Reading: Pre-school Support

19. What steps her Department is taking to help support families to read with their child before they start nursery and school.

Learning to enjoy books is a critical foundation for every child. As we get ready for the National Year of Reading in Hartlepool and across the country, our new “best start in life” family hubs will support families to read, and new books and libraries for schools will ensure that the benefits of reading reach right into adulthood.

My constituent Lyndsay Hogg has successfully brought a Penguin little library to her community in Hartlepool. It is designed to celebrate Penguin’s 90th anniversary, and the aim is to promote the joy of reading. Hartlepool borough council’s leader, Labour’s Pamela Hargreaves, inspired by Lyndsay’s brilliant work, has promised to expand this excellent idea right across the town. Does the Minister agree that this fantastic initiative will help families with access to books and inspire a love of reading, and will she commit to visiting Hartlepool to see these little libraries for herself?

I do agree. I would love to visit, and I congratulate Lyndsay Hogg and Hartlepool borough council on this brilliant idea. “Matilda” is one of my favourite Penguin books, and it is a perfect allegory for our times: smart women who love reading standing up to snake oil salesmen and bullies.

Reading to children at the start of nursery and school is especially important for those who suffer from special educational needs. As we heard last week, the Office for Budget Responsibility has questioned the £6 billion that has been taken away from local authorities. I know that the whole House wants to resolve the issue of SEND, so can the Minister give an assurance about when we will get further details to make sure that, by 2028, the whole sector knows how each child will get the best provision possible, especially those in South West Hertfordshire?

I have answered the hon. Gentleman’s question already, so I will simply say that this Government are completely committed to ensuring that every child gets the best possible start in life, including by repairing the broken system of family support services, which were decimated by the Conservatives, and by ensuring that every single child has the opportunity to read, to talk to their friends, to play, to communicate, to get ready for school and to have the best possible start in life.