§ Mr. Alan CampbellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many speech and language therapists are employed in the national health service. [36776]
§ Jacqui SmithI apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in responding to this question. I refer the hon. Member to the reply that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State gave my hon. Friend the Member for Blackpool, North and Fleetwood (Mrs. Humble) on 5 March 2002,Official Report, column 192W.
As at 30 September 2001 there were 5,680 qualified speech and language therapists employed in the national health service.
This represents an increase of 17 per cent. more speech language therapists since 1997.