Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Speech and Language Therapies

Monday 1 December 2025 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 2 Not answered 0

Key points

  • The Department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
  • In this financial year, the Department has put 1 billion into the high needs budget and 740 million into specialist places around the country.
  • The Department is committed to helping schools provide an inclusive service, and further plans will be set out in the schools White Paper.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Josh Fenton-Glynn Lab Calder Valley
Children & Families
Context

Currently, about 60,000 children are waiting for their first speech and language therapy appointment, some for over a year. This issue is due to poor collaboration between health and education services.

Question

What steps her Department is taking to help ensure that specialist speech and language therapies are available to children with education, health and care plans? Currently about 60,000 children are waiting for their first speech and language therapy appointment, and some are waiting for over a year. As with a lot of SEND problems, this happens because health and education are not working that well together. Can the Minister tell me what we are doing to bring allied health professionals—including speech and language therapists—closer to schools, so that families do not fall through the cracks?

Answer from The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)

The Department is working closely with the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The Minister welcomed the opportunity to discuss this issue with her hon. Friend last week and agreed about the need for partners to work together to fix the SEND system.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not provide specific actions or timelines for bringing allied health professionals closer to schools.

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Q2 Iqbal Mohamed Ind Dewsbury and Batley
Children & Families
Context

Kirklees faces severe pressures in relation to high needs and SEND provision, including long waits for EHCP assessments and strained specialist support.

Question

My constituency sits in Kirklees, which continues to face some of the most severe pressures in the country in relation to high needs and SEND provision, including long waits for EHCP assessments and strained specialist support. What additional resources will the Department provide to ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities in areas such as my constituency receive timely and proper support?

Answer from The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)

In this financial year we have already put £1 billion into the high needs budget and £740 million into specialist places around the country. We are committed to helping schools to provide an inclusive service, and we will be setting out more plans in the schools White Paper.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The Minister did not specify what additional resources would be provided specifically for Kirklees or other areas facing high pressures.

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