Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will increase the funding for research into tinnitus.
Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)
The National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including tinnitus, it is not usual practice to ring-fence funds for particular topics or conditions. Applications are subject to peer review and judged in open competition, with awards being made on the basis of the importance of the topic to patients and health and care services, value for money and scientific quality.
The NIHR’s support for tinnitus research was over £1.5 million between 2016/17 and 2021/22. This included funding for research projects and funding for NIHR managed infrastructure to support tinnitus research. Current NIHR funding includes £15 million over five years from April 2017 to support deafness and hearing loss research in NIHR’s Manchester, University College London and Nottingham Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs). The Nottingham BRC has a core research theme on tinnitus and noise sensitivity.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to Part One of the National Disability Strategy, published July 2021, what recent steps his Department has taken to (a) encourage and support workplace disability networks, (b) achieve and maintain the highest level of Disability Confident accreditation, (c) ensure responsive and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs and (d) develop and embed flexible working.
Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
DfT has undertaken multiple recent steps to address the points raised.
In reference to point a) encouraging and supporting workplace disability networks:
There are a number of staff networks across DfT and arm’s length bodies covering disability. Some cover disability generally. More specific subgroups cover neurodiversity, mental health conditions and d/Deafness and hearing loss. A Board Level Champion for disability is active and engaged in this agenda. A senior director sponsors DfT’s central disability network, Ability.
Regarding work done to b) achieve and maintain the highest level of disability confident accreditation, the following recent steps have been taken:
In response to subsection c), actions taken to ensure response and timely support to meet workplace adjustment needs include
Finally, regarding DfT’s work to d) develop and embed flexible working:
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has for engaging the parents and carers of children and young people with a vision impairment in the upcoming SEND Review.
Answered by Will Quince
Throughout the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review, we have engaged extensively with children and young people with a range of SEND, and their parents, to ensure we have heard their views directly about how the system needs to improve, including for those with a visual impairment
The outcome of the Review will be published in the first three months of this year as a Green Paper for full public consultation. We will ensure that our subsequent public consultation is accessible to a wide audience and provide a range of alternative formats to support those with vision, motor, cognitive or learning difficulties and deafness or impaired hearing engage fully in the consultation.
Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to actively engage children and young people with a vision impairment in the upcoming SEND Review.
Answered by Will Quince
Throughout the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Review, we have engaged extensively with children and young people with a range of SEND, and their parents, to ensure we have heard their views directly about how the system needs to improve, including for those with a visual impairment
The outcome of the Review will be published in the first three months of this year as a Green Paper for full public consultation. We will ensure that our subsequent public consultation is accessible to a wide audience and provide a range of alternative formats to support those with vision, motor, cognitive or learning difficulties and deafness or impaired hearing engage fully in the consultation.
Asked by: Mark Francois (Conservative - Rayleigh and Wickford)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the maximum amount payable under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme is for (a) temporary hearing loss and (b) permanent hearing loss, as a result of injuries sustained during military service.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The maximum amounts payable under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) for temporary hearing loss is £6,180 and for total deafness in both ears is £484,100.
The full list of descriptors between Level 13 and Level 2 can be found within Table 7 of Schedule 2 of the AFCS Order 2011 at:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2011/517/schedule/3/part/1
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans her Department has to record the effect of occupational hearing loss nationally.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has no plans to record the effect of occupational hearing loss nationally.
HSE publishes information recorded by other agencies about occupational hearing loss in relation to Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB) and the Labour Force Survey, available from the statistics section of HSE’s website (https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/causdis/deafness/index.htm and https://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/statistics.htm).
HSE also sponsors the THOR-GP project, a programme of research into the wider incidence of occupational disease being undertaken at the University of Manchester, which includes occupational hearing loss (http://research.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/epidemiology/COEH/research/thorgp/).
Asked by: Lilian Greenwood (Labour - Nottingham South)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2021 to Question 133802 on Kickstart Scheme: Disability, what plans she has to record the main disability of participants by type of disability; and whether deafness will be one of the types of disability recorded.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Universal Credit system collects data on claimants disabilities but as this is voluntary we do not currently record specific type of disability or health condition of Kickstart participants. While we do plan to evaluate the experiences of disabled people participating in Kickstart, it will not be possible to quantify specific types of disability owing to the small sample sizes involved.
Asked by: Lisa Cameron (Conservative - East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on (a) deaf and (b) disabled children throughout the world of the decision to reduce the funding allocated to the Official Development Assistance budget.
Answered by Wendy Morton
Disability inclusion is an important issue for the FCDO and we are committed to supporting a long-term movement of change for people with disabilities around the world. We will continue to embed disability inclusion across all of our work, including through our Official Development Assistance to fight poverty, improve global health, promote girl's education and achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
We provide direct funding to programmes that support children with disabilities, including those with hearing impairments. For example, through the Girls' Education Challenge, we have helped over 117,000 girls with disabilities receive an education in countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe. Through UK Aid Direct, we also support Deaf Kidz International to ensure the early detection of deafness and maximise their residual hearing and life-chances, reducing their susceptibility to abuse and discrimination.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment her Department has made of the number and proportion of personal independence payment assessors who have undergone deaf awareness training.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All Health Professionals carrying out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments are clinically qualified and registered practitioners in their own field. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) requires all Health Professionals to have a broad training in disability analysis as well as awareness training in specific conditions, which includes deaf awareness training.
During the induction period for new Health Professionals, training is delivered which covers how to effectively communicate with individuals who are deaf or have impaired hearing. This training includes the use of a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, which is provided to individuals with such impairments, where requested. Additionally, Health Professionals have access to a suite of learning materials, which include condition insight reports on deafness, hearing impairments and factors to consider for PIP assessments.
Asked by: Mick Whitley (Labour - Birkenhead)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that all personal independence payment assessors have received adequate training to communicate effectively with people who are (a) deaf or (b) hard of hearing.
Answered by Justin Tomlinson - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
All Health Professionals carrying out Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessments are clinically qualified and registered practitioners in their own field. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) requires all Health Professionals to have a broad training in disability analysis as well as awareness training in specific conditions, which includes deaf awareness training.
During the induction period for new Health Professionals, training is delivered which covers how to effectively communicate with individuals who are deaf or have impaired hearing. This training includes the use of a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter, which is provided to individuals with such impairments, where requested. Additionally, Health Professionals have access to a suite of learning materials, which include condition insight reports on deafness, hearing impairments and factors to consider for PIP assessments.