Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what progress his department has made with implementing the British Sign Language Act 2022.

The British Sign Language Act 2022 gained Royal Assent in April 2022 and does three things:

• It recognises British Sign Language as a language of Great Britain in its own right;
• It places a duty on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to report on the promotion and facilitation of British Sign Language by ministerial departments; and
• It places a duty on the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to issue guidance to ministerial departments on the general promotion and facilitation of British Sign Language across their public communications - such as public announcements, consultations, plans, strategy, social media and press conferences.

On Tuesday 9 May, the members of the British Sign Language (BSL) Advisory Board met for the first time. Establishing the Board is a significant step in the implementation of the Act. The Board’s role is to advise the Government on key issues impacting the Deaf community. The Board’s remit includes: advising on the use of BSL in public communications and policy delivery, including input to the guidance outlined in part 3 of the Act; and advising on how to tackle key issues facing Deaf people, such as how to increase the numbers of BSL interpreters.

Work continues across Government to ensure that the departments named in the schedule to the Act are aware of their reporting duty. The first reporting period runs from 28 June 2022 to 30 April 2023 and departments will report on their use of BSL in public communications after the end of the reporting period. The second meeting of senior officials representing the departments due to report on their use of BSL will take place in May.