§ Mr. PikeTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what representations he has received regarding audiological hearing tests for war pensioners in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement;
(2) what changes have been made in the method of dealing with war pensioners' deafness claims in the last 12 months; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HagueThis is a matter for Mr. Peter Mathison, the chief executive of the War Pensions Agency. He will write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Peter Mathison to Mr. Peter L. Pike, dated 12 April 1994:
The Secretary of State for Social Security has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions about War Pensions claims for deafness.Claims for a War Pension in respect of deafness caused or made worse by service invariably require an audiometric test to be carried out to establish the extent of any hearing loss.To improve the service provided to those making such claims, the procedure of audiometric testing was changed in June 1993.At that time a contract was signed by General Healthcare Group PLC (trading as BMI Healthcare (Audiology Services)) to provide audiometric tests. BMI began arranging some tests from July 1993 and assumed responsibility for all such tests from August 1993.Throughout this change all those involved previously in providing tests were kept informed. There was also an exchange of correspondence which dealt with representations made by the two main recognised professional bodies in this field—British Association of Audiological Technicians Ltd and the British Association of Audiological Scientists.I hope you find my reply helpful.