Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he has taken to support the a) research into b) treatment of developmental language disorder.

The Department of Health and Social Care funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), which supports clinical, public health, social care and global health research in partnership with the National Health Service, academia and others. NIHR infrastructure funding enables leading experts to deliver high‑quality translational, clinical and applied research, including work on developmental language disorder (DLD), strengthening the United Kingdom’s research capability and underpinning improvements in services and support. The Government is also committed to a more inclusive society where people with DLD are supported to thrive. Speech and language therapists assess and diagnose DLD, develop therapy plans with parents and carers, and provide workshops, advice and freely accessible resources to support communication at home.

To improve early support, the Department for Education is developing National Inclusion Standards to help educators identify and support children and young people with additional needs. Alongside this, proposals to reform the special educational needs and disabilities system aim to ensure earlier access to education and health support, with new Specialist Provision Packages being developed for those with more complex needs. More information is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first/send-reform-putting-children-and-young-people-first-html-version