Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many speech and language therapists were employed in England and Wales by (a) the NHS and (b) all providers in each year since 2005.

The number of speech and language therapists employed in the National Health Service in England in each year since 2005 is set out in the attached table and indicates an increase of 167 speech and language therapists between September 2010 and October 2014.

The provision of health services in the United Kingdom is a devolved issue. Information on the number of speech and language therapists in Wales may be available online at the following address:

http://wales.gov.uk/topics/health/?lang=en

The Department does not hold information on all providers of speech and language therapy services in England and Wales.

The Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists 2014 Census of its members found that 25% reported that their primary role was not commissioned by the NHS. A further 22% are estimated to be working in secondary roles not commissioned by the NHS. These roles were distributed across a number of areas such as; working in education, third sector charities, justice sector, research, as private practitioners or in social care.