Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether the Government Equalities Office is taking steps to ensure that duties under the Equality Act 2010 in relation to the provision of accessible information for people who (a) deaf and (b) have hearing loss are maintained during the covid-19 outbreak.

The Government is committed to ensuring deaf people and people who have hearing loss can fully participate and play a full role in society. We support initiatives aimed at improving understanding of the needs of deaf people and people who have hearing loss and how the barriers they face can be removed, as well as giving them more say in how they access services.

We worked with the BBC to introduce a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter on Monday 16 March to accompany the Prime Minister’s daily coronavirus press conference. The BSL interpreter is available on the BBC News Channel and BBC iPlayer. We continue to work with the BBC to ensure there is a BSL interpreter in our daily updates on coronavirus and are prioritising the exploration of additional methods to ensure that all disabled people have access to pertinent communication in accessible formats.