Speeches by Asato.

“To explore that a little bit more, sometimes parents may say, "Well, I was never a reader, so that is probably just inherited. You have probably just not got a reading brain.” It is a bit like people who say that they have a maths brain or a social sciences brain. Could you tell me a little bit more about how that is n…”

“We hear that there has been a 36% decrease in children who enjoy reading in their spare time since 2005. How important is reading ability in motivating children to read for pleasure compared with other factors? I know we have discussed this a little bit so we don’t have to go too much into it but who might want to take…”

“This leads me very nicely to my next question. What would you suggest are the main causes of the decline in reading for pleasure among children in recent years? I will start with you, Teresa, and then go down the panel.”

“It covers eight to 18-year-olds, so not just teenagers?”

“Very quickly, is there any evidence that suggests that there is a tactile dimension to holding and reading a physical book that helps with the retention and comprehension versus, say, a Kindle, or are you just as likely to remember, retain and comprehend a book on a device as you are in the physical object?”

“Also it is about those who said that they enjoyed reading in their free time, trying to make that distinction between school and home.”

“Is there any evidence that reading time is being replaced by time on screens in any of your research?”

“You mentioned curriculum pressures. Is there any evidence that the actual curriculum, particularly an over-focus on grammar, can diminish a love of reading into something that is so much about the analysis of the work that it may detract from just the love of just reading the story to understand the narrative and the c…”

“Do we have time to come back to best practice in schools a little bit? What are the best evidence-based approaches that schools can take to promote reading for pleasure? I will start with Teresa. I will call this the parents’ question. Does World Book Day work?”

“Do any of you have any particular approaches that work best for boys? We know there is a gender divide and that boys in particular are at their lowest level ever of reading for pleasure. Only if you have any evidence specifically for supporting boys in school. No. Are there any particular approaches that have been demo…”

“I beg to move, That this House has considered women’s safety while walking, wheeling, cycling and running. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Jardine. Violence against women and girls happens in every corner of life: in our homes, in our workplaces, on the internet and in public. Whether we are commutin…”

“As a fellow East Anglia MP, I praise Norwich Cycling Campaign for its women’s safety audit. I am sure it is a model that many local areas should follow. In the medium and long term, of course, we want to see real change. A poll conducted by the Cycle to Work Alliance in 2024 found that safety concerns deter 45% of pote…”

“I thank all Members who contributed and the Minister for her remarks and ongoing work on this issue, which forms a key part of the Government’s ambition to halve violence against women and girls. We all very much look forward to working with her to improve women’s safety in this area. I finish with this quote from the …”

“I thoroughly agree. Women are often filmed while running, and girls are put off exercise by the way that men create this material, which can go viral. We have seen recently that men have been using smart glasses to film women in public spaces going about their everyday lives. Those women have then been harassed, with e…”

“I absolutely agree. I firmly support the idea of a social media ban for under-16s, partly because of the huge impact it has on girls and their body image, which obviously affects the way they think about taking part in sporting activities, often in public. We also know that many of those girls are catcalled and whistle…”

“I absolutely agree, and it is one of the reasons why I took those University of Manchester researchers to meet the Safeguarding Minister. I hope that, given the VAWG strategy is a living, breathing document across a 10-year period, we can make sure this is in future versions of the strategy. It is incredibly important.…”

“I would obviously love to congratulate Newbury Road Club and the other organisations that are highlighting Cycling UK’s “My ride. Our right” campaign, and that have been very active in this discussion about women’s cycling safety. I will come on to segregated cycle lanes. In these dark winter months, safety concerns ca…”

“I recently visited Community Dental Services in my constituency, which is supporting the roll-out of our very welcome supervised toothbrushing in schools programme. As we know, dental decay is the leading cause of hospital admissions for young children. Despite that, a number of schools in my area are declining to take…”

“It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Dr Opher) for securing this debate on such an important issue. In 2022, 44% of victims surveyed by the Domestic Abuse Commissioner said that their first disclosure was to a healthcare professional. Unlike the crim…”

“I have two more questions. One is around students with SEND who clearly, as we have heard, would benefit from having on-screen assessments; obviously that would be hugely welcome. But we also know that there is quite a lot of evidence that, for some students, handwriting helps them both to retain and interrogate inform…”