PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Health Services: Children (6 September 2018)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans Public Health England has have to improve the (a) commissioning guidance and (b) support for the speech, language and communication elements in the Healthy Child Programme.

Asked by:
Matt Western (Labour)

The Healthy Child Programme (HCP) 0-19 commissioning guidance was refreshed and published in March 2018.

To address the “word gap” between children from the wealthiest and poorest families, and to support the speech, language and communication elements of the HCP, Public Health England has formed a partnership with the Department for Education to deliver a programme of work which will include:

- Training for health visitors on speech, language and communication needs;

- The introduction of an early language assessment tool to support clinical decision-making; and

- The development of a model speech language and communication pathway for services for children zero to five years built on the best evidence and experience of implementation in practice.

Answered by:
Dame Jackie Doyle-Price (Conservative)
11 September 2018