§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what guidance she has given to schools and local education authorities about gaining access to speech therapy services for children with relevant special education needs. [51054]
§ Mr. Ivan Lewis[holding answer 18 April 2002]: Access to speech and language therapy services is covered in Chapter 8 of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Code of Practice, published by the Department in November 2001. There is also a booklet on the role of health professionals in the SEN Toolkit which issued alongside the code.
Under the SEN category of the Standards Fund, grant support is available to all English local education authorities to enhance speech and language therapy services in conjunction with the NHS and voluntary sector. Such support was recommended in the report of 84W the working group on the provision of speech and language therapy services to children with SEN, published in November 2000.