Children's secretary Ed Balls and care services minister Phil Hope announced a £5m package of measures, including a £1.5m, three-year research programme, led by the University of Warwick, which will investigate whether interventions for children with speech, language and communication needs are cost-effective.
The funding is part of the Government's Better Communication action plan, published in December as a response to the findings of the Bercow review, which made 40 key recommendations on how to improve services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (News, 17 December 2008).
Other measures include a £2m pilot scheme to identify good practice in providing support for children through joint working of organisations such as PCTs and local authorities. The 16 pilot areas have been named as Trafford, Walsall, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, North Tyneside, Oxfordshire, Plymouth, Southampton, Hertfordshire, Hounslow, Lambeth, London Specialised Commissioning Group, North Lincolnshire, Devon, Hackney and Hartlepool.
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