Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what support is available for children who have a stutter.

The government is committed to ensuring that children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) get the support they need. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Code of Practice makes clear that local authorities, clinical commissioning groups and relevant others are responsible for commissioning specialist support locally using their high needs funding budgets.

We are aware of the concerns of local authorities about high needs cost pressures. On 16 December 2018, my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State announced an additional £250 million of high needs funding - £125 million for both 2018 to 2019 and 2019 to 2020. This is on top of the £6 billion already provided for the high needs budget.

A further £100 million is being invested to create more specialist places in mainstream schools, colleges and special schools, giving more children and young people with SEND, including those with SLCN, access to a good school or college place that meets their individual needs. This takes our total investment to £365 million across 2018 to 2021.