Giving Voice Westminster Rally

An enormous thank you from us, the RCSLT, to everybody who took part in the Giving Voice Mass Mobilisation Westminster Event on Tuesday 18th October and for making it such a success.

We were thrilled at how many of you turned out – and impressed by the number of MPs who took the time to see you. (View our interactive map to see where people travelled from to attend the event.)

Some headlines from the day:
• 255 Speech and Language Therapists and service users turned up for the Giving Voice rally
• Over 100 MPs were met – in private meetings, at our event within parliament and via the green card system
• Over 400 tweets which included the hashtag #givingvoiceuk were published during the day (keep them coming!) Why not tweet your MP.


Robert Buckland MP (our newly crowned Giving Voice Politician of the Year) used Prime Minister’s Questions to ask David Cameron if the government supports the Giving Voice campaign.

Taken from the Parliament UK website:

'Mr Robert Buckland (South Swindon) (Con): Will my right hon. Friend join me in supporting the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists “giving voice” campaign, which rightly emphasises the central importance of speech, language and communication in tackling a wide range of social issues?

The Prime Minister: I will certainly join my hon. Friend in doing that, and I know that you, Mr Speaker, take a close personal interest in this issue as well. Anyone who has brought up disabled children knows the vital importance of speech and language therapists. They also know that there are often not enough of them to provide all the help and services we need, and that getting their services through the statementing process can be extremely tough. I therefore certainly agree with what my hon. Friend says.'

Relive the rally through the presentations shown on the day. Watch the montage of photos (please allow a few moments for the file to download) showing just some of the highlights so far in the Giving Voice campaign and the brief but poignant video which demonstrates how Speech and Language Therapy transforms lives.

Watch Geoffrey Rush's speech from the Giving Voice Rally

Please do share with us your photos from the day. If you upload them to Facebook, please tag the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists or post them to our wall. You can also upload them to the Giving Voice gallery and video gallery on our website page.

The event appeared in the Guardian Society Daily. (Scroll down towards the end to read the article).

The day’s events were covered in the December Bulletin, with November’s focusing on the Giving Voice Awards. 

Keep your eyes open to find out what’s next for RCSLT campaigning.