Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to ensure that the trailblazer areas proposed in the Transforming Children and Young People's Mental Health Provision: a Green Paper (Cm 9525) have embedded, or have access to, dedicated speech and language therapy services.

The government is considering the responses to the consultation on the green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’ and plans to publish a response before summer recess. The response will set out more information on how the trailblazers for new mental health support teams will work. The trailblazers will test how teams can link to the work of other professionals to enhance the support for vulnerable children and will consider how this can include speech and language therapists.

Mental health support teams will work closely with schools and colleges. They can build on the steps the government has already taken to improve access to speech and language therapy. The government introduced through the Children and Families Act 2014, a framework for ensuring that children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), including those with speech language and communication needs, are identified early and receive the support they require to succeed in education and move into independent adult life.

The department has also funded I CAN, on behalf of The Communication Trust, and several other specific impairment organisations, to produce materials for use by schools, colleges and others. These materials and resources are freely available on the SEND and Education Training Foundation Gateway.

The Department for Health and Social Care is also working with the department and Public Health England to enable early years professionals to identify and support children’s early speech, language and communication needs.