£5m for secondary school libraries announced in Budget
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced £5 million of new funding for state secondary schools to establish libraries.
It follows an earlier pledge of £10 million in funding to provide every primary school in England with a library by 2029.
One in seven primary schools in the UK do not have access to a library according to figures from the National Literacy Trust. That rises to one in four for disadvantaged areas, and almost half of schools in England without a library are located in the North
The investment follows the DfE announcement that 2026 will be The National Year of Reading - a campaign to address the steep decline in reading amongst children, young people and adults.
The National Year of Reading will position reading as a powerful contemporary activity and will aim to engage new audiences in reading and to change the national reading culture for good.
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