Asked by: Peter Aldous (Conservative - Waveney)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Disability Unit has made a recent assessment of the (a) level of demand for and (b) adequacy of the availability of courses in British Sign Language.
Answered by Mims Davies - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Disability Unit in the Cabinet Office has not made any recent assessments of the (a) level of demand for and (b) adequacy of the availability of courses in British Sign Language (BSL) as this is the remit of the Department of Education. However, following the passage of the BSL Act (2022), the Government established a non-statutory BSL Advisory Board who will continue to consider and advise the Government on matters of importance to the d/Deaf community.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment has his Department made of the adequacy of changes in the level of communication (a) for deaf children in early years settings and (b) between family members who use British Sign Language as their primary language since the entry into force of the British Sign Language Act 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The British Sign Language (BSL) Act (2022) recognises BSL as a language of Great Britain, and places duties on the DWP Secretary of State:
To sit alongside the BSL Act, the Government has established a non-statutory board of BSL users to advise it on matters arising from the Act and of importance to Deaf people.
The BSL Advisory Board will advise the Government on the guidance detailed in the BSL Act and its implementation to best represent the Deaf community.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of his Department's (a) press conferences, (b) social media posts and (c) webpages have been accessible for British Sign Language users since 25 October 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The cross-government BSL Report published on 31 July 2023 provides information on the number of British Sign Language videos produced by DWP since June 2022.
DWP does not hold press conferences and the information on social media posts is not collected.
Nov. 06 2023
Source Page: British Sign Language (BSL): national plan 2023 to 2029Found: British Sign Language (BSL): national plan 2023 to 2029
Dec. 01 2023
Source Page: British Sign Language (BSL) national plan 2023-2029: consultation analysisFound: British Sign Language (BSL) national plan 2023-2029: consultation analysis
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many of the Prime Minister’s office's (a) press conferences, (b) social media posts and (c) webpages have been accessible to British Sign Language users since 25 October 2022.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We are committed to ensuring that government communications are available and accessible across multiple channels and in a number of alternative formats in order to meet a range of needs.
British Sign Language interpretation is provided for the vast majority of No.10 press conferences via the BBC News channel (available on Freeview) and iPlayer through the BBC. For No.10 press conferences that do not carry British Sign Language interpretation via the BBC, a British Sign Language interpretation is uploaded on YouTube as soon as possible after the event.
The first Government BSL report was published in July 2023, and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-british-sign-language-bsl-report-2022/the-british-sign-language-bsl-report-2022
The Government will be publishing a second report on the use of BSL in government communications by 31 July 2024.
No. 10 is an operational part of the Cabinet Office, which is a relevant government department under Section 2 of the Act.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Prime Minister will make an assessment of the potential merits of making Downing Street subject to the reporting requirements of Section 2 of the British Sign Language Act 2022 on a voluntary basis.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
We are committed to ensuring that government communications are available and accessible across multiple channels and in a number of alternative formats in order to meet a range of needs.
British Sign Language interpretation is provided for the vast majority of No.10 press conferences via the BBC News channel (available on Freeview) and iPlayer through the BBC. For No.10 press conferences that do not carry British Sign Language interpretation via the BBC, a British Sign Language interpretation is uploaded on YouTube as soon as possible after the event.
The first Government BSL report was published in July 2023, and is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-british-sign-language-bsl-report-2022/the-british-sign-language-bsl-report-2022
The Government will be publishing a second report on the use of BSL in government communications by 31 July 2024.
No. 10 is an operational part of the Cabinet Office, which is a relevant government department under Section 2 of the Act.
Correspondence Apr. 16 2024
Committee: Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice CommitteeFound: Public Petition PE1787: The use of Makaton sign language in the legal system Letter from Anna Donald,
Dec. 01 2023
Source Page: British Sign Language (BSL) national plan 2023-2029: consultation analysisFound: British Sign Language (BSL) national plan 2023-2029: consultation analysis
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he expects each Government Department to publish its five year plan setting out how it will meet its obligations under Section 2 of the British Sign Language Act 2022.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
In the first BSL report, published on 31 July 2023, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions committed to ask each ministerial department to produce a 5-year BSL Plan, setting out how they plan to improve the use of BSL within their departments. These will be published at the same time as the next BSL report, which will be published by 31 July 2024.