Deaf children’s services to be debated by MPs in Parliament

MPs are set to discuss deaf children’s services in Parliament in two weeks time, after a Labour politician successfully secured a backbench business debate on the issue.

In an announcement on Twitter, Jim Fitzpatrick MP said he was “happy to report” that his application was successful, and that it would take place on Thursday 13th September after summer recess.

Addressing the Backbench Business Committee in July, Mr Fitzpatrick, who is also the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness, said:

“The Government are preparing for the next spending review, and we want to have the opportunity to raise a number of issues, including the schools block and the fact that 99.5% of the national funding formula is ring-fenced, which means that it is harder for local authorities to respond to special educational needs and disability pressures.

“We would hope to ask the Department for Education if it can do more to broker and incentivise local authorities to work together to commission services for deaf children. We would like to explore that.”

The Poplar and Limehouse MP also shared statistics with the committee, including that there has been 14% decline in the number of teachers of deaf children over the past seven years.

He also said that it is estimated that half of the remaining Teachers of the Deaf are to retire in the next 10 to 15 years.

“We would like to explore with the Minister the different pressures that we are aware of from the different regions, hopefully to help the Government address issues that, naturally, because they affect deaf children, do not command the highest profile.

“We want to try to raise that,” the Labour MP added.

The application was also supported by Conservative MP Peter Aldous, who said there is “a particular issue” with SEN provision across the country.

“Within that, there has been a deficit in services to deaf and hard of hearing children for some time, particularly in my area, and this will provide an opportunity to highlight the issue ahead of the spending review,” he said.

The debate comes after deaf young people met with MPs earlier this year to talk about planned cuts to deaf services in England.

Research by the National Deaf Children’s Society revealed that over a third of councils in England are planning to cut £4 million worth of support for deaf children this year.

Speaking in May, Susan Daniels, Chief Executive of NDCS, said: “The Government urgently needs to step in and tackle this mounting funding crisis in deaf children’s education. By not acting, this Government is putting the education of too many deaf children at risk, and letting their futures hang in the balance.

“Deaf children can achieve anything other children can, but to do this it is crucial they get the right support. Despite councils having a legal duty to support deaf children, we are seeing the vital support system that they rely on for their education torn apart.”

The debate on deaf children’s services will take place in Westminster Hall from 1:30pm and can be viewed online via the parliamentlive.tv website.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and blogger from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and makes the occasional video about deaf awareness on his YouTube channel. He can also be found talking about disability, politics, theatre, books and music on his Twitter, or on his blog, The Life of a Thinker.