§ 65. Mr. Varleyasked the Minister of Pensions and National Insurance what investigations are proceeding into the degree of deafness caused by industrial processes; and whether she will schedule damage to hearing in the Industrial Injuries Act.
§ Miss HerbisonMy responsibility for general matters of research into noise at work and possible hearing damage is limited to those aspects which concern the Industrial Injuries scheme. In this10W connection a large-scale programme of research into occupational deafness sponsored by my Department is currently being carried out jointly by the National Physical Laboratory and the Medical Research Council. The basic object of this work is to throw light on the problems which have to be solved before prescription of occupational deafness under the Industrial Injuries Acts can become a practical possibility. At this stage it is not possible to anticipate the results of this research.