Lip-reading Provision

HL Deb 01 March 1989 vol 504 cc1037-9

2.43 p.m.

Lord Carter asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are satisfied that enough people are being trained as lip-readers and whether there is adequate financial assistance for the training of lip-reading teachers.

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, lip-reading classes are usually provided within local adult education services. It is for education authorities to assess local demand, and the Government do not collect information centrally on the availability of lip-reading provision. LEAs may use funds under the training grants scheme to support teachers on lip-reading courses.

Lord Carter

My Lords, I thank the noble Viscount for that Answer. Is he aware of the wide disparity of provision of lip-reading classes in different areas of the country and the wide range of fees charged? Some classes are free, some charge a nominal amount of £I a term and some charge as much as £40 a term.

Viscount Davidson

Yes, my Lords, but the Government cannot dictate what fees should be charged by LEAs for adult education courses. Many offer concessionary rates for particular groups within the community.

Lady Kinloss

My Lords, is enough assistance being given to training in other communication skills such as finger spelling for the deaf-blind and lip-reading and lip-speaking for the deaf, both of which are supported by the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People?

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, the employment service which runs the personal reader service for visually handicapped people in or entering employment is currently evaluating its other special schemes for people with disabilities.

Lord Campbell of Croy

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that, as an office bearer in organisations connected with deafness, I am fully in favour of what is proposed in this extra training? However, there is another side to it. Is he further aware that, with the spread of lip-reading and with television in this House, it is possible for remarks made personally between noble Lords which were not intended for public airing to be interpreted by people who are watching on television?

Lord Hailsham of Saint Marylebone

Good luck to them.

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, I cannot provide a useful answer to that question.

Lord Paget of Northampton

My Lords, if I may speak as a member of the rather newly deaf, may I ask the noble Viscount whether he is aware that lip-reading is extraordinarily difficult and requires a good deal of help? I do not think that people who try to interpret with their hands would have much of a run.

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, I can only suggest that the noble Lord should visit the Centre for Deaf People and Speech Therapy, which is a component part of the City Lit and specialises in teaching how to lip-read.

Baroness Seear

My Lords, how many speech therapists work in adult education, and what provision is there for improving the position?

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, I understand that there are now 55 trained hearing therapists in post. The total number required will depend on needs perceived by health authorities and on the way in which they organise their audiology services.

Lord Peston

My Lords, as it is the noble Viscount who has answered the Question, can we assume that lip-reading and the training of lip-reading teachers lie within the area of responsibility of the Department of Education and Science and not of the Department of Health or the Department of the Environment? If the DES is the responsible department, and as this is the kind of worthy but rather small activity that is easily forgotten and neglected, can we be reassured that his department will keep an eye on this matter? If the local authorities to which he has referred do not provide appropriate support, will the DES be willing in due course to intervene and do something about it?

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, I cannot give that assurance because speech therapy lies within the ambit of the local authorities and not within the ambit of one department or another. When researching this Question three departments were involved in trying to find the answers to it. The Government have said that they will be prepared to provide financial support as necessary to maintain an effective level of funding at the City Lit after 1st April 1990. I am sure the noble Lord will be pleased to hear that this assurance applies to the Centre for Deaf People and Speech Therapy as a component part of the City Lit.

Lord Peston

My Lords, I thank the noble Viscount for that excellent answer. Will he nevertheless bear in mind—he worries me even more now as he says that there was some doubt about who is responsible—that someone ought to be responsible? Will he convey to several of his right honourable friends, the Secretaries of State concerned, that one of them ought to say that this matter is his pigeon and not let it be neglected?

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, I certainly take on board that point.

Lord Campbell of Alloway

My Lords, as there is—and no one suggests that there is not—an acute shortage of speech therapists and as responsibility lies among three departments, which causes practical administrative problems, is there not a case for a measure of more direct and centralised control?

Viscount Davidson

My Lords, I am not prepared to give an opinion on that point but I shall certainly draw it to the attention of my right honourable friend.

Lord Carter

My Lords, is the noble Viscount aware that lip-reading training and speech therapy are not the same things? There is some confusion on this point. Can he confirm that the assurance he gave about the future of the City Lit centre for deaf people, which is concerned because of the reorganisation of ILEA, extends to courses it provides for the training of lip-reading teachers as well as to the provision of lip-reading classes?

Viscount Davidson

Yes, my Lords, I can give that assurance. In fact when the Bill was going through the House my noble friend Lady Hooper gave that assurance.