With fewer Speech and Language Therapists per head of population in Wales than in any other part of the UK, and with the Youth Justice Board identifying that 71% of sentenced children have speech, language or communication needs, North Wales MS Mark Isherwood put forward a Welsh Conservative motion yesterday backing calls from the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists to increase the number of Speech and Language Therapists in Wales and improve workforce planning for the profession.
The motion called on the Welsh Government to: a) establish a clear, sustainable funding model for speech and language therapists within youth justice teams across Wales; and b) work with the UK Government to mandate the presence of a speech and language therapist in all youth justice teams as a statutory requirement.
Leading the debate, Mr Isherwood said:
“Having battled 24 years ago to secure speech and language therapy for one of my children, I know how critical it is for young lives and life chances.
“There is strong international evidence that the incidence of speech, language and communication needs is much more prevalent in the offending population than in the general population and, as our motion notes, the most recent statistics from the Youth Justice Board show that 71% of children sentenced in the youth justice system in England and Wales had Speech, language and communication needs. This compares to an estimated 10 per cent for children and young people as a whole.
“Those who enter the youth justice system often do so from settings where their communication needs have not been previously identified. Only 5% had their communication needs identified prior to their entry to the Youth Justice System. The implications for a young person with Speech, language and communication needs within the Youth Justice System can be profound.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“Access to speech language and communication support for children was a theme across recent inspection reports from Conwy and Denbighshire, Gwynedd and Ynys Môn and Flintshire. All three youth justice partnerships received direct recommendations to address the gap identified in this provision and ensure that services are provided which assess and respond to children’s communication needs. This requires urgent investment and long-term workforce planning, to end the postcode lottery of services across Wales for some of our most vulnerable young people.”
Mr Isherwood went on to refer to the Royal College’s recent ‘State of the Nation’ report on “The Speech and Language Therapy Workforce in Wales”, which revealed that demand for speech and language therapy for children and adults is growing significantly. He emphasised that Wales is only training 55 Speech and Language Therapists a year across two higher education institutions.
Mr Isherwood went on to list the Royal College’s calls, which include “Sustainable funding for speech and language therapy services to meet growing demand” , and “better, more sophisticated workforce planning for the profession as part of the preventative agenda, taking account of the need to meet standards and demand from sectors including justice”.