Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to ensure local authorities employ an adequate number of speech and language therapists.

The information requested is not held centrally. We do not collect data on speech and language therapists, as specialist speech, language and communication support is not funded directly by the Department for Education. Speech and Language Therapists working with children are employed by local authorities, the health service or directly by schools.

Nevertheless, we are committed to supporting children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) and recognise the importance of identifying SLCN early to enable the right support to be put in place and reduce the impact that SLCN may have in the longer term. For example, the department has funded a range of condition specific organisations to develop resources and training to equip the workforce, including specialist resources in relation to speech, language and communication skills.

Specific decisions on how many Speech and Language Therapists are employed by any local authority are a matter for the specific local authority. However, this government has increased local authorities’ high needs funding by £780 million in 2020/21, boosting the budget by 12% and bringing the total spent on supporting those with the most complex needs to over £7 billion for 2020/21.