Seema Malhotra, the Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston, has met celebrated children’s author Jacqueline Wilson in Parliament to discuss primary school English. 

Wilson, a well-known West London resident, is best known for her Tracy Beaker series as well as its television adaptation. 

The event was a Parliamentary ‘book fair’ hosted by the National Literacy Trust, a charity that works with schools and communities in deprived areas to give children the literacy skills they need to succeed in life. 

The MP, who grew up and went to school in Hounslow, also discussed with Wilson the Hounslow Education Partnership’s ‘Get Hounslow Reading’ project, which inspires local children to read and ensure reading is at the heart of education provision in the borough. The charity she co-founded, Hounslow’s Promise, works with the Hounslow Education Partnership to support the ambitions, employability and social mobility of young people. 

Seema Malhotra MP said: 

“All children deserve to have their lives enriched by books – for their health, for their future and their future opportunities, and for their enjoyment.” 

“But one in five children in England between the ages of five and eight do not have access to books at home, and the share of pupils leaving primary school meeting expected standards in literacy and maths fell from 65% in 2019 to 59% in 2022.” 

“Literacy will be at the heart of Labour’s reforms to the education system. In Government, Labour will commission a Curriculum and Assessment Review to deliver an excellent foundation in reading, writing and maths alongside a broader curriculum – so that children also don’t miss out on subjects such as music, sport and drama.”