Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to introduce a GCSE on British Sign Language.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell - Minister of State (Education)
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department is in the process of developing a British Sign Language (BSL) GCSE. This landmark GCSE is an important step towards greater recognition of BSL as a language and will foster better communication between deaf and hearing communities.
The department published subject content for the BSL GCSE in December 2023. As is the usual process for introducing a qualification, the independent qualifications regulator, Ofqual, recently ran a public consultation on its proposed assessment arrangements and expects to confirm its decision on the qualification rules in autumn 2025. At this point, any exam board that chooses to offer the GCSE will be able to start developing specifications.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the transparency data entitled Cabinet Office: Government Procurement Card spend over £500 - December 2024, published on 30 January 2025, for what reason her Department spent £790.50 on 23 December 2024 with Karen Newby Ltd under the category of interpretation.
Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following the British Sign Language (BSL) Act coming into force in April 2022, which legally recognises BSL as a language of England, Scotland and Wales, a non-statutory BSL Advisory Board of 17 predominantly BSL users was established to advise the Government on matters of importance to Deaf people and on the implementation of the BSL Act. This payment represents a fee for British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation services to support the smooth running and accessible communication for the quarterly BSL Advisory Board meeting that took place in person on 6 November 2024.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The amount of expenditure recorded for translation services in the 2023/24 financial year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March, is £1,699.13.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department’s expenditure with external suppliers of translation or interpretation services for the 2025 calendar year to date was £7,196, excluding British Sign Language expenditure. In addition, there was no expenditure for languages native to the United Kingdom. This was expenditure mainly for providing accessible, easy to understand versions of technical and legal documents for patients and the public, commissioned by different directorates within the Department.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Justin Madders - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Department for Business and Trade does not record the costs for translation and interpretation at this level of detail.
We can confirm the Department for Business and Trade spent £58,149.01 on translation services from 1 January 2025 – 27 June 2025.
As the department for economic growth, we support businesses to invest, grow and export, creating jobs and opportunities across the country. This figure includes providing translation services and also where the Department required translations or interpreters. DBT employ teams based in priority markets around the world and those teams often use local language skills to help UK businesses access opportunities to export their goods and services globally. Likewise, they will use local language skills to promote the UK to a global audience, and in particular to attract high value investment to the UK.
Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Yuan Yang (Labour - Earley and Woodley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access by disabled people to cancer screening; and what information his Department holds on such access.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
NHS England is committed to improving the accessibility of the three cancer screening programmes which it commissions under the Public Health Services (S7a) agreement, particularly for under-served groups in society.
Contractually, providers of National Health Service screening services are required to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that their services are accessible to disabled people. This includes health providers ensuring that their premises are suitable for the delivery of services and are sufficient to meet the needs of their patients, including those with disabilities. If a patient requires specialist equipment, providers must ensure that their patients have access to its use in a safe environment.
Regionally and nationally, several initiatives have been implemented to ensure that information is available in 10 languages, easy read, and British Sign Language, and people can also request braille versions to ensure they have information in a format appropriate to them.
Information on access by disabled people to cancer screening is not held centrally.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Michael Shanks - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero does not record this data in a way in which we can determine what proportion of the spend on translation services in 2025 so far was for services other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
In 2025 so far, within the stipulations, there has been spent on:
(a) Translation = £470,542.73
(b) Interpretation = £3,248,467.21
Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
DCMS does not hold information to the level of detail requested within its finance system or procurement system.
Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much their Department has spent on (a) translation and (b) interpretation for languages other than (i) British Sign Language and (ii) languages native to the UK for people contacting (A) their Department and (B) its agencies in 2025.
Answered by Alex Norris - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
MHCLG spent £59,064.46 on translation and interpretation services in FY24/25, excluding the languages specified in the question.
MHCLG does not report on translation and interpretation separately.
MHCLG does not pay for these costs for any of its agencies.
Language service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.