Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans he has to improve the identification of and support for speech, language, and communications needs, as part of the Green paper on transforming children and young people's mental health provision.

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 (SLCN), are identified early and receive the support they require to succeed in education and successfully move into independent adult life.

For a number of years, the Department has also funded I CAN, on behalf of The Communication Trust, and several other organisations, to produce materials for use by schools and colleges. These materials and resources are freely available online on the SEND and Education Training Foundation Gateways.

The Department of 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.

The Department is currently considering the responses to the consultation on the green paper ‘Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision’. It will be determined how new mental health support teams, proposed in the green paper, can work with other professionals such as speech and language therapists, including support of delivering schools responsibilities for pupils with SEND. The aim is to improve identification of mental health needs, and to provide more comprehensive support for their full range of needs.