Speech Impairment: Children

Mrs. Maria Miller
To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many and what proportion of three and four-year olds have received a pre-school assessment of speech and language abilities in the last 12 months.

Dawn Primarolo
Information on treatment received from speech language therapists (SLT) provided by the national health service is not collected centrally. The Department collects data by consultant led specialties. SLT is not a consultant led speciality. The Government’s objective is to balance the need for data against the burden that data collection places on the NHS.