Children and Young People: Literacy

Baroness Garden of Frognal Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is absolutely right. I still remember my mother’s excellent Winnie the Pooh voice, my children—I think—benefited from my reading to them, and I very much hope that at some point I will be able to read to some grandchildren. My noble friend is also absolutely right that we need to provide support as early as possible to parents who perhaps do not find it as easy to understand how to do that. That is why, alongside services in family hubs, the development of the campaign Little Moments Together, which is providing that sort of advice—including to those who perhaps have not received it from their own parents—is important in order to support children’s early development and that joy of reading, which is so important.

[Baroness Garden of Frognal (LD)]

My Lords, following on from the general theme of the importance of very early reading, what emphasis is given in primary schools to ensuring that primary children enjoy reading?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My Lords, one of the important roles of the English hubs programme, which the Government are supporting with a further £23 million this year, has been to ensure that both access to high-quality reading and elements of reading for pleasure are provided for teachers across primary schools, and that includes the opportunity for continuous professional development, specifically in reading for pleasure, for teachers.