Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 8 May 2018 to Question 141857, approach on sign language, what lessons have been learned from the Scottish Government’s to British Sign Language to inform the Government’s thinking in England and Wales.

Existing equality legislation already means employers, service providers and public bodies have to provide services in BSL and other formats when it is reasonable to do so. The Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies to have due regard to the needs of all those with protected characteristics. We don’t think new legislation would add to that. However, we are actively considering lessons from Scotland’s approach to inform our thinking.