To ask the Secretary of State for Social Security what research his Department has carried out into the additional costs that deaf people face.

The Government commissioned the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys to carry out major surveys of disability in Great Britain between 1985 and 1988. The reports include information about the additional costs incurred by people with a range of disabilities, including hearing. The six OPCS reports of the surveys' findings are in the Library. A follow-up study to the family expenditure survey has been carried out to compare the actual spending of disabled and non-disabled people, and the results of that study will be published shortly.