We think all secondary schools should have a school library with a dedicated full-time librarian, and that this needs to be compulsory for all secondary schools and not simply an optional "bolt-on" depending on how individual headteachers feel about libraries and literacy provision.

If we are serious, as a society and as a government, about tackling educational inequality, barriers to literacy and poor reading levels (which naturally affect other areas of communication and self-expression for our students), then, in our view, a staffed library is an essential tool in that endeavour. Students and parents deserve to know that these facilities and opportunities will always be available to them in school, and not taken away in the name of "funding cuts."