Steve Brine raised the issues of speech and language therapy in the House of Commons as he welcomed the release of the Justice Select Committee's Youth Justice Report on Thursday 14th March.
Based on evidence provided by the Royal College, 10% of children and young people in the general population have speech, communication and language needs, but the proportion of young offenders with difficulties in this area is around 65%.
Speaking afterwards, Steve said: "I recall hearing in the evidence how this very marked over representation is part of a "compounding risk model' which begins at a very early age.
"It is therefore vital that, as well as ensuring our youth justice system has access to speech and language therapists to help young people when they get into trouble, we'd be smart as a country to widen access to SLT's through the pre – and primary – school setting."