Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting times for NHS audiological services; and what recent assessment he has made of trends in time taken for a diagnosis of a hearing condition to be provided by the NHS.

National Health Service audiology services are locally commissioned services and responsibility for waiting times lies with local commissioners. While no recent assessment has been made of trends in diagnosis, work is ongoing to improve access to audiological services. This is being led by the Elective Recovery Programme and Getting It Right First Time.