§ Mr. AshleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health when a request was made to the national health service training agency to assess the competence and training needs of hearing therapists; when a response was received from the agency or from the NHS management executive; and how long it was between the first approach and the response.
§ Mrs. Virginia Bottomley[holding answer 23 July 1991]: On 17 April 1989 the National Health Service Training Authority (NHSTA) put a proposal before the British Society of Hearing Therapists (BSHT) for the development of competence-based qualifications. This was rejected by BSHT on the basis that NHSTA's proposal was to extend the existing work with audiology technicians to include hearing therapists rather than treat them as a separate group.
Extensive discussions have taken place between the BSHT and NHS training directorate (as was the NHS Training Agency) during the intervening time.
A request was received by the NHS training directorate in March 1991 for formal consideration of a proposal for the inclusion of training of hearing therapists in the 1991–92 work programme.