Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what progress has been made by NHS England in establishing a framework for workforce planning to increase the supply of British Sign Language interpreters within healthcare settings.

NHS England has no plans to establish a framework for workforce planning to increase the supply of British Sign Language interpreters within healthcare settings.

The provision of language support, including interpretation and translation, is driven by the requirement for all National Health Service organisations to comply with the public sector equality duty. As public sector organisations, NHS bodies have a duty to ensure that all people have equal access to the information and services that they provide.

The provision of interpretation and translation services by NHS bodies is a matter for local determination based on the composition of the communities they serve, and the needs and circumstances of their patients, service users and local populations.

As part of its commitment to improving the experience of patients using NHS services, empowering people to be equal partners in their own care and help reduce unacceptable variation in the quality of reasonable adjustments, NHS England is developing an Information Standard for the provision of accessible, personalised information.