Department for Science, Innovation and Technology: Sign Language

(asked on 15th January 2026) - View Source

Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 21 November 2025 to Question 91062, what projects involving the use of AI to create accessible content with regards to British Sign Language have been approved at what level of funding by (a) UK Research & Innovation, (b) Innovate UK, (c) British Technology Investments and (d) the Government Office for Science.


Answered by
Kanishka Narayan Portrait
Kanishka Narayan
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
This question was answered on 26th January 2026

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), including Innovate UK, has a portfolio of over £1 billion in AI research and innovation, with a further £1.6 billion allocated across 2026/27 to 2029/30. UKRI’s AI investments build broad, foundational technologies that could extend to BSL applications even when not explicitly stated.

Details of UKRI investments in AI technologies that could be used to create accessible content with regards to British Sign Language (BSL) can be found on GTR, which provides information on all UKRI-funded research and innovation projects. These include an £8.45m investment in SignGPT, which aims to build the first generative predictive transformer for sign language and has direct involvement from Deaf organisations and community partners.

There are currently no projects approved by British Technology Investments and the Government Office for Science.

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