Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to address the shortage of speech and language therapists in (a) schools and (b) hospitals.

The special educational needs and disabilities green paper ‘SEND review: right support, right place, right time’ proposes to commission analysis to ensure that the health needs of children and young people with SEND are supported through effective workforce planning. We plan to work with Health Education England, NHS England and the Department for Education to understand the demand for support for children and young people with SEND from the therapy and diagnostic workforce.

It is the responsibility of individual employers, including schools and hospitals, to plan staffing levels according to local service priorities. To support the supply of more speech and language therapists to the National Health Service, since September 2020 all eligible students can apply for a non-repayable training grant of a minimum of £5,000 per academic year, with further financial support available for childcare, accommodation and travel costs.