Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 27 September 2022 to Question 51450 on Speech and Language Therapy: Recruitment, what steps her Department is taking to help ensure adequate support for language and speech therapists in schools.

The government is committed to ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with speech and language needs, receive the support they need to achieve at school.

The department knows that children and young people with SEND frequently require access to additional support from a broad specialist workforce across education, and health and care, including speech and language therapists. As set out in the SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Green Paper, we are taking steps to increase the capacity of the specialist workforce.

The consultation closed on 22 July. The department is currently using this feedback, along with continued engagement with the system, to inform the next stage of delivering improvements for children, young people and their families. We will also continue to support the system in the immediate term to deliver change and improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and those who need AP.