Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate his Department has made of the number of specialist speech and language therapists in the NHS; and what plans he has to increase the number of those therapists.

As at November 2019 NHS Digital Hospital and Community Health Service workforce statistics report there were 6,284 full time equivalent speech and language therapists in England.

The NHS People Plan, which will be published by the National Health Service in early 2020, will set out a clear framework for growing and sustaining a well-skilled workforce across the whole NHS.

In December 2019 the Government announced additional maintenance grant funding of at least £5,000 per academic year for students studying nursing, midwifery and most allied health professions, including speech and language therapy, which will be available from September 2020 for new and continuing students at English universities. In addition, students with child dependants will benefit from an extra £1,000.