Speeches by Bailey.

“Absolutely. Thank you. As I said, literacy and encouraging the joy and love of reading are embedded, I believe, in all the qualifications that staff working in early years acquire. If you are interested, I can send further information to the Committee on exactly what that looks like in the training context, but it is c…”

“Absolutely. Best Start family hubs are my favourite topic to talk about. Sorry if I have talked about them too much. There is £900 million in hubs overall. You have pointed out the way that we are supporting the home learning environment. Some of the programmes that I mentioned earlier on are examples of what that migh…”

“That is a really important question. I am conscious of the literary heritage of your constituency, Manuela. We want lots of Shakespeares to come from all our schools. We might follow up in writing with some more information on exactly what we are doing in this regard, but I will say that it is very important, and I agr…”

“I really do. I really think there is something in that. Also, Frank has done a fantastic job as the children’s laureate, and I think his Reading Rights campaign has been brilliant. As he comes to the end of his year as the children’s laureate, I thank him for all his work. He is right and fun is critical. A love of rea…”

“First of all, the evidence for the phonics approach is very well established, and it works; I point the Committee to the evidence from the EEF in particular. We know that it works for most children. I think that we need both. You need to enable children to access reading themselves and learn how to do that. The phonics…”

“I understand. I do not recognise that in what I have seen and in what is happening in our early years settings. In those contexts I see most of our teachers really captivating children’s attention in a story and telling that story well, whether that is “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and stamping on twigs on the floor, or…”

“That is a really important question. This is certainly a central consideration for us through the National Year of Reading and the partnerships we are working in with booksellers and others when, for example, we look towards the £5 million that we want to invest in secondary school books. I have mentioned it for my own…”

“We absolutely encourage people to have a diverse range of books, but it is up to schools what books they have in their libraries. That is the right way, because headteachers know their school community the best, and they know what is best, but as a Department we recognise and reflect the importance of a diverse range o…”

“I have an additional, personal reflection. My mum died recently, and I have been talking to a lot of her former pupils and hearing the difference that an English teacher made, not just from the perspective of some people saying, “I’m now an English teacher myself,” or “I’m now working in this field myself,” but, “Becau…”

“First, it starts with the wonderful staff who work in early years settings. Literacy and reading is embedded in early years practitioner training, and that is focused on a love of reading. It is also embedded in the teacher training for the early years foundation stage. The staff who work in these settings are trained …”

“I would love to. Thank you so much for having me. I am really looking forward to reading the conclusion of your really important inquiry. What an important topic this is. Reading really matters, not just to access the curriculum but because it helps children and young people to understand the world around them and othe…”

“There has been a steep decline, and it is something that we as a Government, and all of us collectively, are very concerned about. At the end of the last National Year of Reading in 2008, I think 50% of young people were telling us that they enjoyed reading. That was just one in three as we commenced this year’s Nation…”

“Those are very stark figures—thank you for sharing them. Again, it is a combination of factors, but I would add to what I have already said about the early years. One of the things we saw over the last Government was a reduction in family support services and Sure Start in our communities. That has had an impact, becau…”

“That is a really great question. I have just been told by my officials, hot off the press, that I can share that 2 million children have now been supported through in-school events in the National Year of Reading, which I think is fantastic. Some 11,000 teachers have signed up and 6,500 schools are registered. In a mom…”

“Absolutely. Jenny might have some of the data to hand, but the way that we have approached this is by looking at the overall challenge of the decline in reading and at the data available to us, and trying to make the best judgment about the groups that would benefit the most from this focus. We have used data, our expe…”

“That is a really important question. It is central to the work that we are doing with the National Literacy Trust, which is our partner on this, along with the many partners working with us on the programme. The Reading Agency and BookTrust are among a range of others who we are very grateful to for their engagement. T…”

“That question is the hub of everything we are trying to achieve. Let me say how wrong I think Andrew Tate is on that and many other topics—most topics, in fact. We are working with a range of people who we know young boys will look up to—people such as Marcus Rashford and Leah Williamson—and that does have an impact. W…”

“As you say, we will come on to talk about that, but to respond very briefly, that is why we are doing all the things that we are doing. We are doing it through the changes we are making to the curriculum, which I can go into more detail on now or we can discuss later. We are also doing it through the investment in book…”

“Sure.”

“I will probably miss stuff in my answer, so we can always follow up with more information, Jess. NELI is a good example of something that we are directly funding and funding for the duration of this Parliament. We have also worked with Nesta to produce a guide to the evidence-based interventions—a menu, if you like, of…”