Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 2 February 2015, Official Report, column 7, on translation costs, what progress he has made in looking into the matter of British sign language translation services.

This is an issue which we take very seriously and my rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State (Eric Pickles) will be writing to the hon. Member fully on the matter shortly. Under the Equality Act 2010, public and private service providers are required to make reasonable adjustments to enable people with disabilities to access a service on an equal basis with a non-disabled person. Local authorities and other local agencies should provide a good quality service to all, and we encourage local people to hold their local authorities to account.