Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the performance of contracts issued by NHS England to British Sign Language interpretation providers.

NHS England and NHS Improvement have commissioned the North of England Commissioning Support Unit to undertake an independent review of commissioning arrangements for British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting services in the National Health Service in England. The review has concluded and NHS England and NHS Improvement anticipate that its report will be published shortly.

NHS England issued ‘Guidance for Commissioners: Interpreting and Translation Services in Primary Care in September 2018’, which aims to provide practical advice to commissioners including details of the legal position, principles for high quality interpreting and translation services and commissioning and contracting considerations. While this guidance was initially provided for primary medical care services, it states that commissioners may find the contents applicable to other settings, such as other primary care settings or hospital sites.

No specific assessment of the performance of contracts issued to BSL provider has been made.