Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect data on how many NHS England appointments were cancelled because of a lack of sign language interpreters; and, if so, whether they will publish those data for the past five financial years.

NHS England routinely collects data on both cancelled and missed hospital appointments, although data is not collected on the reasons why, and cannot be disaggregated to explain causes.

All National Health Service organisations and publicly funded social care providers are expected to meet the Accessible Information Standard (AIS), which details the approach to supporting the information and communication support needs of people with a disability, impairment, or sensory loss, including people using British Sign Language.

On 30 June 2025, a refreshed AIS was published. NHS England is working to support implementation of the AIS with awareness raising, communication and engagement, and a review of the current e-learning modules on the AIS.