Meeting of the Parliament 11 December 2025
I certainly think that the committee’s report and its scrutiny have given BSL added impetus. To be blunt, I do not think that we can ever have enough momentum to carry us through, so I am happy to accept Martin Whitfield’s request for added impetus and more momentum.
There are a number of recommendations in the report that can focus our minds. As Karen Adam said, the Scottish Government has accepted the vast majority of the recommendations. The only ones that we did not accept are either because they are not for us, or because they need a bit more detailed work, but there are very few of those. None of my comments should be misrepresented, as so much work has been done, particularly in recent years.
The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 is flagship legislation that everyone should be proud of. It places a duty on the Government and on listed authorities to promote and increase the use and understanding of BSL, which is key to bringing about the change that we want to see. The BSL plans are the vehicles for that promotion. Two plans have been published in the past 10 years, sitting alongside local BSL plans produced by listed authorities. The current national BSL plan concludes in 2029. At the heart of it is a clear focus on the accessibility of public services and tackling the systemic barriers that BSL users face in their daily lives. The 10 priority themes in the plan are areas that the deaf and deafblind communities have told us are important to them—education, health, justice and culture; all the same themes that were highlighted in evidence taken by the committee. Those are wide-ranging sectors that cover all aspects of society. As I said to the committee this week, often, somebody’s experience in one part of Scotland might differ from a person’s experience in another part of Scotland, which is why local BSL plans could arguably be more important for some communities. We have been clear that our six-year plan is not static; it is not something that we write and then leave. It is an iterative process that can respond to new and emerging challenges, and we have agreed to learn from and build on the actions that are in it.
The committee’s in-depth report is excellent. It took evidence from those with lived experience and reflected on the impact that the act has had. The report rightly recognises that the act is something that empowers people, increases the visibility and use of BSL, and continues to improve access to services for BSL users. However, the report also shows us more about the continued barriers and challenges that the community faces.
There are 44 recommendations. We have assessed each recommendation against two factors. First, the extent to which it aligns with the priority areas and actions in the national plan, and, secondly, its overall deliverability, including resource and cost implications.
We have accepted, either in part or in full, 40 of the recommendations. We have agreed to consider three recommendations further because they need more detailed analysis. People agreeing to things without doing the analysis up front is the bane of my life, because it is one thing to say that one is going to do something and it is quite another to make sure that one delivers on that. It is important that we do that detailed analysis first.
There is one recommendation that we have declined, and that is because it is for the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and not the Scottish Government.