Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of funding universal entitlement to the Summer Reading Challenge in the North East of England for primary school aged children as part of the Government's catch-up plans to support children's reading over the summer holidays.

The Department welcomes the summer reading challenge and is supportive of the work of the Reading Agency.

The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, including those of children from disadvantaged backgrounds. Ensuring that every child has access to high quality teaching of literacy forms a vital part of this Government’s mission to ‘level up’ education across the country.

The Department has invested £3 billion since June 2020 to support education recovery. This will have a significant impact in addressing lost education and closing gaps that have emerged. The £1.4 billion package to support children aged 2-19 across schools, early years and further education colleges announced in June 2021 is the next step, and builds on the £1.7 billion already committed.

As part of the wider recovery package to support children and young people of all ages in catching up on missed education and development due to the COVID-19 outbreak, £200 million will be made available to secondary schools to deliver face to face summer schools this year.

The following North East library authorities participated in the Summer Reading Challenge in 2020: Durham, Hartlepool Borough Council, Northumberland County Council and Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.

All library authorities in the North East of England participated in 2019. All library authorities in the region, except Darlington, will be participating in 2021.