Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendation in the report by Children's Commissioner for England Still not safe: The public health response to youth violence, published on 6 February, for the levelling up of spending on speech and language therapy services around the country.

We recognise that early language development is a significant health inequalities issue. Improving the number of children having good speech, language and communication skills by five years old is a national priority. Public Health England, with the Department for Education, is working to ensure that speech, language and communication needs are identified early on. We are monitoring the effectiveness of local joint arrangements through inspections by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. This will inform what further action is needed.