Baroness Rebuck

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the cause of the downward trend in students in England taking A-level English since 2013; and what steps they are taking to reverse this trend.

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the National Literacy Trust Annual Literacy Survey 2024 results, particularly the finding that only 34.6 per cent of children and young people aged 8 to 18 said they enjoy reading in their ...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the findings of their report Understanding progress in the 2020/21 academic year: Interim findings, published on 24 February, relating to estimated overall learning loss in reading in prima...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what role the new Education Recovery Commissioner will play in helping to close the attainment gap in reading and maths between pupils in schools with high levels of disadvantage and those in schools in more affluent areas.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to include bookshops on the lists of businesses permitted to remain open in all areas subject to restrictions to address the COVID-19 pandemic should tiers of restrictions be reintroduced from 2 Decembe...

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the statement by the Prime Minister on 4 November (HC Deb, col 318), whether literacy is intended to be a part of the tutoring programme; and if so, (1) what plans they have to survey literacy levels across all ...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Education Endowment Foundation’s publication Improving Literacy in Key Stage 1, published on 30 September 2016; and what additional funding they plan to provide to schools to improve li...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the report by the National Literacy Trust Children, young people and audiobooks before and during lockdown, published in June, and its finding that listening to audiobooks can increase chil...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the (1) efficacy of, and (2) access to, treatment to improve the quality of life of cancer survivors, in particular those measures which combat long-term physical or psychological symptoms ...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the business rates pub relief scheme on the viability of community pubs in England; and what has been the cost of the scheme to date.

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of recent increases in business rates on the sustainability of local high street bookshops in England.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they support UNESCO’s work in discovering what kind of literacy skills people need to navigate a digitally-mediated society; and what actions they plan to take in the UK to explore and fund effective adult literacy ...

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is their assessment of how many adults in the UK lack basic digital skills, and of that number, how many are functionally illiterate; and what plans they have to ensure that such people do not end up marginalised.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they intend to provide guidance on the use of the £300 million fund for local authorities to distribute to help businesses facing higher business rate bills; and, if so, whether this guidance will cover support for ...

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much of the four-year £435 million package of support for business ratepayers following the 2017 business rate revaluation has been spent; and how much has been used to support bookshops.

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many bookshops have lost small business rate relief or rural rate relief as a result of the 2017 business rate revaluation; and, beyond the scheme to cap the annual bill increase for any ratepayer losing these reliefs, ...

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to extend the scheme providing a £1,000 discount to pubs with a rateable value of less than £100,000; and, if so, whether this plan will cover bookshops.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what research they have undertaken to better understand the impact on literacy levels of initiatives undertaken by voluntary sector organisations; and how they intend to ensure that funding is targeted where it will be most...

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to give Asset of Community Value status to high street bookshops.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the risk of independent bookshops closing as a result of an increase in the rateable value of their property following re-assessment by the Valuation Office Agency.