Dyslexia has been "kicked into the long grass yet again" after Matt Hancock returned to the Commons following his controversial stint on I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!, disappointed campaigners say.
The former health secretary joked that he was pleased to be "clean and well-fed" as he opened the second reading debate of his Dyslexia Screening and Teacher Training Bill on Friday, days after finishing in third place on the ITV reality show.
Commons Deputy Speaker Nigel Evans quipped: "This is the third Bill of the day and I know, Mr Hancock, you appear to be making a habit of coming third these days."
One MP shouted "No frog on his head!" as Mr Hancock stood up to speak.
But dyslexia campaigners were not as amused by the Commons events, saying it was a "great shame" that the Bill ran out of time to clear its second reading.
Kate Griggs, CEO and Founder of Made By Dyslexia, told the Mirror: “It’s a great shame the Private Members Bill session ran out of time before the Bill reading was completed today.
"Yet again dyslexia has been kicked into the long grass. Dyslexia is a quiet social scandal that has been needlessly affecting the 1 in 5 children in every classroom who are dyslexic for decades.
"Because when dyslexics are unidentified and unsupported, their outlook is bleak, as 55% of children leaving school unable to read and write are unsupported dyslexics, and over 50% of people in UK prisons are dyslexic – this cannot continue."
The Bill is unlikely to progress in its current form.
Ms Griggs added: "The UK’s children have been failed by our governments for decades when the solution is simple – training & screening.
"This Government's refusal to recognise this and equip all teachers with the tools & knowledge to support dyslexic children is shameful, and flies in the face of their ‘Levelling-up" agenda.
"Children need help now and the Government must stop debating and start doing immediately.”
Kirsten Hackman, who volunteers for the Covid Memorial Wall group every Friday, has a daughter who was diagnosed with dyslexia as an adult - like Mr Hancock.
She told the Mirror: "His rhetoric of 'I'm doing this to raise awareness of dyslexia' to the best of my knowledge, he mentioned it twice and once was him saying that he was struggling to read something himself.
"If he wanted to do something about dyslexia, he could raise it more publicly within the parliament. Reach out to schools.
"My daughter was diagnosed earlier this year with dyslexia and she's 20. So she has gone through her whole schooling, all her GCSEs and A Levels struggling.
"If you want to raise awareness, go to the schools and actually deal with it rather than going on TV and asking for forgiveness."
She continued: "I think is him trying to further his future career outside of politics.
"I didn't watch the programme because frankly, I just can't even look at his face, the way that he acted as the Health Secretay - it's just appalling.
"If a teacher left to go on I'm A Celeb they would have been sacked."
Ms Hackman, who has been volunteering for 14 months, lost her mum during the first wave of the Covid pandemic.
She said: "She had a fall at home and was admitted to the hospital with a fractured pelvis which essentially never came out again.
"Before she went in, she said she didn't want to go because she said she'd catch the virus and die. And she died on May 2, 2020.
"We only had eight people at the funeral and we only had 20 minutes because the room had to then be sanitised for the next people to come in."
Ms Hackman added: "The reason I do this is that it's important to me to make sure that all of these lives are not lost or forgotten - they are a person at the end of the day. They were taken too soon.
"They have family, they have friends, they have colleagues. And each life loss causes a massive ripple in society to the people that have lost them."
Mr Hancock - the now independent MP for West Suffolk - was all smiles as he was captured on camera arriving in Westminster in the morning, two days after landing back in the UK.
He went on to tell the Commons that early identification of dyslexia is essential to reach full literacy.
"The next stage of the education revolution under this administration must be to improve opportunities that dyslexic children and children with other neurodivergent conditions have," he said.
Mr Hancock's return to his day job comes as speculation mounts over whether he will have the Tory whip restored and seek to stand again at the next election.
He is currently sitting as an independent MP, having been suspended from the Conservative parliamentary party for choosing to head to the Australian jungle at a time when the House was sitting.
While his jungle jaunt drew criticism from colleagues, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Mr Hancock has "no intention of standing down or stepping away from politics", according to his team.
Tory MPs have been given until Monday, December 5 to declare their intention to re-run at the next general election, expected to be in 2024.
A serialisation of Mr Hancock's Pandemic Diaries is to be published by the Daily Mail later on Friday, with a first glimpse revealing that a plan to release "thousands" of prisoners was considered during the Covid-19 lockdown.
The former Cabinet minister has also given an "extensive" interview to the newspaper, in which he talks about "falling 'deeply' in love with former aide Gina Coladangelo".
