To match an exact phrase, use quotation marks around the search term. eg. "Parliamentary Estate". Use "OR" or "AND" as link words to form more complex queries.


View sample alert

Keep yourself up-to-date with the latest developments by exploring our subscription options to receive notifications direct to your inbox

Written Question
Sports: Hearing Impairment
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to promote the inclusion of deaf people in sport.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including d/Deaf people.

That is why, through our arm's length body, Sport England, we have provided £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to support deaf sport at the grassroots level, build wider participation, and develop strong governance within UK Deaf Sport.

Sport England are also exploring a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore these issues and suggest potential solutions.

The Government-funded School Games programme offers children the opportunity to take part in competitions in over 40 sports at local and regional level, including inclusive, modified versions of the sports. Since 2010, the School Games have offered 13.4 million participation opportunities for young people.

Outside of the school day, the £57 million investment in the Opening School Facilities programme allows schools to open their sport facilities outside of the core school hours. Up to 1350 schools across England have been targeted, with the funding aimed at having the most positive impact on their communities, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has supported a range of funding to help widen access to heritage. For example, in 2020 they supported Funky Kids to enable families of children with D/deafness or hearing impairments to take part in social activities that taught them about local heritage, traditions and skills passed down through generations.

Arts Councils across the UK are working together with the British Film Institute to launch a free, UK-wide arts access scheme, called ‘All-In’. The pilot of this scheme is set to launch in spring 2024. This scheme will operate across the UK in arts and cultural venues, for seamless, barrier-free booking which is responsive to individual circumstances and needs, including those who are d/Deaf.

DCMS investment is enabling important accessibility upgrades in cultural venues across the country, including via infrastructure grants to DCMS-sponsored cultural bodies. The joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, which is available to a wide range of museums and galleries across England, also has improvements to access and/or interpretation for visitors with disabilities as a core criterion. Recent grants have supported projects at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and the People’s History Museum in Manchester who are working with d/Deaf people, and other groups, to improve accessibility to their galleries and spaces.


Written Question
Sports: Hearing Impairment
Thursday 29th February 2024

Asked by: Thangam Debbonaire (Labour - Bristol West)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to reduce barriers to entry for young deaf people in (a) sport and (b) other activities.

Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

The Government is dedicated to making sport in this country accessible and inclusive for everyone, including d/Deaf people.

That is why, through our arm's length body, Sport England, we have provided £1.2 million between 2022 and 2027 to support deaf sport at the grassroots level, build wider participation, and develop strong governance within UK Deaf Sport.

Sport England are also exploring a series of small-scale talent pilots for d/Deaf athletes. These pilots will see Sport England, National Governing Bodies, and UK Deaf Sport working together to explore these issues and suggest potential solutions.

The Government-funded School Games programme offers children the opportunity to take part in competitions in over 40 sports at local and regional level, including inclusive, modified versions of the sports. Since 2010, the School Games have offered 13.4 million participation opportunities for young people.

Outside of the school day, the £57 million investment in the Opening School Facilities programme allows schools to open their sport facilities outside of the core school hours. Up to 1350 schools across England have been targeted, with the funding aimed at having the most positive impact on their communities, including for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) has supported a range of funding to help widen access to heritage. For example, in 2020 they supported Funky Kids to enable families of children with D/deafness or hearing impairments to take part in social activities that taught them about local heritage, traditions and skills passed down through generations.

Arts Councils across the UK are working together with the British Film Institute to launch a free, UK-wide arts access scheme, called ‘All-In’. The pilot of this scheme is set to launch in spring 2024. This scheme will operate across the UK in arts and cultural venues, for seamless, barrier-free booking which is responsive to individual circumstances and needs, including those who are d/Deaf.

DCMS investment is enabling important accessibility upgrades in cultural venues across the country, including via infrastructure grants to DCMS-sponsored cultural bodies. The joint DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund, which is available to a wide range of museums and galleries across England, also has improvements to access and/or interpretation for visitors with disabilities as a core criterion. Recent grants have supported projects at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford and the People’s History Museum in Manchester who are working with d/Deaf people, and other groups, to improve accessibility to their galleries and spaces.


Written Question
Earwax: Medical Treatments
Friday 5th May 2023

Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what impact assessment the Government's has conducted on its decision in September 2020 to categorise NHS Ear Wax Removal Services as non-core for the purpose of services that must be provided by GP surgeries.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance no longer advising manual ear syringing due to the risks associated, such as trauma to the ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or another method of earwax removal, which could include manual removal using a probe.

General practitioner services follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness. Commissioners should ensure that there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services which are free at the point of use, where these are necessary and clinically appropriate for a patient.


Written Question
General Practitioners: Standards
Tuesday 28th March 2023

Asked by: Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Conservative - Life peer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether General Practitioners are no longer able to perform routine procedures such as syringing of ears and treatment of minor injuries; and if not, who took the decisions to remove these procedures from general practice; and when these decisions were taken.

Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) issued guidance in 2018 no longer advising manual ear syringing due to risks associated, such as trauma to the ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or manual removal using a probe. General practitioners follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness.


Written Question
Earwax: Medical Treatments
Monday 27th February 2023

Asked by: Charlotte Nichols (Labour - Warrington North)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will ensure every GP in England is able to offer an earwax removal service as a routine procedure.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance no longer advising manual ear syringing due to risks associated, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or another method of earwax removal (such as manual removal using a probe).

General practitioner services follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness.

Commissioners should ensure that there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services which are free at the point of use, where these are necessary and clinically appropriate for a patient.


Written Question
Earwax: Medical Treatments
Wednesday 22nd February 2023

Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Streatham)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his department has made an assessment of the potential merits of updating guidance ear wax removal services, to allow the service to be made available at GPs.

Answered by Neil O'Brien

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has issued guidance no longer advising manual ear syringing due to risks associated, such as trauma to their ear drum or infection. NICE guidance suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as considering ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro suction, or another method of earwax removal such as manual removal using a probe.

General practitioner services follow this guidance and are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness.

Commissioners should ensure that there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services which are free at the point of use, where these are necessary and clinically appropriate for a patient.


Written Question
Care Homes: Protective Clothing
Thursday 10th November 2022

Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - North West Durham)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to remove the recommendation that care home staff wear face masks; and what recent assessment he has made of the impact of that recommendation on communication with residents with dementia and deafness.

Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

In adult social care, the guidance continues to recommend that all care home staff and visitors wear masks to provide protection for residents from COVID-19. The guidance allows for masks to not be used if, as part of a risk assessment, its use is considered particularly challenging for the resident, such as for residents with dementia and deafness.

The Department has commissioned a review of this guidance to ensure it reflects the latest available evidence and safe and proportionate infection prevention and control principles.


Written Question
Ear Wax: Medical Treatments
Monday 13th June 2022

Asked by: Hilary Benn (Labour - Leeds Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance his Department has issued to GP services in England about the treatment of excessive ear wax which has led to deafness.

Answered by Maria Caulfield - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade) (Minister for Women)

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) no longer advises manual ear syringing due to the associated risks, such as trauma to the ear drum or infection. NICE suggests alternative arrangements for treatment of excessive ear wax, such as ear irrigation using an electronic irrigator, micro-suction or another method of earwax removal. General practitioner services are increasingly recommending self-care methods as the primary means to support the safe removal of ear wax, such as in cases of deafness. Commissioners should ensure that there is appropriate access to ear wax removal services where it is clinically appropriate for the patient.


Written Question
Special Educational Needs
Thursday 28th April 2022

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when his Department will publish an (a) braille and (b) easy read version of the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities review; and what steps he is taking to help ensure that the open consultation on that review is fully accessible.

Answered by Will Quince

The department is committed to making its consultation on the SEND and AP green paper fully accessible to all. This enables anyone to have a say on the proposals in the SEND and AP system.

The department will be publishing an easy read and British Sign Language version of the green paper alongside our other accessible versions in April 2022. This is to further support those with vision, motor, cognitive, or learning difficulties and deafness or impaired hearing to engage fully in the consultation. A braille version of the green paper is also available by contacting: SENDreview.consultation@education.gov.uk.


Written Question
Audiology: Health Services
Monday 28th March 2022

Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Conservative - Romford)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure equal levels of access to audiology services across the UK.

Answered by Gillian Keegan - Secretary of State for Education

The ‘Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Guidance’, the ‘Action Plan on Hearing Loss’ and the ‘Commissioning Services for People with Hearing Loss: A framework for clinical commissioning groups’ support local authorities and National Health Service commissioners to meet statutory duties. These include the assessment of the needs of local populations, to take account of health inequalities and commission high-quality services to meet local hearing needs and improve public health. The Chief Scientific Officer for England and Senior Responsible Officer for audiology, Professor Dame Sue Hill, is working with the Hearing Loss and Deafness Alliance to refresh current guidance in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have also announced £2.3 billion to launch up to 160 community diagnostic centres (CDCs) by March 2025. The location and configuration of CDCs is being designed with local systems to support more equal access to diagnostic services, including audiology. The National Health Service is also working with the Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme to implement the recommendations from its ear, nose and throat surgery report to reduce unwarranted variation in audiology services.