To ask the Secretary of State for Health further to his statement of 4 January, if he will now make a statement about the wider use of the titanium implant technique to prosthesis ears.
I announced central funding for a cochlear implant programme on 25 June including additional funds for Queen Elizabeth hospital, Birmingham to assist with a programme of NHS provision of bone implanted hearing aids using titanium screws. The pace at which wider use is made of titanium implant techniques is a matter for health authorities to determine in the light of their assessment of local needs, priorities and resources.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health when he will be able to make a statement further to that which he made on 4 January, regarding the establishment of a central fund to finance a cochlear implant programme.
I announced the names of the six hospitals selected to receive central funding for their cochlear implant programmes on 25 June. They are:
| Region and Unit | Funding 1990–91 £ |
| North East Thames | |
| University College/Royal Ear Hospitals | 200,000 |
| Northern | |
| North Riding Infirmary, Middlesbrough | 150,000 |
| North Western | |
| Manchester Royal Infirmary | 160,000 |
| Trent | |
| Nottingham General Hospital | 160,000 |
| Wessex | |
| South Hants Hospital, Southampton | 150,000 |
| West Midlands | |
| Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham | 150,000 |