Dr. Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients each audiology> department in the south-east coast strategic health authority area has the capacity to treat annually.

Mr. Ivan Lewis: The information requested is not held centrally. In order to improve access and reduce waiting times for audiology services, a national action plan was published on the 6 March.

In addition to the development of the action plan, the Department has also announced the procurement of up to 300,000 audiology pathways to provide assessment, fitting and follow up.