let void, which means it is literally empty. No child is going to have a bedtime story if they have not got a bed.”
— Frank Cottrell-Boyce · Describing how poverty and insecure housing create barriers to reading and childhood experiences

“It is striking that libraries are statutory requirements in prisons, but not schools.”
— Education Committee · On the anomaly that school libraries lack statutory protection despite their importance

“… book language is very different from the language you get in spoken context, in TV, in listening to podcasts”
— Dr Jo Taylor · On the unique linguistic benefits of reading books for vocabulary and writing development

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Source · parliament.uk record ↗