Constituents may be aware that a school in Greater Manchester has been accused of removing books from its library due to concerns around ‘harmful content’. You can read more about that here where it has been revealed that the school in question was Lowry Academy.
As this school is in the Bolton South and Walkden Constituency, I have written to the Education Secretary to ask what powers the Department has to investigate cases like this one, what guidance has been issued to academy trusts on school library governance, and what recourse exists for school staff who face professional consequences for raising legitimate concerns. My view is simple, libraries should open minds and give young people opportunities to question everything.
My letter is printed in its entirety below.
Dear Bridget,
On 20th March 2026, Index on Censorship published an article alleging that a school in Greater Manchester had removed almost 200 books and graphic novels from its library due to the Headteacher having a dislike over one book, which led to the school’s leadership sharing a list of books to be removed due to having ‘inappropriate content’.
The books in question include titles on misogyny, gender identity and race, among them We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Pageboy by Elliot Page, as well as works that by any reasonable assessment would be considered wholly uncontroversial, including autobiographies of sports stars, musicians and political figures; beloved Young Adult fiction like Twilight by Stephanie Meyer, and graphic novel adaptations of classics like Dune by Frank Herbert and 1984 by George Orwell.
On 26th March 2026, the Manchester Mill published an article stating that this school was Lowry Academy in my constituency of Bolton South and Walkden, which is a part of the United Learning Multi Academy Trust, the largest Academy Trust in the country.
I have since been contacted by the librarian, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the impact this case has had on her professional and personal life, having resigned from her role and going through a safeguarding investigation by the Local Authority Designated Officer, a process which the article describes as preventing the librarian from being “able to work in a school again.”
I am deeply concerned that a qualified library professional was subjected to that degree of pressure for exercising her professional judgement in good faith.
School libraries exist to open young minds, not to reflect the cultural or ideological preferences of senior leadership. The books available to young people in our state schools should be determined by educational need and professional expertise, not by the personal views of those in positions of authority within a trust structure that is, by design, insulated from democratic accountability.
I would be extremely grateful if you can set out what powers the Department has to investigate scenarios such as this, what guidance has been issued both to Multi-Academy Trusts and Local Authority maintained schools regarding the curation of literary content in their libraries and whether the department or Ofsted intends to conduct a specific investigation into this specific case or the wider question of library governance in multi-academy trust schools.
Like many people, I am extremely concerned about the message that this incident sends to the wider public and to the workforce of teachers and school support staff across the country, and I hope that your response can be of reassurance to parents and school staff alike.
Yours sincerely,
Yasmin Qureshi
Member of Parliament for Bolton South and Walkden