England has dramatically fallen down an international league table for children's reading skills, a major new survey has found.

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (Pirls) revealed that England has fallen from third in 2001 to a lowly 19th in the world.

The survey, which is undertaken every five years, involved more than 215,000 children aged about 10 in 41 countries.

Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls says parents must take some of the blame for falling reading standards.

He wants parents to encourage their children to read more at home. He also criticised parents who let their children spend too much time playing computer video games, watching TV and using mobile phones.

"Parents have got to find a way to strike a balance," he said. "They need to make sure there's space for reading and learning.

"Today's ten-year-olds have more choice than in 2001 about how they spend their free time. Most have their own TVs and mobiles, and 37 per cent are playing computer games for three hours or more a day - more than in most countries in the study.

Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove: "While the Government says its policies are driving up standards, the independent auditors of our education system tell a very different story."

"There is a direct link between use of computer games and lower achievement."

Scotland also plummeted down the world rankings, slipping from 14th in 2001 to 26th in 2006.

Russia was top of the reading skills table, followed by Hong Kong in second and Canada - Alberta in third.

Singapore, Canada - British Columbia, Luxembourg, Canada - Ontario, Italy, Hungary and Sweden completed the top 10.

The worst performing nations were South Africa, Morocco, Kuwait, Morocco, Qatar and Indonesia.

England's worrying slide down the Pirls table has come despite Labour spending billions of pounds of public money on education.

According to the Daily Mail, nearly £50bn a year is now spent on nurseries and schools - against £27.2bn when Labour came to power in 1997.

Shadow Children's Secretary Michael Gove slammed the Government's record on education.

He said: "While the Government says its policies are driving up standards, the independent auditors of our education system tell a very different story.

"It's time the Government stopped blaming parents and accepted the case we've been making for a new focus on teaching reading, using tried and tested methods, with a test after two years to ensure our children are being taught properly."

Liberal Democrat schools spokesman David Laws also attacked Labour's policies on education.

He said: "It suggests that all of its recent strategies to make children read more have been ineffective."

A 2006 survey by publishers Pearson and charity Booktrust revealed that one in 10 parents of British primary school pupils never read to their children.

It also found that once children start secondary school, just a third of parents read on a daily basis.

The article English children plummet in reading league originally appeared on 999 Today