§ Mr. Cartwrightasked the Secretary of State for Social Services how many vacancies for speech therapists in (a) inner London, (b) Greater London and (c) England and Wales remained unfilled at the most recent convenient date; and what steps are being taken to recruit or train speech therapists.
§ Mr. NewtonI regret that information on vacancy levels is not collected centrally. Recruitment of speech therapists is a matter for individual health authorities. Training of speech therapists takes place within institutions of higher education on courses recognised (under S.I. 1985 No. 47) by the College of Speech Therapists as providing suitable training for work in the National Health Service. The number of people entering employment as speech therapists with health authorities has recently been rising by about 9 per cent. a year.