Baroness Rebuck – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Cabinet Office
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Rebuck on 2016-02-04.
To ask Her Majesty’s Government which literacy charities they have provided with funding over the last five years, and how much funding they have provided in each case.
Lord Nash
We have undertaken a thorough search of our records in the Department for Education and contacted the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, the Department for International Development, the Department for Business Innovation and Skills, the Department for Health and the Ministry of Justice. The list below sets out the results of this search:
The National Literacy Trust – £1,485,145
Centre for Literacy in Primary Education – £1,450
Book Trust – £34,716,302
The Reading Agency – £2,652,880
Developments in Literacy Trust UK – £249,995
The government is committed to improving literacy. We have introduced a new, more rigorous national curriculum which includes greater focus on reading. The national curriculum for English places a greater focus on reading and requires pupils to study a range of books, poems and plays to develop a life-long love of literature. Through reading and writing pupils will have an opportunity to develop intellectually, spiritually and socially, and develop a life-long love of culture.
Between September 2011 and October 2013, the Department for Education provided £23.7 million in match funding to over 14,000 primary schools, enabling them to buy systematic synthetic phonics products and training. In 2012 we introduced a phonics screening check at age 6 so that teachers can intervene early to help children catch up with their reading.
In November 2015 we announced the introduction of a year 7 resit test for pupils who did not achieve the expected standard at key stage 2 in reading or maths. Since September 2014 we have required 16-19 year olds not holding good passes in GCSE maths to continue to work towards them. This resulted in 7,500 more students aged 17 and above securing A*-C GCSE Maths last summer.
