Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of a survey by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists published in April 2023 on (a) the average vacancy rates in speech and language therapy services and (b) the level of difficulty managers said they faced in recruiting to both children's and adults' services.

We will continue to develop the workforce mix in health services, including speech and language therapists. The latest data for January 2023 shows there are 7,090 full-time equivalent professionally qualified speech and language therapists employed across National Health Service trusts and integrated care boards in England. This is 13.5% more than in 2019.