§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the number of people in the United Kingdom who are(a) physically unable to speak and (b) have serious speech impediment. [19657]
§ Mr. Boateng[holding answer 8 December 1997]: Estimates of this kind vary because of the wide range of conditions involved and the different criteria used. However, a study by Enderby and Davies (1989) suggested that the number of individuals unable to speak or with significant difficulty in doing so may be classified as follows:
386W
Per 100,000 population Cerebral Palsy 20 Parkinson's Disease 23 Multiple Sclerosis 10 Muscular Dystrophy 2 Motor Neurone Disease 1.2 Myasthenia Gravis 0.5 Huntingdon's Chorea 0.2 Friedrich's Syndrome 0.7
§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of general practitioner fundholders have purchased communication aids for use by people physically unable to speak in the last year. [19659]
§ Mr. Boateng[holding answer 8 December 1997]: General practitioner fundholders have been able to purchase communication aids for their patients since 1995. They were also given a leaflet containing expert advice on the subject at this time. We do not have information about the percentage of them who have purchased these aids.
§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people who are(a) physically unable to speak and (b) have serious speech impediments have been provided with a communication aid by the National Health Service in the last year. [19658]
§ Mr. Boateng[holding answer 8 December 1997]: The number of communication aids provided is not collected centrally. The Department has sought to reduce the burden of data collection on the National Health Service and the collection of additional information of this kind would not be in line with this policy.