Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the National Literacy Trust Report entitled Children, young people and digital reading, published April 2019, what assessment he has made of the literacy benefits of children reading both digital and print formats.

The Department welcomes the National Literacy Trust’s research on reading in both print and digital forms.

The Department wants children to develop the habit of reading widely and often, for both pleasure and information, whatever the format. Research suggests that reading for pleasure is more important for children’s educational development than their parents’ level of education.

There is sound evidence that systematic synthetic phonics is a highly effective method of teaching reading to children. Phonics performance is improving: in 2018, there were 163,000 more 6 year olds on track to become fluent readers compared to in 2012. This represented 82% of pupils meeting the expected standard in the phonics screening check, compared to just 58% when the check was introduced in 2012.

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