Oral Question·Department for Education
“What steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that local authorities in financial difficulty can deliver effective speech and language therapy for children with SEND.”
Tabled: 24 February 2026Answered: 2 March 2026
Asked by
Mrs Elsie Blundell
Labour — Heywood and Middleton North
Answering Minister
the Secretary of State for Education
Answer from Hansard
The Minister for School Standards (Georgia Gould)
I have talked to so many families who have had to watch their children fall further behind without the speech and language support they need. Alongside measures to address local authority deficits, we are providing £1.8 billion over the next three years for local areas to develop a new “experts at hand” offer, providing mainstream education settings with access to support from services including speech and language therapy.