Speech and language services to receive cash boost

The money will go towards developing a specialist centre, in West Yorkshire, which will provide early intervention and support for children and young people with a stammer.

Children's Secretary Ed Balls announced the support at the launch of the Association for Research into Stammering in Childhood Appeal, which will aim to raise a further £2m to expand services in London's Michael Palin Centre, which has a team of 11 speech and language therapists.

Balls said: "I want every child to get the support they need to be able to progress and reach their potential, and no young boy or girl should be held back by a stammer or any other special need. If children with a stammer get the right specialist help early on, they can very often overcome any difficulties and go on to excel at school and in later life."

Monty Python actor Michael Palin, vice president of the Association for Research into Stammering in Childhood said: "My own experience of my father's stammer made me determined to support the charity's aim - that every child in the country should be able to get specialist help.

"I am immensely proud of all we have achieved at the Michael Palin Centre but there are many more children who need us. 

"Together we can help to change the lives of many more children and make sure that, unlike my father, they are spared the agony of a lifelong stammer."