[holding answer 26 November 2007]: The Department is currently supporting a range of initiatives that are designed to encourage parents to become more actively involved in supporting their children with learning to read at home:
the provision of Bookstart and Booktime book packs to parents of all children in England aged between six-nine months, 18 months, and three years and at reception age, that encourages the sharing of books and reading aloud to their children;
the Family Reading Campaign with a focus on reaching homes where reading is not part of the family culture;
the Primary National Strategy’s Communication, Language and Literacy Development (CLLD) programme that offers parents information sheets called ‘Helping your child with speaking, listening, reading and writing’;
family literacy, language and numeracy (FLLN)—a programme that is designed to enable parents and their children to improve their literacy, language and numeracy skills together.
Looking ahead, the 2008 National Year of Reading will create a powerful focus for these initiatives so that parents and children better understand how reading can benefit their lives.