Speech Therapy Services (Children)

David Amess Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Westminster Hall

[Mr David Amess (Southend West) (Con)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) on how he introduced the debate. I agree with everything he had to say; indeed, I think that I have agreed with everything that everyone has said thus far, so I will not repeat things.

Just as my hon. Friend waxed lyrical about his experiences at school 30 years ago, with the indulgence of hon. Members I shall talk about my experiences at school 50 years ago. There I was, in a class of 56, in the east end of London, and my teacher, Miss Grey, asked my mother to come up to the school. My mother was worried, thinking her son had been disruptive, but the teacher said, “Do you realise that your son is nicknamed Double Dutch?” Apparently, I could not communicate with anyone—my sister used to interpret what I wanted to say to people. I could not make the sounds “st” or “th”, I had a bad stutter and for three years my mother walked three and a half miles with me to a speech therapist in West Ham lane—I can now hear the violins playing. For three years, it was, literally, “How now brown cow”, which is why I do not have a pure cockney accent. I had old-fashioned braces on my top teeth and on my bottom teeth.

My hon. Friend talked about 30 years ago, but I am talking about 50 years ago and I want to tell the Minister and our Government that all those years ago, in a class of 56 in a challenging part of the country, Miss Grey—to whom, with the speech therapist, I obviously owe everything—could identify me as having those particular problems. Therefore, why is it that in 2010, with all the advances that we rejoice in, I am sitting in the Chamber this morning listening to any number of problems and challenges? I simply want our Government to give children today the same opportunity that I was given all those years ago.

--- Later in debate ---

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)]

I congratulate the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys (Paul Maynard) on securing the debate. I know how committed he is to the issue, and I could not help but hope, as I listened to his speech, that Mrs Williams was beaming with pride, and watching the debate. Similarly I hoped, when my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West (Mr Amess) was speaking, that Miss Grey could hear his tribute to her help.

[Mr Amess]

I think she is dead.

[Sarah Teather]

Perhaps she is listening from another place—if that is not to misuse parliamentary terminology.

I am hugely grateful to the hon. Member for Blackpool North and Cleveleys for securing the debate, and for speaking so knowledgeably and passionately. I was fortunate enough to attend a round-table meeting that he organised a few weeks ago on speech, language and communication needs. He is aware that I share his ambition. His expertise and the way he has campaigned on the issue since coming into Parliament is something that the sector recognises and is grateful for. The Government are grateful too.

The debate has come at an opportune moment because, as hon. Members will know—and as several hon. Members pointed out—several policy areas are in the process of being changed and developed. Consultation has just closed on the NHS White Paper, and we are drawing together White Papers on schools and on public health. The process in which I am personally involved is the production of a Green Paper on special educational needs and disability. Despite the suggestion that that might be a risk, I hope it may be seen as an opportunity. A key theme raised today was that of getting different services—local authorities, education and health—to work together. If everything is changed at the same time there is a much better chance of making sure that the elements of the new system will work closely together. Perhaps it is flippant of me to say so, but if Liberal Democrats and Conservatives can be got to co-operate in government, it cannot be beyond the wit of man to get health and education to work together.

In the past few months I have engaged in a series of small events and round-table meetings with the sector. I hope that hon. Members will not mind if I treat the debate as part of the Green Paper process. I shall do my best to respond to as many as possible of the issues that have been raised, but I shall not get to everyone. However, I shall pass on to the Department of Health the questions that have been raised, or make sure that they form part of our process of forming the Green Paper.

There were many knowledgeable speeches, including those by my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Dorset and North Poole (Annette Brooke), who has spoken on the issue over a long period; the hon. Member for North West Durham (Pat Glass), a new Member, to whom I always enjoy listening, and who speaks passionately on the subject; and the right hon. Member for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill (Mr Clarke), who has campaigned on the issue for many years. I was particularly grateful, because those hon. Members have a long-standing interest in what we are debating.

Speech, language and communication skills are the bedrock of learning. If someone cannot communicate their needs, those needs are unlikely to be met. If they cannot explain what they do not understand, their questions are unlikely to be answered. If someone cannot tell another person how they feel, that person cannot help them; and it will probably be a struggle to make friends. Children with speech, language and communication needs can have a lonely childhood and a poor education, and it is no wonder that many go on to develop behavioural difficulties or that they are misdiagnosed.

As many hon. Members have said, the range of problems is huge, from speech delay to intractable and chronic problems that require intensive intervention. Speech, language and communication issues may occur alone or co-exist with other special educational needs or social disadvantage. The hon. Member for North West Durham focused on that overlap with social disadvantage, and I want to touch on it shortly.

Speech therapy and other services, allied to good teaching, are vital for children and young people with the difficulties in question, to help them learn and get the most out of life. There has been significant progress, and the Green Paper will build on the work that the previous Government did, not rip it up and start again. I recognise that, particularly in the matter of speech, language and communication needs, progress was made. I pay tribute to the part that Mr Speaker played in raising the profile of the issue. The Bercow review comprehensively mapped out the challenges in policy, and since then much progress has been made in accomplishing the action plan.

We are of course about to begin the first national year of speech, language and communication, and I congratulate the Communication Trust and the communication champion Jean Gross on their work to promote better information for professionals and parents. Raising awareness of speech, language and communication needs is the theme of the trust’s work and the “Hello” campaign that the hon. Member for Washington and Sunderland West (Mrs Hodgson) mentioned. If we are to make the best use of the expertise that we have in speech and language therapy, and in other matters, we must get much better at picking up problems earlier and putting in place the right package of support.

Several hon. Members mentioned the fact that more than 60% of young offenders have speech, language and communication difficulties. That is a shocking statistic and a clear reminder, if we should need any more, of the importance of intervening early to prevent problems later.