To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were (a) assessed for and (b) provided with a hearing aid in each London primary care trust in the last year for which figures are available. (179330)

This information is not held centrally. However, the Department will collect referral-to-treatment data on direct access audiology—including the fitting of hearing aids—for the first time from April 2008. The Department continues to work with the national health service to improve audiology services. A national audiology framework was published in March 2007 and the Department is working directly with the most challenged organisations.