Senedd Cymru | Welsh Parliament
Bil Aelod Arfaethedig – Mark Isherwood AS | Proposed Member Bill - Mark Isherwood MS
Datblygu'r Bil Iaith Arwyddion Prydain (BSL) (Cymru) | Development of the British Sign Language (BSL) (Wales) Bill
Ymateb gan: Y Gymdeithas Genedlaethol i Blant Byddar | Evidence from: National Deaf Children's Society
The British Sign Language Act 2022 requires the UK Government to issue guidance about the promotion and facilitation of the use of British Sign Language (BSL). This however only applies in England and not to the Welsh Government or public bodies in Wales such as councils or the NHS. The British Sign Language (BSL) (Wales) Bill aims to place equivalent specific duties on the Welsh Government and public bodies in Wales.
The National Deaf Children’s Society welcomes the proposals of the British Sign Language (Wales) Bill. We acknowledge that under the current legislative framework, the British Sign Language Act 2022 does have a remit in Wales and indeed legally recognises British Sign Language as a language in Wales.
However, the remit of the Act extends only to reserved matters. The majority of government services that children, young people and their families access are either wholly or partially devolved, such as education, healthcare, social services, and public transport. As a result of this, the promotion and facilitation of BSL which the Westminster Act aims to provide hinges on interpretations of the Equality Act 2010, Welsh Government voluntary guidance, and local authority policy – and is far from guaranteed. We agree that BSL legislation in Wales would level the playing field for BSL signers across the four nations, especially given England is wholly covered by the Westminster Act, Scotland has had its own Act since 2015, and the Northern Ireland Executive will soon introduce Executive-backed legislation specific to Northern Ireland to the Assembly. Without similar legislation in place, Wales risks not only the possibility of being viewed as less accessible to BSL signers, but also being genuinely less accessible.
The Welsh Government is rightly proud that it recognised British Sign Language in 2004, long before the implementation of the Westminster Act. We understand given the limitations on the devolution settlement at the time that it would have been unrealistic to expect legislation of this nature originating from the-then National Assembly. However, given the legislation already in place or developing with government support in other parts of the United Kingdom, we strongly believe that BSL signers in Wales deserve similar legal standing enjoyed by BSL signers elsewhere.
Yes
Yes
Yes.
We agree that the Bill should include proposals to promote and facilitate the use of BSL and its tactile forms. This is particularly important when considering deaf-blind signers to ensure that the Bill meets the needs of all who utilise the language. Additionally, BSL like any language has dialects – some being unique to Wales. To ensure that these dialects are not lost over time, the Bill should seek to support Welsh dialects.
We would argue that a focus should be given to families of deaf children in terms of promotion and facilitation. The vast majority of deaf children are born to hearing parents who will likely be unfamiliar with the deaf community or/and BSL, and as a result of this there can be a bias towards alternative forms of communication when considering a child’s upbringing. Currently, there is no post-19 learning provision policy for BSL in Wales, meaning it is down to local authorities to determine whether they provide any support for courses. As a direct result of this, some LAs are on record stating they provide no BSL learning provision at all. Teachers of the Deaf play a vital role in supporting families and signposting them to relevant services, however many families can be discouraged from looking at BSL as a viable option due to a lack of local availability. This can not only place a significant pressure on their children to adopt spoken language fully – regardless of what is best for the child, but also denies these children from accessing a vital aspect of deaf culture from a young age.
Yes
Disagree.
We would disagree with the notion that deaf communities currently have a voice in the design and deliveries of the public services that they use. In our work, we routinely advise and help parents of deaf children when resource provisions are at risk, and on occasions it has been clear that decisions have been taken with minimal consultation with the families who would be most impacted by the changes. This is a serious issue, given local authority budgetary pressures are resulting in some LAs considering consolidating their ALN support, and has a negative impact on the provision in place for deaf children. We strongly believe that these instances would not be considered if local authorities and public services routinely engaged with deaf communities.
Strongly agree.
We agree that there should be formalised procedures in place for public services to consult with local deaf communities. Additionally, we would strongly encourage that any such discussions include deaf children and young people to ensure their voices are taken into consideration. Such consultation would be in accordance with Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which under the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011 Welsh Ministers have a duty take into serious consideration when drafting policy.
N/A
Education; Health.
For education, we would argue that the main barriers to education are a result of a lack of provision. Due to falling Teachers of the Deaf numbers, deaf children and their families can struggle to get timely support through no fault of their own or the fault of the ToD that is working with them. Additionally, educators at schools also rely on Teachers of the Deaf to ensure their learning environments are accessible to deaf learners, this can of course be delayed depending on ToD availability. This can make deaf children feel isolated, and can significantly impact their language and educational development.
For healthcare, families tell us that there is a lack of deaf awareness, and communication methods are limited depending on the scenario. For example, whilst health boards attempt to make communication options available such as interpreters, this is not always possible during short notice or periods where health boards are under significant pressure. Initial contact can also be problematic, as some GP surgeries for example still mostly rely on phone services.
The Bill proposes to establish a BSL Commissioner who would promote and facilitate the use of BSL, and would have the same powers as other minority language Commissioners such as in the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011.
No
Whilst we agree that it would be beneficial for there to be a BSL Commissioner, who would support and promote BSL in a similar fashion to the work of the Welsh Language Commissioner, we also acknowledge that the role also holds significant risks in terms of resourcing. Following our own stakeholder engagement, we suspect that if the Bill were to progress with the Commissioner role still in place it will likely fall.
We would like to highlight that there are alternative methods that could be implemented without the need of significantly amending the proposals of the Bill, such as either having the proposed BSL Advisory Panel sit within the remit of the Cabinet Secretary/Minister with responsibility for Social Justice (or closest equivalent if the title is not used by future Welsh Governments) or within the remit of the Future Generations Commissioner given the well-being goals “A More Equal Wales” and “A Wales of More Cohesive Communities”. We acknowledge that whilst these may not be seen as perfect solutions, it would enable the Advisory Panel to be established. Regardless of where the Advisory Panel sits, we would expect to see the Bill underline the Board’s independence from Government in order to allow it to truly be a “critical friend” when considering government policy.
No
Enabling deaf users/signers to lead the development of policies and implementation of services for BSL users/signers; Early years language support for deaf children and their families; Improving BSL provision in education; Access to interpreters in public services.
We foresee issues in the future if the BSL Advisory Panel requires members to be fluent BSL signers, given differing interpretations of the word fluent. For example, there are many people who are BSL first language who are not qualified up to level 6, or using first language as a requirement would exclude those who learn BSL later in life. For this to be workable, the Bill would need to include a definition of fluency, although we expect that the creation of such a legal definition could lead to offence from some BSL signers, as would be the case in if this legislation focused on the Welsh language.
In terms of the priorities of the Advisory Panel, we would agree that deaf signers should be supported to lead in the development of policies and the implementation of services, because their lived experience highlights areas of weakness within current frameworks. We would strongly advise that the Panel either reserves a seat for a young BSL signer in order to ensure that young people’s views are also taken into consideration, or that the Panel routinely engages with children and young people who use BSL. Early years language support for families is also a key feature that we would like to highlight; as a lack of language support, or the inappropriate type of language support, can significantly impact deaf children. Every child is different and has different needs, this stands with deaf children. Improving BSL education is also a key feature, for both deaf and hearing learners. This would allow more seamless communication to take place between deaf children and their peers, and would help educate hearing children about deaf culture and deaf awareness. The Panel should also concentrate on access to interpreters in public services, as many, though not all, of the issues faced by BSL signers can be associated with a lack of interpretation.
Yes.
We agree with the proposal to place a duty on the Welsh Government to produce an annual BSL report as this would allow Members of the Senedd, the deaf community and the wider public to scrutinise government decisions in relation to the language.