§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what discussions he has had with licensed telephone operators about making telephones adaptable and accessible to people with hearing difficulties; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Redwood[holding answer 9 March 1992]: The licences issued to BT, Mercury, Kingston Communications and all the fixed link public telecommunications operators under the Telecommunications Act 1984 require them to ensure that telephones for the hearing impaired are available to meet all reasonable demands and to install facilities for the hearing impaired in all their public call boxes. The licences under which most private systems are run require that certain telephones installed for emergency use, such as those in lifts, can be coupled inductively to suitable hearing aids.
§ Mr. McCartneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has on available telecommunications systems in other countries to help people with hearing difficulties to use telephones; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Redwood[holding answer 9 March 1992]: Comprehensive information on how other countries' telecommunications systems cater for people with hearing difficulties could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.
In the USA, the Hearing Aid Compatibility Act (1988) has made mandatory the fitting of inductive couplers to 559W certain types of telephones. In Europe, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), in which the United Kingdom is a major participant, requested funds from the European Commission last month to study the possible development of pan-European standards in this area. In framing this proposal, ETSI's Human Factors Committee noted that only two national regulations, on inductively coupled telephones and amplification for the hard of hearing, existed in Europe, both from the United Kingdom.