The Queens Speech 2002
The only time I gave a speech to an entirely packed House of Commons was when I had the honour of seconding the Queens speech. Half of the cabinet wrote to me to tell me it was a great speech, and at the risk of sounding like a megalomaniac I wouldn't disagree...
Ms Oona King (Bethnal Green and Bow): I second the motion. It is a particular pleasure to follow my right hon. Friend the Member for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley (Mr. Foulkes).
Tony Worthington (Clydebank and Milngavie): Well said.
Ms King: I was coming to that. I have taken some time in preparing my speech, most of it spent practising saying the name of my right hon. Friend's constituency.
Speech & language therapy provision debate
Ms Oona King (Bethnal Green and Bow): I am delighted and relieved to have secured this debate on speech and language therapy provision, because, since my election in 1997, I have met many families who are waging a war with the system, trying to get their children the treatment that they need. I have asked for this debate to explain directly to the Minister the frustration and injustice that many of my constituents feel.
They believe, and I agree, that their children's education and life chances are being irreparably damaged because they cannot access speech and language therapy. I would like to set out the importance of speech and language therapy, which has a basic objective: to enable people to communicate. Without effective communication, people are excluded; not just from a social conversation, but from their families, their school environment and society. If children cannot communicate properly, they cannot be educated properly.
