Corporate report

British Sign Language (BSL) third report, May 2024 to April 2025

A report which details what the government is doing to promote and facilitate the use of British Sign Language (BSL) in its communications with the public.

• From: Disability Unit, Office for Equality and Opportunity, The Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP, The Rt Hon Nick Thomas–Symonds MP and The Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP
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  The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP, The Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, and The Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP
• Published: 21 July 2025

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Documents

British Sign Language third report (BSL and English versions)

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Details

This report covers British Sign Language (BSL) usage in government communications. 

The British Sign Language (BSL) Act 2022 legally recognises BSL as a language of England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland, where equality law is devolved. 

It requires the government to report on the use of BSL by the ministerial departments named in the schedule to the BSL Act, in their public communications.

This third report includes:

• an introduction
• context and background
• case studies of good practice
• information on what the government will do to increase the use of BSL in its communications

It also includes details about the number of BSL translations made by relevant ministerial departments during the reporting period, including: 

• public announcements about policy or about changes to the law in BSL
• publications – plans, strategies, consultation documents or consultation responses in BSL
• press conferences, social media or government website use to publicise activities or policies in BSL

This report is compiled by the Disability Unit, part of the Cabinet Office. 

This third publication formally reports the data for the period between the first report (28 June 2022 to 30 April 2023) and this report (1 May 2023 to 30 April 2025). This report will share case studies from the period between 1 May 2024 to 30 April 2025. The second report provided case studies from the period between 1 May 2023 to 30 April 2024. 

The first report was published on 31 July 2023. 

The second report was published on 17 December 2024 and was voluntary.  

Each ministerial department has also been asked to produce a 5 year BSL Plan, setting out how they plan to improve the use of BSL within their departments. These plans have been published alongside this report.

Published 21 July 2025