Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available for people who use British Sign Language as their first language in the NHS.

In 2021, NHS England commissioned the North of England Commissioning Support Unit to review commissioning arrangements for British Sign Language (BSL) interpreting services in the National Health Service. The Review concluded that whilst improvements were required in some local areas, there were examples of other areas where successful engagement with the local population delivered higher quality BSL services.

NHS England is working with relevant stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the report and will be publishing a ‘Best Practice Guide’ to support local integrated care boards, commissioners and providers to improve provision of BSL interpreting services. NHS England has also established a network of Regional Leads to share the outcomes of the Review, and to support implementation of its recommendations.