§ Mr. Fieldasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what was the research budget of his Department for the last five years and the next year, broken down by major groups; what projects on 161W electronic communications aids have been funded by his Department in the last two years; and what discussion his Department has had with a view to developing exports of electronic aids for handicapped people.
§ Mr. PrenticeDetails of the Department's research budget for the financial years 1975–76 to 1980–81 are given in the following table. This is followed by a list of the projects on electronic communication aids funded in the two years 1978–79
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY RESEARCH EXPENDITURE £000 Subject 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80* 1980–81* Health services … … … 3,433 3,684 4,134 4,364 4,999 5,896 Personal social services and services to children, elderly and handicapped persons … … 2,153 2,594 2,887 3,456 4,968 6,486 Social security … … … 278 280 329 352 400 450 National Health Service building and engineering … … … 735 922 850 1,260 1,439 1,495 National Health Service equipment and appliances and supplies … 1,991 2,316 1,764 1,825 2,955 3,342 Computers in National Health Service … … … … 2,543 2,800 2,094 2,005 2,356 2,830 Research commissioned on the Medical Research Council … 8,128 8,936 8,920 10,740 11,346 12,165 Locally organised research scheme 1,863 2,098 2,103 † † † TOTAL … … … 21,124 23,630 23,081 24,002 28,463 32,664 * Provisional figures. † Decentralised to the National Health Service. PROJECTS FUNDED BY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY IN THE FIELD OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS AIDS DURING 1978 AND 1979:— Study of design features of post-aural hearing aids (Royal National Institute for the Deaf). Evaluation of frequency transposing hearing aid (Goldsmith College, London). Evaluation of aids for daily living for the deaf. Graded dynamic compression in hearing aids (National hospital for nervous diseases, London). Acoustic modifications to hearing aids to give improved performance. Evaluation of Palantype as a communication aid for the profoundly deaf. Studies on various aspects of hearing aid earmoulds and also of patterns of use of hearing aids.