UK Council on Deafness

October 2005 Parliamentary Report

In this Report

• Hearing Loss - Commons Written Answers (5 Oct 2005)
• Continuing Care - Deaf/Blind Disabilities - Commons Written Answers (10 Oct 2005)
• Special Needs Teachers - Lords Written Answers (10 Oct 2005)
• Smoke Alarms - Commons Hansard Debates (12 Oct 2005)
• Sign Language - Commons Written Answers (14 Oct 2005)
• Deaf Children - Commons Written Answers (18 Oct 2005)
• Select Committee on BBC Charter Review - Lords Written Evidence (18 Oct 2005)
• Identity Cards - Commons Written Answers (18 Oct 2005)
• Private Sector (NHS) - Commons Debates (19 Oct 2005)
• Council Tax - Commons Written Answers (21 Oct 2005)
• Futurebuilbers - Commons Written Debates (21 Oct 2005)
• Digital Hearing Aids - Commons Written Answers (24 Oct 2005)
• Other - Uncorrected Evidence (25 Oct 2005)
• Child Cancer Drugs - Commons Written Answers (28 Oct 2005)
• Rights of Passengers - European Select Committee
• Science and Technology - Human Genome Research
• Technologies for Indpendence in Later Life
• Maintaining and Improving Britains Railway Stations - Report

Commons Written Answers  (5 Oct 2005)
Industrial Injuries (Hearing Loss)

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (1) how many claims for industrial injuries disablement benefit have been made on the basis of hearing loss in each year since 1995; and how many were successful;

(2) what percentage of (a) claims for industrial injuries disablement benefit (IIDB) and (b) IIDB claims awarded were for hearing loss in each year since 1995.

Margaret Hodge: The available information is in the tables.

Claims are based on a 10 percent sample up to 31 March 2002 and on a 100 percent count thereafter.
Assessments are based on 100 percent count and rounded to the nearest 5 to ensure anonymity.
Figures are for 9 months only.
Figures for 2004 are provisional.
The number of assessments may not relate to claims during the same period.
Figures relate to Industrial Disease as data on assessments for accidents was not collected prior to April 2002.
The figures for assessments for all prescribed diseases do not include cases where the level of disablement is below the threshold for receiving Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
The figures for assessments for occupational deafness show all cases where there is a level of disablement assessed as, due to the nature of the scheme, all assessments for occupational deafness have to be at least 20 percent and therefore above the threshold for receiving Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
Source:
DWP Information Directorate.

Roger Berry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the evidential basis was for setting (a) the lower threshold for hearing loss caused by noise at work at 50db when assessing claims and (b) a three-year time limit for hearing loss industrial injuries disablement benefit.

Margaret Hodge: The 50db threshold for benefit payment was set following the advice of experts in audio logy and the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council who determined that this level of loss equated to 20 percent disablement in the Industrial Injuries Scheme.

The Industrial Injuries Advisory Council advised that noise-induced hearing loss is only slowly progressive. Thus a person whose claim for disablement benefit has been disallowed is unlikely to suffer deterioration in their hearing loss due to noise to the degree that they fulfil the criteria for diagnosing occupational deafness (prescribed disease (PD) A10) in less than three years.

A claim cannot be made less than three years after the previous disallowance of a claim. This is because the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council advised that noise-induced deafness is only slowly progressive. A person who fails to fulfil the diagnostic criterion of a 50dB loss is unlikely to suffer deterioration in their hearing loss due to noise to the degree that they fulfil the criteria in less than three years.

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Commons Written Answers   (10 Oct 2005)
Continuing Care
Deaf/Blind Disabilities

Anne Main: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what services are available for those with deafblind disabilities within Hertfordshire; and if she will make a statement;

(2) what intervenor services are supplied specifically to children affected with deafblind or similar disabilities within Hertfordshire; and if she will make a statement.

Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is not collected centrally.

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Lords Written Answers   (10 Oct 2005)
Special Needs Teachers

Lord Baker of Dorking asked Her Majesty's Government:

How many teachers in England are trained to specialise in meeting the educational needs of deaf children; (b) how many such teachers are employed by each education authority in England; and (c) what is their estimate of the number of such teachers needed in England;

Lord Adonis: The information requested on the numbers of teachers trained and the numbers in service is not collected centrally. No estimate of the numbers of teachers needed has been made

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Commons Hansard Debates (12 Oct 2005)
Smoke Alarms

Paul Rowen (Rochdale) (LD):

There are a couple of other areas where there is a need to bring about improvements, and which I have been asked to raise. One of them is the provision of smoke alarms for deaf people. More than 2 million people in this country suffer deafness that requires a hearing aid, and 450,000 of them suffer severe hearing loss and would be unlikely to hear a conventional alarm. Earlier this year, for the first time ever there was a deaf awareness week, during which local brigades worked to raise awareness of the importance of smoke alarms, and in particular of the types of vibrating alarms that deaf people require. I ask the Minister to consider making that an annual requirement as part of the fire service plan, because there is a need for us to continue to reach such people

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Jim Fitzpatrick) :

I hear the hon. Gentleman's request to include in the gas engineer's visit the examination of smoke alarms. I will look into that and write to him in due course. He also raised the question of smoke alarms for the deaf, which, incidentally, reminded me that I had not put my hearing aid in this morning, so I thank him for that. Specialist alarms are already provided under the smoke alarm initiative. They exist and many are being fitted throughout the country. The National Community Fire Safety Centre supports the fire and rescue service's involvement in deaf awareness week, which is another dimension of their activity. Fire services should consider local needs and prioritisation within their integrated risk management plans and strongly encourage all forms of additional protection.

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Commons Written Answers  (14 Oct 2005)
Sign Language

David Taylor: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what guidance is provided to local authority social service departments on the provision of sign language services for adults who have learning disabilities.

Mr. Byrne: The Government recognise British Sign Language (BSL) as a language in its own right.

The Department of Health does not issue guidance to local authorities on the provision of sign language for adults who have learning disabilities. However, we would expect all local authority social services departments to take the communication needs of the population into account when providing services.

The Disability Rights Commission published guidance in 2004 on how social services should comply with the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) in relation to communicating with deaf people who use BSL, including people who have a hearing impairment who also have a learning disability.

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Commons Written Answers (18 Oct 2005)
Deaf Children

Mr. Peter Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children suffering from deafness have been in full-time education in Northern Ireland in each year that figures have been recorded.

Angela E. Smith: The requested information is as follows:

Figures prior to 2002-03 were only collected in respect of children with a statement of special educational needs

UNCORRECTED TRANSCRIPT OF ORAL EVIDENCE To be published as HC 479-i

House of COMMONS

Sir David Normington: I think investment needs to continue to go into special units and special schools. It is important that we try to design a system which meets the needs of each individual child. Sometimes that will be a special school. Sometimes that will be a special unit for particularly badly behaved children and that will be off-site. Sometimes that will be a unit on site. We have put a lot of money into developing on-site provision. I think that some of the things that we have done in the special needs area to invest in special provision on site in the schools is a very good way of going. We all have these anecdotes, but I saw a school which had a special unit for dealing with children who had various problems of deafness, and what you are able to do if you have those special units is you are both able to provide them with special support in the school and you are also able to enable them to join in with the other activities in the school as well. Clearly there is a need for some children to be in special schools. We do not have a policy of closing down all special schools and forcing those children into mainstream schools. We have a policy of trying to have special schools, special on-site units and also, where that is feasible, support for children in the classroom. It ought to be a mix of those things. I would really hate it if we jumped to one solution. We have to try to design this system for children of all sorts and, frankly, it does not quite match that yet.

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Select Committee Report  (18 October 2005)
House of Lords Written Evidence – Select Committee on the BBC Charter Review

2.1 What should be the main duties of public service broadcasters?

2.1.1 RNIB agrees with the public service broadcasting duties as outlined by Ofcom and the BBC, but wants to emphasise that the public service broadcasters also have the additional duty to provide access services for blind and partially sighted and deaf and hard of hearing people as outlined in the Communications Act. Audio description is an access service that makes a real difference for blind and partially sighted people and public service broadcasters should be required to provide audio description on 20 per cent of their programming by the 10th year of their digital licences.

2.1.2 Disabled citizens should be given the chance to access public service broadcasting just like their sighted peers, also when new technologies and distribution systems are being used. Public Service Broadcasters have already played a major role in developing and providing access services for people with a sight problem, but a range of digital access issues such as enabling voice output of electronic programme guides, enabling talking digital teletext and giving people full access to digital interactive and on-demand services have not been delivered on yet. It is essential that the contribution of public service broadcasters to resolving these does not only continue, but that public service broadcasting is better equipped and strengthened in order to deal with outstanding access problems and new access issues as they emerge at pilot project stage

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Commons Written Answers (18 Oct 2005)
Identity Cards

Mr. Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions he has had with representatives of people with (a) facial disfigurements, (b) learning disabilities and (c) other vulnerable groups on the implications of the identity card scheme.

Andy Burnham: The identity cards team has had discussions with a number of organisations representing disabled and vulnerable people. During the consultation on the draft Identity Cards Bill in 2004, letters and copies of the consultation document were sent out to the following organisations;:

Disability Rights Commission

British Deaf Association

British Institute for Learning Disabilities

MIND

Disabled Drivers Association

RNIB

RNID

Equal Opportunities Commission

British Council of Disabled People

Officials gave a presentation to the RNIB as they were the only group to accept the offer of a meeting with members of the programme team. However, written responses were received from Helping Charities, Helping People (HPHC) and Rethink among others. Changing Faces, a charity that works with people of all ages who are disfigured in any way by birthmarks, cleft lips, burns, facial cancer and palsy, also took part in the consultation exercise on the draft Bill.

Members of the identity cards team attended a consultation event in July 2004, the aim of the event being to examine the legislation on identity cards and to receive feedback from the public and private sector. A number of organisations representing disabled people attended this event including; the Wheelchair User community, the deaf community, Kaleidoscope and the blind community.

Recently, members of the programme team have met the National Housing Federation which represents various housing associations. The ID cards team have also recently met the RNIB on two different occasions.

We have included a very wide range of disabilities in the United Kingdom Passport Service Biometrics trial, which tested the enrolment of 750 people with varied disabilities. Disability Matters Ltd, which was engaged to oversee this part of the trial commented:

"The biometrics trial has taken comprehensive consideration of the needs of the disabled community by encompassing a pan-impairment approach. We have been impressed by the way that disabled people have been actively involved in this project".

The ID cards programme is in the process of establishing a forum to ensure that all special interest groups are consulted on developments in the ID card scheme, and have regular opportunities to express issues and concerns.

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Commons Debates (19 Oct 2005)
Private Sector (NHS)

Lynda Waltho (Stourbridge) (Lab): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for North Durham (Mr. Jones) on securing this debate, and I welcome the fact that he is not ideologically opposed to private involvement if it passes the founding-principles test.

When I first saw the subject of the debate, I was concerned that it would be along the lines of "all private, bad; all public, good." Stourbridge is served by Dudley South primary care trust. For some years, the private sector has successfully provided it with counselling services. It provides young people with drug counselling and help with sexual problems at The What Centre. Private physiotherapy treatment has also been successful.

A more important example is that of audiology. I know that many areas have problems employing audiologists, but Dudley South PCT has brought in the private sector to help reduce waiting lists. The average waiting time was about 18 months. I know that it is higher in some parts of the country, but Dudley South PCT recruited additional audiology professionals to help. It is has also set up night clinics, as well as making a contract with the private provider Ultravox which successfully assists with services that are already provided.

People wanting an audiology appointment need an average of three appointments. First, the ear is moulded; a fitting appointment is necessary; and a further appointment is often needed. The contract, which was set up after a bid in July 2004, has been overseen by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People.

The modernising health service programme has been important in the Dudley South PCT. I am a new MP, and I have dealt with only a few audiology surgery cases, but I can see what a difference the programme is making in my constituency. I am concerned that we do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is important that we do not reject services simply because they are private. In my constituency, the programme is making a difference, although I accept that that may not be the case elsewhere.

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Common Written Answers (21 Oct 2005)
Council Tax
DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Mr. Byers: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will extend the disabled persons council tax reduction to those who suffer from profound deafness.

Mr. Woolas: The Disabled Band Reduction (DBR) scheme is specifically designed to ensure that people with disabilities do not pay more council tax because they live in a bigger property than they would otherwise need if it were not for their disability. The scheme does not aim to provide a general discount for those with disabilities irrespective of their accommodation need and we do not have plans to extend it.

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Commons Written Debates (21 Oct 2005)
Futurebuilders

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) how much has been paid out through Futurebuilders to date;

(2) which organisations have received funding from Futurebuilders;

(3) what proportion of Futurebuilders funding to date has been allocated to hospices.

Paul Goggins: I have been asked to reply.

The total sum disbursed to date is £4.25million. The following list details the organisations who have had Futurebuilders investments agreed. To date no hospices have received funding from Futurebuilders.

List of organisations that have successfully secured Futurebuilders investments: as of October 2005

Full investments

African Refugee Community Health and Research Organisation (ARCHRO)

Bangladeshi Parents and Carers Association

Brain and Spinal Injury Charity (BASIC)

Bickersplatts Children's Centre

Birmingham Institute for the Deaf

Bridge Project, The

Broadreach House

Camden Society, The

Catz Club

Community Action Project

Cottingley Cornerstone Centre

Croxteth Community Trust

Derwent Stepping Stones

East Midlands Community Dental Association

Education Business Connections Ltd.

Equinox

Get Well UK

Leeds Community Mediation Service

Liverpool Crossroads Caring for Carers

North Liverpool Citizen's Advice Bureau

PeaceMaker

Pecan

Queen Alexandra Cottage Homes

Russian Orthodox Women's Drug Project

Sheffield Rebuild

Sound Base Studios Trust

Thirsk Clock

Wings South West

The Who Cares? Trust

Yemeni Economic and Training Centre (YETC)

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Commons Written Answer (24 Oct 2005)
Digital Hearing Aids

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many people were fitted with digital hearing aids in each primary care trust area in the last 12 months;

(2) how many digital hearing aids were fitted outside the NHS but paid for by the NHS in the last 12 months;

(3) what the current waiting time is for fitting a digital hearing aid from initial referral to final fitting in each area in South East England. [19022]

Mr. Byrne: Information on numbers of people fitted with digital hearing aids and on waiting times for fitting of digital hearing aids is not held centrally.

We do not collect information on the number of digital hearing aids fitted outside the national health service but paid for by the NHS. However, since the Public Private Partnership (PPP) started in October 2003, the Royal National Institute for the Deaf estimates that 50,000 extra patients will be fitted with digital hearing aids by private dispensers through the PPP initiative by the end of December 2005.

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Other   (25 Oct 2005)
Uncorrected Evidence 588

Q185 Mr Goodwill: My second point was with regard to people with visual or hearing impediments. Are there any specific plans in place to try and improve that? We talk about people with foreign language problems but there are also people who cannot hear or see very well.

Mr Bee: We have been very pleased to see the announcement from Transport for London that they are going to be investing in audio visual announcements on the buses in London for 2009, in good times for the Games. That is a critical feature for visually impaired people, hearing impairedpassengers, many people with learning difficulties and of course anyone who is unfamiliar with London. That equipment will be essential. It is not currently a requirement of the public service vehicle access regulations which is something DPTAC and the Disability Rights Commission have been pursuing for a number of years and obviously therefore it will be a feature unique to London for 2012, unless that amendment is brought forward. We would want to see that amendment brought forward to make sure that other parts of the country are brought into line and we think this is a truly critical facility that has implications that go way beyond disability.

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Commons Written Answers (28 Oct 2005)
Child Cancer Drugs

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what discussions she has had with her medical advisers about possible links between child cancer drugs and deafness.

Ms Rosie Winterton: There have been no formal discussions with medical advisers about any possible links between child cancer drugs and deafness.

Some drugs used to treat childhood cancers may have long-term side effects including, in a minority of cases, loss of hearing. It would be the norm for the treating clinician to monitor the patient in these cases.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has produced guidance for the national health service which emphasises the need for clinicians to discuss all aspects of treatments, including any adverse side effects, with patients and their parents or carers.

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency has made an assessment of the impact of platinum based chemotherapy drugs on deafness in children.

Jane Kennedy: Platinum-based medicinal products are effective in the treatment of certain cancers, including childhood cancers. They are, however, associated with a number of serious adverse effects. These are documented in the product information, together with warnings and advice, where possible, on how to reduce or avoid these adverse effects. When treating a patient with cancer, the doctor has to weigh up the risks of the treatment against the potential benefits and prescribe accordingly.

The two platinum-based medicinal products licensed for human use have well-defined safety profiles and both are known to cause damage to hearing in both adults and children. Information relating to this appears in the summaries of product characteristics (SmPC) and the patient information leaflets (PIL) of the two products.

The SmPC for cisplatin, which is authorised for use in children as well as adults, contains statements relating to its potential to cause hearing loss. The SmPC notes that cisplatin should not be given to patients with existing hearing impairment as this may be associated with increased toxicity. It also warns that the damage to hearing caused by cisplatin is cumulative and that audiometric testing should be performed before starting treatment and before each subsequent course of treatment with cisplatin. In addition, the SmPC warns that the simultaneous use of other medicines that cause hearing damage, such as certain antibiotics, may make such damage worse. The SmPC describes in some detail the hearing impairment in patients receiving cisplatin and notes that it is worse in children. This information is also presented in the patient information leaflet.

Carboplatin is not authorised for use in children, but nevertheless, the SmPC contains a warning that clinically significant hearing loss has occurred in children given high doses of carboplatin in combination with other medicines that cause hearing damage. There is also general information about the incidence and degree of hearing loss caused by carboplatin, which is generally less damaging to hearing than cisplatin.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continually monitors the safety of medicines in clinical use. To date, that is from 1963 to 18 October 2005, the MHRA has received nine reports (of nine suspected reactions) of ear and labyrinth disorders associated with carboplatin. Of these, only one was in a child (one-year-old) who experienced deafness following therapy with carboplatin and gentamycin. During the same time period, a total of 19 reports (of 26 suspected reactions) of ear and labyrinth disorders associated with cisplatin have been received. Of these, three were in children (10 years old and younger) and the reported reactions were deafnessfor two cases and hearing impaired and tinnitus in the third case.

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Select Committee on European Scrutiny Seventh Report

5 Rights of passengers

5.7 The Minister says that some of the other matters raised in the consultations have been addressed by amendments proposed by both the European Parliament and in the Council Working Group. Points included in a general approach adopted by the Transport Council on 6 October 2005 are:

expansion of the title to "rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air" (to meet requests from representatives of people with disabilities, notably deafness);

a requirement on the managing bodies of airports handling commercial passenger flights to organise centralised provision of the services necessary to enable PRM to board, disembark and transit between flights;

a requirement on the managing bodies of airports handling more than 150,000 commercial passengers per annum to set quality standards for the service, in co-operation with airlines and bodies representing disabled people;

the arrangements described above for airports to contract out services;

managing bodies of airports to recover costs of the service through a charge on airlines proportionate to the total number of passengers each carries to and from the airport;

a requirement that such a charge be reasonable, cost-related, transparent and established in co-operation with airlines;

a requirement that information on costs and charges be made available by airports to airlines using the airport and to national enforcement bodies;

a requirement that Member States set up bodies to enforce the rights of PRMs, with the possibility of oversight of the application of the charging regime; and

requirements concerning notification and information exchange to ensure smooth operation of a service to PRMs.

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Science and Technology
Human Genome Research

5.3 Uses of Genetic Tests

Replacing carrier or affected embryos . PGD can identify embryos that are carriers of (recessive) genetic disorders such as CF. Use of such embryos in IVF can only give rise to healthy children who are unaffected by the disease despite their carrier status.

However, there is a risk that future generations produced by these individuals may be affected by the disorder. The consultation paper canvasses views on the general issue of replacing carrier errors. There are also some exceptional circumstances where couples might request that embryos that have been identified as being affected by a genetic

disorder through PGD be used in IVF. The consultation paper cites as an example a congenitally deaf couple wanting a deaf child (because they feel that a child with normal hearing would be alienated from their environment). It seeks views on the ethics of deliberately initiating a pregnancy knowing that any child born will have a genetic disorder, and how this meshes with the clinician’s legal responsibility to consider the

welfare of a child prior to PGD.

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Technologies for Independence in Later Life

Communication technology

A variety of special telephones exist to amplify incoming and outgoing speech or have large buttons for people with dexterity-impairment. Some sets incorporate flashing units and loud-tone callers to alert the owner that the telephone is 'ringing'. Text telephones for the completely deaf and speechimpaired also exist to enable communication

through keyboards and screens.

Hearing impairment

Hearing aids are commonly used and can be highly effective (although the best models are not always available through the NHS). Some aids are also fitted with telephone inputs beside the microphone, to allow the reception of magnetic signals/loops within theatres and cinemas. Glasses with acoustic amplification also exist. For deaf people or those with extreme hearing loss, alerting devices with flashing lights can help make

day-to-day life easier and provide a greater sense of independence. For instance, lighting alerts can signal when the telephone rings, there is a knock on the door or an oven-timer goes off. Vibrating alarm clocks are also available which can be placed under a pillow. The same idea can be used for other devices such as mobile telephones or even smoke alarms.

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Report by the Controller and Auditer General Maintaining and Improving Britains Railway Stations

Q85 Ms Johnson: I would like to explore disability issues a little more. In particular I want to look at paragraph 3.11 on page 30 of the report, the section dealing with information systems. The reason I am particularly interested in this is because I had a hearing impaired constituent who came to me and explained to me that she had a great deal of problem travelling by train in my constituency. I was surprised to see the percentages therefore. First of all, 39% of stations have electronic passenger information systems and 65% have public address systems. I want to know why in this day and age we are not at 100% for both of those because they do help people with disabilities, visual and aural.

Mr Mitchell: I could not agree more. In an ideal world, we should have that kind of provision. It is the sort of thing that people have come to expect and deserve. It is purely a question of prioritisation, the availability of money and assessing each scheme on a value for money basis. We have an obligation to address all these issues by 2015 and there is a 370 million fund to help with that.

Q87 Ms Johnson: At the moment, in order to get an information system up so that people who are hearing impaired can read what has happened to the train and where it is, do the train operating companies who run the stations have the money to do that?

Mr Mitchell: I would not like to give the impression that only the 370 million is the money available. Some of the train operators and indeed Network Rail are providing such facilities outside the scheme. The 370 million is a contribution towards that.

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