§ Mr. WilsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list his Department's policy on the provision of speech therapy for children with special educational needs; and if he is satisfied that this policy is being implemented throughout Scotland.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonEducation authorities have a statutory duty to ensure appropriate provision of speech therapy where this has been identified as a special educational need in a child's record of needs. Under new arrangements which came into force in 1992, all education authorities now contract with health boards for the provision of speech therapy services to meet the needs of recorded children and an additional £2 million was included in the local government financial settlement for 1992–93 for this purpose.
These new arrangements have been very effective. However, when we implemented them we did not know whether the amount of money set aside would be sufficient. We therefore undertook a joint review of costs with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities and, following that review, we have concluded that an annual amount of £3 million is needed to provide fully for speech therapy for children with records of needs. As a result, I am announcing today that an additional £1 million is being included in the local government settlement for 1994–95 for this purpose.
I am confident that these extra resources will ensure that some of our less fortunate children receive the assistance we are all so concerned they should have.