Transparency data

BSL Advisory Board meeting summary: 18 July 2023 (including BSL version)

Updated 29 April 2024

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

BSL version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-_Qf7jMF7c

The second meeting of the British Sign Language (BSL) Advisory board was held on 18 July 2023.

In attendance

• Craig Crowley MBE FRSA, Co-Chair of BSL Advisory Board
• Alex Gowlland, Deputy Director of Disability Unit, Cabinet Office, and Co-Chair of BSL 
• Advisory Board
• Martin Thacker
• Samantha Stocken
• Kate Reed
• Asif Iqbal MBE
• Scott Garthwaite
• Richard Platt
• Joanna Atkinson
• Mangayarkkarasy Sutharsan
• Zoe Fudge-Ajadi
• Vicki Ashmore
• Brian Kokoruwe
• Ahmed Mudawi
• Erin McCluskey
• Sylvia Simmonds
• Teri Devine 

Apologies

• Gaye Hampton
• Richard MacQueen

Summary of discussions

1. Welcome and matters arising from last meeting 

Craig Crowley, co-chair, welcomed members to the 2nd BSL Advisory Board meeting and thanked everyone who got in touch to contribute their preferences for the sub-groups.

2. British Sign Language GCSE 

Disability Unit (DU) recapped that the consultation for BSL GCSE by the Department for Education went live 15 June 2023 running to 7 September 2023. This is focused on England only. Ofqual are looking through what that GCSE would look like, the curriculum and how it would work. DU and the BSL Advisory Board can share their expertise with the DFE. 

3. Update from Government Communication Services

Update from Government Communication Services (GCS) on:

• what government communications is
• the GCS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan
• raising awareness and understanding about the British Sign Language Act, department case studies and how to support departments in the way we serve Deaf people

4. BSL reporting duty 

DU provided an update on the BSL reporting duty and the first report showing BSL usage across 20 government departments. The report is to be published on 31 July 2023 and sets out which departments have produced communications in BSL during the reporting period, with case studies, and which have not released any communications with BSL translations since the BSL Act became law. 

5. Other issues discussed

Issues discussed included the following: 

(a) The launch of the consultation on the government’s Disability Action Plan bringing together proposals for how the government can improve the lives of disabled people in 2023 and 2024. The consultation runs from 18 July until 6 October 2023. 

(b) The need to draft guidance on what the board can do or prioritise to make the greatest improvements for BSL users. The aim is to publish that guidance in 2024. 

(c) The accessibility of the general election. DU will raise this issue with the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to explore whether there is anything the board could feed into. 

(d) The board decided on 3 sub-groups: 

• cross governmental communications (including interpreters and No 10 communications) – chair: Asif
• health and social care – chair: Johanna
• education – chair: Kate

The chairs for each sub-group will gather comments, feedback suggested actions and contribute to guidance. It was suggested that DU contact the sub-groups with a suggested ‘Terms of Reference’ and sub-groups could then create individual sub-group action plans.

(e) Discussion on use of terminology including D/deaf and ‘deaf’ and ‘hard of hearing’ being used more frequently. Noted that the BSL board could potentially support the government getting research or academic evidence to ensure an accurate definition and consistency.