Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the adequacy of the provision of (a) Auditory Verbal therapy and (b) other support available for deaf (i) babies and (ii) children to develop language and communication; and what steps he is taking to help ensure all deaf children have the best start in life.

NHS Audiology services are locally commissioned and the responsibility for meeting the needs of children with hearing loss lies with local National Health Service commissioners. NHS England is supporting integrated care boards (ICBs) to make informed decisions about the provision of audiology services so that they can provide consistent, high quality, and integrated care to children with hearing loss. In 2019 NHS England, with input from the National Deaf Children’s Society, produced a guide for commissioners and health and local authority providers which supports children and young people with hearing loss, which is available at the following link:

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/what-works-chswg-guide.pdf

These specific assessments have not been made and there are currently no plans to assess the adequacy of provision of Auditory Verbal Therapy for deaf children. However, NHS England met with Auditory Verbal UK (AVUK) last year and discussed the need for more higher-level research evidence for intervention and to develop evaluations of impact. AVUK was also invited to join the Chief Scientific Officer’s Audiology stakeholder group.

The Government will ensure that every child has the best start in life and that we raise the healthiest generation of children ever. NHS England and the Department for Education are working in partnership to co-fund £10 million for nine Early Language Support for Every Child pathfinder sites over two years, to provide early identification and targeted and universal support for children with speech, language, and communication needs in both early years and primary school settings, and more timely referrals for specialist support if required.