UK Council on Deafness

April 2004 Parliamentary Report

In this Report

• Deaf People - Commons Written Answers (19 Apr 2004)
• Mental Health - Commons Written Answers (19 Apr 2004)
• Disability Living Allowance - Commons Written Answers (28 Apr 2004)
• Cinema Facilities: Culture, Media and Sport - Commons Written Answers (28 Apr 2004)

Commons Written Answers (19 Apr 2004)
Deaf People

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how measures included in the initiative on choice in the NHS will benefit deaf people.

Dr. Ladyman: "Building on the Best: Choice, Responsiveness and Equity in the NHS" draws out the main themes that emerged from the recent consultation on what changes would do the most to improve the experience of healthcare for patients, users and cares. The Department is planning to produce an accessible summary of the document for deaf people. "Building on the Best" emphasised that there must be flexible arrangements for people to access services that respond to their needs in the round rather than a response that isolates their health needs and that communications barriers must be dismantled.

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Commons Written Answers (19 Apr 2004)
Mental Health

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will assess the number of mentally disordered offenders who are deaf.

Ms Rosie Winterton: There are two specialist mental health facilities for deaf mentally disordered offenders. These are at Rampton Hospital, a high secure hospital, which accommodates up to 10 individuals and Mayflower Hospital, an independent medium secure hospital, which has places for up to 40.

There will also be some deaf people in prison. The exact number is not known because no statistics are collected. The best available estimate is that 0.1 per cent., of the prison population will have some degree of hearing loss and that there may be between 50 and 100 who are profoundly deaf. Of these, up to a third may have mental health problems. These figures are, however, estimates and should be treated with caution.

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Commons Written Answers (28 Apr 2004)
Disability Living Allowance

Mr. Willetts: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many claimants for disability living allowance there were, broken down by (a) type of disability and (b) amount spent on each group in each year since the introduction of disability living allowance.

Maria Eagle: The information is in the tables.

Numbers of people receiving disability living allowance (DLA) as at 31 August each year, broken down by type of disability.

Extract from table:

Deafness 8,100 in 1992;
9,300 in 1993;
10,100 in 1994;
11,800 in 1995;
13,900 in 1996;
16,700 in 1997;
20,400 in 1998;
22,900 in 1999;
24,100 in 2000;
26,900 in 2001;
28,900 in 2002;
30,800 in 2003.

Source:

Information and Analysis Directorate, estimated number of claimants in receipt of Disability Living Allowance based on data from the Quarterly Statistical Enquiry at 31 August in each year.

Estimated expenditure on disability living allowance (DLA) in each financial year, broken down by type of disability.

Extract from table:

Disability type

Deafness £18 million in 1992-93;
£24 million in 1993-94;
£25 million in 1994-95;
£29 million in 1995-96;
£35 million in 1996-97;
£39 million in 1997-98;
£46 million in 1998-99;
£51 million in 1999-2000;
£54 million in 2000-01;
£62 million in 2001-02;
£66 million in 2002-03;
£70 million in 2003-04;

Note:

Source:

Information and Analysis Directorate, Great Britain estimated expenditure on Disability Living Allowance in each financial year and disability type.

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Commons Written Answers (28 Apr 2004)
Culture, Media and Sport
Cinema Facilities

Mr. Bellingham: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what requirements there are on cinemas to provide facilities for deaf people.

Estelle Morris: The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) requires service providers to ensure access to their goods and services. However, such things as the provision of subtitles are likely to fall under the remit of product or service design, which is not currently covered under the auspices of the DDA.

As part of its £500,000 National Lottery funded Cinema Access Programme, the UK Film Council's Distribution and Exhibition Fund has allocated £350,000 towards a pilot project for the installation of captioning and audio-description equipment in 78 cinemas across England.

A web-based film information service, www.yourlocalcinema.com has also received £50,000 over three years to inform those with sensory impairments about films being screened at local cinemas in England.

£60,000 has been allocated to assist distributors films with lower marketing budgets meet the cost of audio description and subtitling of prints.

Finally, £40,000 has been earmarked for a research project that will look into consumer issues relating to the current technical means of overcoming the barriers faced by customers with sensory impairments.

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