The three striking stats driving our CR agenda

Last month, we published our latest Creative Responsibility report, showcasing progress towards our 2020 goals across four priority areas: reading, inclusion, community and sustainability.

I wanted to share some of the statistics which have really stayed with me, and continue to shape our thinking.

91% of state schools in England have had a real-terms cut in their funding per-pupil

Its 2019, and we’re one of the most developed nations in the world, but the truth is we’re living in a time where some schools don’t have enough funding to buy toilet roll, or to keep their doors open five days a week.

As a result, often books and reading simply fall to the bottom of the priority list. England’s 20,000 primary schools are estimated to have less than 50 professional librarians between them. In a recent national survey, 60% of primary schools, even if they had a library, didn’t know which member of staff was managing it. Yet primary school libraries are expected to provide the first experience of reading and literature for our children and to create the next generation of readers.

We launched Puffin World of Stories last year to help tackle this problem. In partnership with the National Literacy Trust, the programme offers free books, bespoke training, materials and resources to participating primary schools - completely free of charge.

Our aim was to develop and pilot an approach which could be rolled out nationally in the future. We started out with 50 schools in communities local to our London offices, our Essex warehouse and in Middlesborough and Tyneside in the North East.

The feedback we’ve had from schools has been incredible – with 100% of teachers saying that it’s helped them create a reading for pleasure strategy in their schools. We’ve even had comments that being part of Puffin World of Stories has led to the school receiving a higher Ofsted rating, and that it’s contributed to pupils’ academic improvement across a range of subjects.

We're delighted to be expanding Puffin World of Stories to 80 more schools from September.

My favourite comment has to be from a pupil at a participating Essex school: “now the library is creative and full of adventure”.

43% of children and young people in the UK don’t enjoy reading

In 2018, research by the National Literacy Trust found that for the first time in six years the percentage of children and young people who enjoyed reading fell from 58.6% to 56.6%.

Like most of us in publishing, I love books, and so this statistic is an important reminder that many young people just don’t enjoy reading.

It’s one of the reasons we set up Penguin Talks last year, a bold new way to take our authors into secondary schools across the UK and Ireland to talk about issues which matter to the next generation – whether that’s Michelle Obama on the power of education and self-belief, or author of global bestseller Sapiens Yuval Noah Harari on the future of the world of work. We film the content of each Penguin Talk and publish it for free on YouTube, together with curriculum-based teaching materials.

I'm looking forward to thinking more about how we can use Penguin Talks to take the stories and ideas we publish off the page and to connect with brand new audiences.  

Only 1% of children's books published in the UK in 2017 had a BAME main character

Inclusivity is a key priority, as we work towards our company goal for our new hires and new authors to reflect UK society by 2025.

We've been working hard to remove barriers which might be preventing people from joining our industry. For example we've made sure all our work experience and internships are paid, unlike many other companies in the creative industries. We've introduced The Scheme, our early careers programme to find the editors of the future from BAME (Black Asian Minority Ethnic) and socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

And through our WriteNow programme we are finding, mentoring and publishing new writers from under-represented communities.

But, in some ways, the hard work is only just beginning.

We are working towards creating a culture where everyone can be themselves, and has the chance to develop and progress, no matter who they are or what their background is. It’s so easy for inclusion to be dismissed as a ‘CR thing’ or a ‘HR thing’ – something which is happening over there, being dealt with, not everyone's responsibility.

That's not how I see it. Thinking about how to change behaviour is everyone’s responsibility - it's about finding ways to lift up and amplify others. And perhaps even more importantly to listen.

Last year 1,050 colleagues took part in Creative Responsibility

A hopeful statistic to end on. Last year, more than half our workforce from each of our seven UK sites played some part, whether volunteering in schools and community centres on World Book Day, taking part in our annual fundraising walk in support of our charity partner The National Literacy Trust, or joining joining our Green Team to help our workplace become more sustainable.

This is such a testament to the fact that so many colleagues at Penguin Random House come to work each day because we know that what we do has a positive impact on the world.

You can read Penguin Random House's latest Creative Responsibility report here.