Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to extend prescribing rights to speech and language therapists.

There is currently no work ongoing to extend prescribing responsibilities in this area. Work to develop and consider any further detailed proposals would be taken forward in close co-operation with the full range of stakeholders, including the relevant regulatory and professional bodies.

Subject to Parliamentary approval, the Medicines and Medical Devices Bill currently before Parliament will give the Government powers to extend prescribing responsibilities to new professional groups where it is safe and appropriate to do so.