UK Council on Deafness

June 2005 Parliamentary Report

In this Report

• Sign Lanaguage Courses - Commons Written Answers (6 Jun 2005)
• Deaf Pupils - Commons Written Answers (8 Jun 2005)
• National Lottery Bill - Commons Hansard (14 Jun 2005)
• Identity Cards - Commons Written Answers (20 Jun 2005)

Commons Written Answers (6 June 2005)
Sign Language Courses

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if she will take steps to increase the availability of courses teaching people to use sign language.

Maria Eagle: Information provided by the Council for the Advancement of Communication for Deaf People shows that in 2003-04 over 20,000 people were learning British sign language (BSL)—approximately 18,500 at level one, 400 at level two, 400 at level three and 200 at level four (including those studying at higher education (HE) institutions).

It is recognised that the demand for BSL courses is currently greater than the supply of provision. The main contributory factor is the recognised shortage of BSL tutors. That is why some of the £1.5 million made available by Government to support the recognition of BSL as a European language is being used to fund six initiatives, which will contribute to establishing a Great Britain wide framework to support the recruitment, training and deployment of BSL tutors. The aim is to enhance numbers, status and levels of qualification. The Learning and Skills Council is currently discussing with the DWP how it might work in partnership to assist in the development of the national framework. Funding is also being made available to support four initiatives which will promote access for BSL users through awareness-raising among employers, among service providers and in the wider community.

HE institutions are autonomous and so free to plan and deliver programmes as they wish. If they choose to run sign language courses, they may use funding provided through the HE Funding Council for England for this purpose. However, records are not kept centrally of the number of HE courses involving the teaching of sign language.

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Commons Written Answers  (8 Jun 2005)
Deaf Pupils

Malcolm Bruce: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) what research she has commissioned on the effects of matching teaching methods to the degree of deafness on the academic achievements of deaf and hard of hearing pupils;

(2) what research she has commissioned on academic achievements of deaf and hard of hearing pupils in (a) mainstream schools and (b) special schools and units.

Beverley Hughes: In 2003 the Department commissioned Cambridge and Manchester universities to carry out a joint study of teaching approaches for different types of special educational needs (SEN). The study found a large degree of overlap between different approaches—in essence, good teaching skills are much the same for all pupils, regardless of whether or not they have SEN, or the type of SEN.

That study did not include a detailed assessment of the effectiveness of different specialised approaches in teaching children with hearing impairment. We are considering what further work might be undertaken in that area.

From 2004 the Department has—as part of the Annual School Census—collected information on the type of Special Educational Need of individual pupils. This enables us to monitor the progress of pupils with different types of SEN, including those with hearing impairments, in various settings.

As with other categories of special need, it is important that parents of children with hearing impairment feel supported. The Department's Early Support Programme has published an information booklet for parents on hearing impairment. The Programme has also produced a monitoring protocol for deaf babies and children. This is designed to help families and professionals document the progress of children in the first three years or so after deafness has been identified

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Commons Hansard  (14 Jun 2005)
National Lottery Bill

Only 6 per cent. of the income of the top 500 charities comes from lottery sources, with the rest coming from public participation. The CAF's latest figures show that 43 per cent. of that income comes from individual giving, including standing orders and donations made as a result of direct marketing, telephone fundraising, community events and so on. They show that that 9 per cent. comes from legacies promoted in the same way, and that 4 per cent. comes from the trading of Christmas cards and gifts. In total, 56 per cent. of the income of the top 500 is effectively driven by appeals for popular causes to the general public. Another 13 per cent. comes from grant-making trusts and corporate donors, who are driven by popular opinion about the best causes. In many cases, companies try to find the best fit with their own customers or hold polls among their staff to decide which charities to support. I remember conducting a survey during my professional career which found that, overwhelmingly, cancer and children were the causes that received the most support.

The CAF's latest figures underline the fact that the most popular causes dominate the sector. International charities receive £654 million a year; cancer charities £417 million a year; while children's charities are sixth in the list and receive £321 million. However, we should be concerned about the less popular causes at the other end of the spectrum. The HIV/AIDS charities receive £13 million; charities for the deaf £33 million; and mental health charities only £56 million. One might expect the elderly to be a popular cause, but only £92 million was raised by such charities, a sum dwarfed by the sums raised by the most popular causes.

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Mr. Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the likely effects of identity cards on vulnerable groups in society.

Mr. McNulty: We are taking close consideration of the needs of vulnerable groups in designing the requirements for the identity cards system.

The Special Issues ID cards research conducted at the end of 2004 and the United Kingdom Passport Service biometric enrolment trial published in May 2005 have consulted a range of faith, race and nationality groups as well as stakeholders representing people with disabilities and disadvantaged groups (for example organisations representing blind people, deaf people, the elderly and physically and mentally disabled, transgender groups, Gypsies or the homeless).

Consultations with groups representing more vulnerable groups in society will continue to ensure that their requirements are fed into the design of the scheme.

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