Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reasons no consultation has taken place with members of the deaf community, service users and British Sign Language interpreters and service providers on the National Framework Agreement for interpreting and translation.

There has been extensive stakeholder engagement for a new Language Services Framework Agreement (RM1092) over the past year, following which the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) has amended the specification of requirements to address the points that have been raised by stakeholders, including organisations representing deaf people, users, interpreters, suppliers and industry standards organisations.

CCS has also included the National Union of British Sign Language Interpreters (NUBSLI), and the National Union of Professional Interpreters and Translators (NUPIT) as part of the consultation process over this period.