The Secretary of State for Health and I today welcome the publication of the Bercow report on services for children and young people with speech, language and communications needs (SLCN). A copy of the report will be placed in the Library.

In September 2007, we asked John Bercow MP to advise us on the range of universal and specialist services to best identify and meet the diversity of needs of children and young people with SLCN; how planning and performance management arrangements and effective co-operation between Government Departments and responsible local agents can be used to promote early intervention and to improve services; and examples of good practice in commissioning and delivering services which are responsive to the needs of children, young people and families.

We welcomed the interim report that John Bercow MP published on 20 March 2008, which identified five key themes: communication is crucial; early identification and intervention are essential; the need for a continuum of services, designed around the family; that joint working between agencies is critical; and the current system is characterised by high levels of variability and a lack of equity.

The final Bercow report, published today, sets out 40 recommendations to improve services for children with SLCN under these five themes. We support fully the report’s call for action to raise the profile of speech, language and communications across Government, local agencies and wider society and to improve services for children and young people with SLCN.

We accept the report's key recommendations:

Improve understanding that communication is critical through the creation of a Communication Council, to monitor and support implementation of the recommendations, and a Communication Champion to lead on awareness raising, including a National Year of Speech, Language and Communication by 2011; a set of measures to improve information, support and advice to parents about the importance of speech, language and communications, including through the Child Health Promotion Programme;

Ensure early identification and intervention through monitoring of children to identify potential SLCN across the age range; reviewing the Personal Child Health Record so that there is a clear record of a child’s speech development; and promoting examples of how barriers to pupils with SLCN accessing the curriculum have been overcome.

How to design a continuum of services around the family by developing a joint commissioning framework for universal, targeted and specialist services through pathfinders, supported by other action to build on the national service framework standard for disabled children and young people; the current review of the Dedicated School Grant should consider how the funding system supports the delivery of services for children with SLCN; the new Masters in Teaching and Learning has core elements and a module including speech, language and communication; and that there should be a programme of research to enhance the evidence base for improving outcomes for children with SLCN.

How to promote more and better joint working through effective functioning of children’s trusts, including a recommendation to them to appoint a senior lead on speech, language and communication issues.

How to ensure greater consistency and equity for families by better monitoring of performance by commissioners and publication of accessible data, for instance on educational attainment by children with SLCN.

The “Child Health Strategy”, which will be published in September, will seek to address the real issues that the report has raised about the commissioning and provision of equipment and aids for children with complex needs.

We are announcing today that the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Department for Health will together commit £12 million to lead action to take forward the recommendations up to and including the National Year of Speech, Language and Communication by 2011. In addition, the DCSF are investing £40 million in the “Every Child A Talker” programme, to ensure that early years practitioners are better able to access training and materials to support children’s speaking and listening skills from birth to 5. My Department has already asked Sir Jim Rose to examine how schools can better focus on speech, language and communication as part of his review of the primary curriculum.

A full implementation plan will be produced in the autumn.

The Secretary of State for Health and I thank John Bercow MP, and his expert advisers, for the way the review was conducted, with extensive consultations and a programme of visits; it provides a benchmark for future reviews. The recommendations in the final report have the potential to transform the lives of children and young people with SLCN and their families and we are committed to delivering the changes required to achieve this.