Speeches by Dalton.

“Absolutely.”

“I do not have the specific timescale on that, but I can come back to you on it.”

“Right across DHSC, NHS England and the Department for Education, we are working to improve access to community health services, including speech and language therapy for children, because we do recognise that that can be improved. We are identifying examples of innovation and improvement, and what you described in Blac…”

“Well, we expect business to do that, because obviously, if they do not, they will face further measures. The conversations we have had with the industry suggest that they are willing to explore this. They want to do that in a co-operative way, and we are supporting them to do that.”

“We are not going to be issuing a written report on that, but we do remain in conversation with the industry.”

“Yes, so it might be worth you talking a little bit about that, but before we move on to that, I want to say that that is a specific piece of funding. Susie will be able to talk specifically about it, but we do want to make sure that we are supporting families to create a language-rich home environment. Family hubs will…”

“Obviously we remain in contact with the industry, and we will continue to have conversations with them through that 18-month period to ensure that progress is being made and to respond to any issues that they raise with us about what is getting in the way. But there are currently no plans to issue public reports on the…”

“We want business to work with us, and we need them to co-operate. So we work iteratively and communicate with business, and we can respond quickly to any concerns that they have. Issuing reports is not necessarily helpful given that timescale, because we know that changing the formulation of their products, marketing t…”

“We can look at a variety of options that do not require primary legislation, so we will be exploring those as we see how this is being rolled out by the industry. It does not necessarily mean that that will require primary legislation, which I am sure is what you are referring to in terms of the timescales in Parliamen…”

“There are already very strict nutritional guidelines for baby food—you cannot have artificial sweeteners and so on. That is already in place. We have put 18 months because the process for the industry to potentially reformulate their products, test those products and get them on the shelves can have quite a long lead-i…”

“That is a very specific—”

“I am not sure that that is exactly how it is. We recognise that early detection of speech and language issues is vital. We have invested £3.4 million this year in the Early Language Support for Every Child programme, which is designed to support children in early years and primary school settings, and we continue to bu…”

“It may do, but there are a variety of methods that we could look at.”

“We will be looking at what we can put in place if industry does not respond. What we really want to do is to work with industry—that is why we have put the guidelines in place; the feedback from industry has been relatively positive. We will keep that under review and we will keep monitoring how that is being rolled ou…”

“We had the previous service and, as you have identified, we are in the middle of evaluating it. That will report next year. This is a mission-led Government, which is about making sure that Government is joined up and not siloed. It continues as a joint project between the Department of Health and Social Care and the D…”

“We will be reviewing how that is delivered. What we have said very clearly is that if the industry does not take adequate steps to meet those guidelines, we reserve the right to review that and then put in place mandatory guidelines, if necessary. So, yes, we will be reviewing labelling and marketing as well, because t…”

“As you have identified, we have issued new guidance not only on sugar and salt but on marketing and labelling. The industry has got 18 months to—”

“Absolutely, yes.”

“Yes. We are looking at that data so that we can monitor waiting times by age, which we have not been able to do in the past.”

“Obviously, we have got our electives plan which was published in January and sets the targets for an 18-week referral to treatment for all patients; that includes children and young people. One of the big issues that you have identified is actually being able to identify the data. We have recognised that we have not be…”