Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what her policy is on improving the phonics screening test.

The phonics screening check was introduced in 2012, when 58 per cent of Year 1 pupils met the expected standard. By 2016, this had risen to 81 per cent. There are now 147,000 more six year olds on track to become excellent readers since the introduction of the check.

This year, we are funding ten phonics partnerships up to a total of £75,000. This involves a high performing lead school working with neighbouring schools to improve the quality of teaching through systematic synthetic phonics. In March 2016, we funded ten phonics roadshows and this summer we are holding a further 24 phonics roadshows around the country, including in Opportunity Areas. These events will highlight best practice and promote the teaching of systematic synthetic phonics as the most effective approach to early reading in primary schools.

We will look for further ways to build on this progress to make sure that all children become fluent readers early in primary school.