asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what efforts are being made to maintain provision of courses of training for social workers specialising in work with the deaf; how many colleges are providing such courses; and if he will list them and provide comparable figures from five years ago.

Initial training courses for social workers do not include any specialist element related to working with the deaf, but the development of a two-year post-qualifying Open University course by distance learning is under consideration.Some local education authorities provide training courses in colleges of further education on communication with the deaf, as part of their adult education programme; also, charitable bodies offer courses for people working with the deaf and hearing-impaired. The number of such courses is not known, nor are the figures for five years ago.