A decision to stop funding a scheme which has provided free books for newborns for a quarter of a century has been called “heartbreaking”.
BookTrust Cymru, which runs programmes aimed at helping parents to read with babies and toddlers, says a decision to stop the direct grant risked leaving the poorest families without support.
“I feel really devastated for the children of Wales,” its director Sioned Jones said, while parents told the BBC it helped build bonds with their babies.
The Welsh government said its educational resources body, Adnodd, was now responsible for early years literacy programmes and Adnodd said it was working to ensure there was no gap in provision of materials to families.
Thousands of parents each year receive the free Bookstart Baby pack, which includes a free bilingual book and advice, via their health visitor.
The Bookstart programme is run by BookTrust across the UK, and in Wales it includes two free packs – one usually at the six-month health check and the other at the 27-month check. Its sister charity, Scottish Book Trust, supports families in Scotland.
Jones said their work supporting families with reading was about more than just the free books, with extra targeted elements to the programmes at a cost of £370,000 a year.
“We’ve been doing it for a long time,” Jones said.
“You have to build the skills, the practitioners, they have to understand the programmes they’re delivering.
“We do lots of research in BookTrust in terms of the evaluation of our programmes and the impact they make and we know they make a difference, not only in getting families reading but helping families with their Welsh as well.”
Grant funding for the programme from Adnodd stops at the end of March 2026 while it decides how to commission literacy materials for young children in future.
It said it was working with BookTrust and others “to ensure there is no gap in the provision of early years literacy materials to families” and “rather than replicating a specific delivery model, it focused on identifying the most effective approaches to improving literacy outcomes for young learners in Wales”.
“This work will be informed by evidence and research to ensure the strongest possible outcomes,” Adnodd added.
Source: BBC
