Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of deaf children were enrolled on a British Sign Language course in the latest period for which data is available.

British Sign Language (BSL) is an important language for communication for many deaf people and people with hearing impairments. Schools are free to offer sign language programmes to meet the needs of their pupils if they wish. The department does not hold data on the proportion of deaf children enrolled on BSL courses. New subject content for a BSL GCSE has been developed by the department, together with Ofqual and subject experts. The department launched a 12 week public consultation on the draft subject content on 15 June 2023. Details of the public consultation can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/gcse-british-sign-language-bsl-proposed-subject-content. The aim is for the GCSE to be first taught from September 2025.