Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 17 December 2025 to Question 98528 on Schools: Speech and Language Therapy, what progress her Department has made in extending the Early Language Support for Every Child programme; and how her Department is assessing the programme's impact on early identification and support for children with speech, language and communication needs.

In partnership with NHS England, the department has extended the Early Language and Support for Every Child (ELSEC) programme for the 2025/26 academic year, trialling new ways of working to better identify and support children with speech, language and communication needs in early years settings and primary schools.

The interim independent programme evaluation, due to be published this month, will assess the programme’s impact and allow the department to explore insights into the effectiveness of ELSEC delivery at a local level.