§ 3. Mr. Pitmanasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education what plans he has for investigating the degree of reading failure in schools at the age of 15 years; whether those plans include the use of comprehension tests comparable to those used in the corresponding investigation in 1948; and to what extent he estimates that there may be shown to be a less degree of failure in reading ability than the 30.1 per cent. then shown and categorized as backwards readers, semi-literates and illiterates.
§ Sir E. BoyleMy noble Friend will issue in a few weeks a pamphlet entitled "Standards of Reading 1948–1956" which will compare children's reading ability in 1956 with that in 1952 and 1948.
§ Mr. PitmanWill the test of reading ability include comprehension and be a true scientific comparison, so that the degree of progress which we hope there may have been will without doubt be demonstrated?
§ Sir E. BoyleI know my hon- Friend's anxiety, and I think that the pamphlet 1150 will show that standards of reading have substantially improved, but perhaps he will await publication of the pamphlet rather than press me for details now.