Speech and Language Therapy

Sarah Smith Excerpts

Monday 27th January 2025 Westminster Hall

[Sarah Smith (Hyndburn) (Lab)]

It is a privilege to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Vickers. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield (Dave Robertson) for opening the debate, and I pay tribute to Mikey. I have been privileged to work with young people for many years, putting them at the heart of leading change, and it is always brilliant to see that happening. I congratulate Mikey, and hope that he will start to see actual results. We have heard that he has been working on this for a long time, and is perhaps frustrated that he has not seen change happen more quickly.

It is not an exaggeration to say that high-quality speech and language services can transform lives because supporting a person to communicate can open a whole new world of opportunity for them. As we have heard, communication is an essential aspect of life for all ages, including for adults who have experienced major setbacks due to medical events. However, I will focus my comments on the need for excellent speech and language provision for children and young people.

A vital part of this Government’s mission is to break down barriers to opportunity for all children, and to help ensure that a record number of children start school ready to learn. A key component of our approach will be better identification of those children who may need additional support with their language and speech development. Speech and Language UK has found that 1.9 million children struggle with talking and understanding words, which demonstrates the scale and importance of this issue. I hope that the investments that this Government are making into increasing the availability and standard of pre-school childcare and into family hubs will lead to more opportunities to support young children with their early language development, at an earlier stage. However, many of those children will need access to high-quality speech and language therapy to help them progress, and their families need support to know how best to encourage and aid their child’s development.

I recognise that, often, parents feel left out in the cold and unclear on how they can best support their children when they face challenges. That support will be crucial to ensuring that no child is left behind in their educational progression because we know that language skills are the foundation for literacy development and further learning. I was delighted to see at first hand, in schools that I have worked with, the impact of the decision already taken by the Secretary of State for Education to fund a further year of the Nuffield Early Language Intervention programme. I hope that the Education team will continue to support that as one means to tackle this bigger issue. I ask the Minister, how are the Government further working alongside education colleagues? We know that it is by working together that we can enable children who need formal speech and language therapy to access it without the horrifically long waiting times that they currently experience.

There are specific challenges within the north-west, and it is no surprise that the majority of constituencies with a high level of signatories to the petition are in that region. In the north-west, in November, around 45% of children and young people who were waiting for speech and language therapy had been waiting for over 12 weeks, compared with 28% of those on the waiting list in the east of England. The latest available figures show that 2,672 children and young people in the Lancashire and South Cumbria integrated care board area were waiting for speech and language therapy. That is a damning statement on the inheritance that we received from the Opposition, and that inheritance is further demonstrated by their Benches being almost empty for this debate. Earlier today, we heard the shadow Secretary of State for Education, the right hon. Member for Sevenoaks (Laura Trott), make a big noise in the Chamber, but she did not take seriously the challenges that the Opposition have left us and how we can tackle them.

The regional disparity is adding another level of disadvantage to children growing up in my constituency of Hyndburn. Like all children, they deserve to be supported to learn. It is important that we are careful, when we speak about children with special educational needs and disabilities, not to suggest that their educational performances or communication skills are due to some internal difference or lack of ability: it is the systems and structures around them that we must fix to make sure that every child and young person has the same access to opportunities to fulfil their potential.

It is important that we provide wraparound support for families so that the Government can make better use of standard two-year check-ups to unlock pathways to support. Time and again, I hear of children and families in my constituency who are on pathways for not just weeks or months but years, without access to the education, health and care plan that they might need or the wraparound services intervention required to make sure that a child has the best possible chance in life. It is welcome that the Government’s mission to build a health service fit for the future will look to design a system that meets the changing needs of our changing population, but can the Minister share more about how speech and language services will feature in the current national conversation on the 10-year strategy?

Effective speech and language interventions can reduce the need for more intensive and costly healthcare services down the line, and as hon. Members have mentioned they have a significant positive return on investment in the long term. Investing in early screening and diagnostic services will help identify speech and language issues at a young age and allow for more effective interventions. Effective intervention does not just help young people to access language and communication skills but helps with their confidence and the ability to make friends and start school with their best foot forward.

I know that Ministers across Government appreciate that there is a crisis affecting the SEND education system. We have had a 140% increase in the number of children and young people with EHCPs, but outcomes have stagnated. More money has been put in, but we are not seeing better results for the children impacted. That is why I welcome the commitment that this is not just about investment but the right reforms.

I would like to ask the Minister about closer working relationships with education professionals—not just how it happens at the top of Government but on the ground. Is there an opportunity with the schools rebuilding programme to look at the co-location of education, health services and therapy and make sure that they are built into the design right from the start? The headteacher leading on the rebuilding of Hyndburn Academy is open and keen for this thinking, so it would be great to hear the Minister’s views as to how that will be rolled out nationally.

There are many wonderful examples of inclusive schools, but many parents have felt forced to seek an EHCP for more specialised speech and language support. Has the Minister made an assessment of how a focus on speech and language specialised support as well as inclusion in schools could create a system where parents do not always have to go through a formal written process to secure the resources they need? That might tackle the huge challenges we face in that part of the system. We cannot solve the problems in the SEND system without increasing support for children struggling with speech and understanding words.

My comments have focused a lot on language development and formal education, but I have had the immense privilege of knowing children who are non-verbal but wonderful and profound communicators. Communication comes in many forms. That is why I spoke about the systems and structures we facilitate around our children to ensure that every child and young person is given the opportunity to thrive. No child should be held back from the strong social participation, relationships, learning and wellbeing that can be forged with the right support.