§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if his Department issues guidance or minimum standards on how many speech therapists should be employed in relation to population.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe Quirk report recommended in 1972 that there should be an increase to six speech therapists per 100,000 population by 1992. At that time the ratio was 1.76 and had reached 4.6 by 1984, the latest year for which figures in this detail are available.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what reports or research has been undertaken by his Department on speech therapy.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe following research projects have been supported by the Department since March 1980:—
Miss M. E. Wynter and Mrs. S. P. Martin, Central School of Speech and Drama, London: Numerical Classification of Deviant Voice Quality (completed).Mrs. M. Eversham and Dr. F. Fransella, Hertfordshire Area Health Authority: An Investigation of the Effect of Stuttering Relapse Rate of a Combined Programme of Training in Special Technique and Psychological Reconstruction (completed).Dr. D. Bainton, Miss R. David, Frenchay Hospital, Bristol: Evaluation of the Levels of Outcome in Stroke Patients with Dysphasia who are treated by either Speech Therapists or Volunteers (completed).Dr. K. E. Patterson, Dr. J. Morton, MRC Applied Psychology Unit, Cambridge: Efficacy of Cues for Word Finding in Aphasia—Implications for Therapy and Theory (completed).Dr. M. C. Fairhurst, University of Kent: A User-Orientated and Adaptively Structured Therapy Aid for the Speech-Impaired Child (completed).Miss M. E. Edwards, Nottingham Health Authority: Criteria of Selection of Children for Speech Therapy (completed).502WDr. P. Grunwell and Dr. J. Connolly, Leicester Polytechnic School of Speech Therapy. Development of Objective Procedures in Assessment and Planning for Phonological Disability in Children 1983–1986 (September).Dr. M. A. Chamberlain, University of Leeds: Communication Aids Provision 1983–1986 (November).
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to initiate new research into the value and role of speech therapists.
§ Mr. WhitneyExperience shows that it would not be appropriate to attempt broadly based research into the value of the work of speech therapists; rather, attention needs to be focused on individual treatment techniques dealing with different types of speech and language disability.
We are in the process of commissioning a project to evaluate the work of communication aids centres and this will show the contribution of speech therapists in the fast-developing field of communication aids.
We have no plans at present for initiating further research.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) how many speech therapist posts have been frozen in the past 18 months;
(2) how many speech therapist posts have been completely withdrawn in the past 18 months.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe complement of speech therapists is a matter for decision by each health authority in the light of its assessment of service needs and available resources. We have no information centrally on the many decisions taken in this context.