Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of increasing opportunities for pupils to learn British Sign Language as part of the school curriculum.

The department recognises the benefits that learning British Sign Language (BSL) can bring to both students and the wider deaf community. Learning BSL can help develop communication skills, increase understanding of deaf culture and experiences, and promote inclusion and accessibility within schools and wider society.

The national curriculum does not prescribe specific languages that schools must teach and schools have discretion over which languages they offer. Schools may choose to teach BSL in primary and secondary schools to support the needs and interests of their pupils.

The department, working with the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual), has developed the content and assessment arrangements for a BSL GCSE.

Following the publication of Ofqual's final qualification rules for the BSL GCSE, awarding organisations are now able to develop detailed specifications that will form the basis of the content taught in schools and colleges.

Decisions on whether to develop qualification specifications are for exam boards. Any specifications developed by exam boards will need to be accredited by Ofqual before they are available to schools.

I have written to the exam boards to encourage them to seize the opportunity to offer this important qualification.