Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to extend the (a) teaching and (b) use of British Sign Language (BSL) in the (i) classroom, (ii) workplace and (iii) wider society.

The Government is committed to supporting the education of all children and young people with special educational needs or a disability, including those with a hearing impairment.

Schools may choose to offer British Sign Language (BSL) in their individual school curriculum or extra-curricular activities, including offering existing accredited BSL qualifications. In addition, the Department is developing draft BSL GCSE subject content, which will be considered against the subject content criteria requirements that apply to all GCSEs.

The Government has always worked closely with deaf people and their organisations on delivering improvements across a wide range of services including Access to Work, accessing healthcare information, and supporting the funding of BSL interpreters. There is more to be done and the Government is committed to continuing to work in partnership with deaf people, and the organisations that represent deaf people, to improve their lives.