PARENTS are to be enlisted in government attempts to improve children’s literacy with a call from ministers for every child to receive 10 minutes’ bedtime reading a night.

Ed Balls, the children’s secretary, also believes boys and girls should use every opportunity to practise reading – even if this means the label on a tin of baked beans.

The steps, to be announced on Wednesday when Balls launches a National Year of Reading for 2008, come amid concerns that efforts to improve literacy have stalled. Last week Christine Gilbert, the chief inspector of schools, warned of “deep-seated problems in literacy and numeracy”.

Test results in August showed a fall in the proportion of seven-year-olds with basic writing skills from 82% in 2005 to 80% this year. Improvement in reading has also stalled, especially for boys.

Balls wants employers, celebrities and communities, as well as parents and schools, to raise the profile of reading.

“I know how hard it can be to find time. But I want every parent to make a book at bedtime as much as part of the daily routine as brushing their children’s teeth,” said Balls.

“Literacy has been improving steadily for 10 years but there is still work to be done, especially in getting kids really struggling up to standard.”

A Department for Children, Schools and Families spokesman said: “Children [should be] encouraged to read widely, from the ingredients on baked bean tins to e-mails.”

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