Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with NHS Clinical Commissioners on ensuring that speech and language therapy service specifications (a) require those services to have a pathway for when a child or young person is not brought to an appointment, (b) appropriately resource those services to provide support in settings that meet the needs of the child or young people and their parent and carer and (c) monitor and report on the number of children and young people who are discharged from those services because they did not attend an appointment.

There have been no discussions with NHS Clinical Commissioners concerning speech and language therapy service specifications. Clinical commissioning groups have local responsibility for commissioning services to meet the needs of their local population, drawing on National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance to agree the specifications for communication support. The protection and safeguarding of children and young people from harm is of paramount importance to all parts for the health care system. All providers should have their own governance arrangements in place for responding to non-attendance at appointments.