| answer text |
<p>The department does not have any policies that specifically target bookshops. My
right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, has set an ambition to halve
the proportion of children who finish reception without the language and literacy
skills needed to thrive by 2028. As part of this, we will be launching a public-facing
campaign later this year to improve the quality and quantity of parent-child interactions
and make it easy for parents to chat, play and read with their children. This includes
working closely with the National Literacy Trust, businesses and libraries to improve
access to books.</p><p>In partnership with the Education Endowment Foundation, we
are also investing over £4 million to home learning environment trials in the north
of England. The trials range from an intensive home visiting programme aimed at improving
early literacy, to a texting initiative intended to nudge parents to do more activities
that help develop literacy, numeracy and socio-emotional skills.</p><p>As part of
the £26.3 million English hubs programme, participating schools will also receive
support to improve teaching of English as an additional language phonics and to ensure
children have access to decodable books for the early stages of reading.</p>
|
|
