Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of support for learners with literacy difficulties; and if he will make a statement.

The Government is committed to continuing to raise literacy standards, ensuring all children can read fluently and with understanding.

Building on the success of the phonics partnerships and phonics roadshows programmes, in 2018 the Department launched a £26.3 million English Hubs Programme. The Department has appointed 34 primary schools across England as English Hubs, who are taking a leading role in supporting nearly 3000 schools to improve their teaching of reading through systematic synthetic phonics, early language development, and reading for pleasure.

The Department gives schools a catch-up premium, totalling around £50 million a year nationally, for Year 7 pupils who have not achieved the expected standard in reading by the end of key stage 2. This enables schools to deliver additional support, such as individual tuition or intensive support in small groups, for those pupils that most need it.

For pupils with specific types of SEND, including speech, language and communication needs, the Department has invested heavily since 2010 in the development of resources and training to ensure that teachers are equipped to support all pupils.

A range of free, quality assured resources and training materials for schools to use in supporting pupils with SEND is available via the National Association for Special Educational Needs. The link is available here: https://www.sendgateway.org.uk/.

The Department introduced the light touch phonics screening check for Year 1 pupils. Phonics performance is improving; in 2018, 163,000 more six year olds were on track to become fluent readers, compared to 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard, compared to 58% in 2012 when the check was introduced.