Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has plans to undertake a cost benefit analysis of not identifying and supporting children and young people’s speech, language and communication needs and the interventions required for children and young people with those needs.

The government fully recognises that children and young people with speech, communication and language needs must get the support they require. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice requires that local authorities, educational institutions and relevant others must appropriately identify those needs and put in place support to meet them.

While the department has no current plans to undertake this specific analysis in developing policy to support such children and young people, the government takes account of available research and advice - for example, the ‘Bercow, Ten Years On’ report published in March this year, to which we will be responding shortly. I will also meet the All Party Parliamentary Group on Speech and Language Difficulties later this month.