questionText: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many children were receiving auditory verbal therapy in England as of 6 October 2023; if his Department will make an estimate of the number of deaf children in England who might benefit from such therapy; if his Department will make an assessment of the (a) accessibility of auditory verbal therapy to deaf children through the NHS and (b) potential social return on further investment in that therapy; and whether his Department has plans to provide investment to train an additional 300 specialist therapists as recommended by Auditory Verbal UK.
answerText: Data regarding the number of children receiving Auditory Verbal Therapy (AVT) in England is not held centrally. According to the National Deaf Children’s Society, there are over 50,000 deaf children in England. There are currently no plans to make an esti...
heading: Speech and Language Therapy: Children