Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Government spent on lawyers contesting the case put forward by deaf viewers that Downing Street press conferences should include a British Sign Language interpreter; and if he will make a statement.

The Government has been committed to supporting disabled people through every stage of the pandemic, including D/deaf BSL signers. BSL interpretation was available for No.10 press conferences via the BBC News channel (available on Freeview) and iPlayer. The BBC made their video feed for the BSL interpreter available to all other broadcasters and for use on No10 social channels. For the rare occasions when the BBC chooses not to have BSL, an agreement was reached for RedBee Media to provide an interpreter service to No. 10 for use on government social media channels.

The court ruled that the Government’s policy of using on-screen BSL interpreters was lawful during the pandemic.

More broadly, the Government has actively supported the British Sign Language Act 2022 to build a more inclusive and accessible society.

Cabinet Office spend on external legal services is available on GOV.UK.