Earlier this year, the steelmaker Corus decided to get the workforce in its Port Talbot plant reading by giving away books. "It was part of the National Year of Reading," explains Corus spokesman Robert Dangerfield. "The initiative provided 500 books and then we bought a further 1,500." The texts were chosen from a broad selection of thrillers, historical novels, romance and biographies, with a focus on the local area and local authors.

"The focus was very much on leisure reading. It wasn't to get people reading heavy academic texts, vocational books or thinking about social justice." The free books were snapped up.