HC Deb 25 February 2002 vol 380 cc1022-3W
Mr. Alan Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many vacancies there are for speech and language therapists in the National Health Service. [36771]

Mr. Hutton

The information requested in shown in the table.

Department of health, 2001 three month vacancies speech and language therapists
England
Three month vacancy number 200
Three month vacancy rate (percentage) 4.7
Staff in post 4,210

Notes:

  1. 1. Three month vacancies are vacancies as at 31 March 2001 which trusts are actively trying to fill, which had lasted for three months or more (whole time equivalents)
  2. 2. Three month vacancy rates are three month vacancies expressed as a percentage of three month vacancies plus staff in post from the September 2000 medical and dental and non-medical workforce censuses (whole time equivalent)
  3. 3. Staff in post is from the September 2001 non-medical workforce census
  4. 4. Numbers are rounded to the nearest ten
  5. 5. England totals include staff from Special Health Authorities

Source: Department of Health Vacancies Survey, March 2001 and HCHS Non-Medical Workforce Census September 2001

Mr. Alan Campbell

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has to make speech and language therapy a statutory service. [36775]

Mr. Hutton

Speech and language therapists are a recognised profession, which have been state regulated since 1999. We have no plans for the service to be based in statute.