§ Mr. LeightonTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment what training services his Department provides for people who have been deafened.
§ Mr. LeeTraining programmes are delivered through the Manpower Services Commission. The commission provides a number of dedicated services for people with disabilities including, though not exclusively for, the deaf. These include the employment rehabilitation service, residential training, and other specialist training schemes.
In addition, all mainstream training programmes supported by the Commission are open to, and designed to encourage opportunities for, deaf people who are otherwise eligible, both those born deaf and those in whom the condition is acquired. Special arrangements have been introduced in both the youth training scheme and the new job training scheme to provide support for deaf trainees through trained communicators.
The Commission has also sponsored training courses for communicators and for British sign language trainers.