§ Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many speech therapists there should be employed in each region of England based on the Quirk Report recommendations of 1972; and how many are actually employed in each region at present.
§ Mr. DeakinsThe Quirk Report, "Speech Therapy Services" (HMSO, 1972), recommended a target provision for Great Britain of 2,500 full-time speech therapists. This represented a long-term planning target which took account of the use of speech therapy aids also recommended in the report. Equivalent regional target figures for each English health region, calculatedpro rata on the basis of the mid-1976 population estimate, are set out in the table below, together with the number of speech therapists employed in each region at 30th September 1975—whole-time equivalent—the latest date for which full figures are available.