I am very pleased to have been asked by Ed Balls and Alan Johnson to lead this review. It is the first major review in seven years for people with speech, language and communication needs and it provides an excellent opportunity to bolster support for vulnerable children and young people.
The remit of the Review is broad and challenging, as the Terms of Reference show. I am determined, with the help of expert advisors, to see and hear for myself what the present situation is and how we can improve the support available.
Since the Review was launched in September 2007, we have gathered evidence from a wide range of sources:
- in October 2007, we issued a consultation questionnaire to which we received over 2,000 responses - including almost 1,000 from families - by the January 2008 deadline;
- we staged a series of consultation groups to hear views about, for example, young offenders’ communication difficulties and the plight of those who need Alternative and Augmentative Communication aids to express themselves. In addition, we listened in further consultation groups to the voices of parents, children and young people in locations across the country; and
- we visited Children’s Centres, nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools from London to Sussex, from Buckinghamshire to Kent, from Leicester to Manchester, from Oxford to Nottingham, from Essex to Salford and from Newcastle to Norwich to Plymouth. In the process, we many children, young people and their parents, teachers, special needs coordinators, classroom assistants, speech and language therapists, together with other Primary Care Trust and local authority staff.
I have now published the Review’s interim report, setting out our initial findings and areas for further consideration (download the interim report).
Between now and July, when the Review’s final report will be published, we will consider the key issues raised in the report (see “next steps” at the end of each chapter), how best they can be addressed and the form of the recommendations we will make to Government.
I am very grateful to everyone who has taken time to contribute to the Review.
John Bercow
The Bercow Review is an independent review supported by officials from the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department of Health.
