British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 Inquiry

Overview

The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee will be considering the impact of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015.

The Act led to the development of a British Sign Language (BSL) national plan and listed authority plans. The listed authorities that must produce and implement their own plans for promoting and facilitating the use and understanding of BSL include local councils, NHS boards, colleges and universities, and the Scottish Parliament.

The Committee wants to understand if these changes have improved the lives of BSL users.

The Committee would like to find out your views on:

• whether the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015, the current BSL National Plan and listed authority plans are improving the lives of BSL users
• what changes could be made in the shorter and longer term to improve the lives of BSL users

We’re interested in gathering views from:

• BSL users
• those who advocate for BSL users
• listed authorities subject to the duty to produce and implement a BSL plan
• organisations not subject to the duty, but who have views on promoting the use and understanding of BSL in Scotland.

Questions  

You can answer any questions that are relevant to you. You do not need to answer all of them. 

Question 1: What difference has the BSL (Scotland) Act made to BSL users in the past ten years in terms of progress or setbacks?  

Question 2: What are your views on the second National BSL Plan from 2023? Were you consulted on this plan and does it address issues faced by BSL users? 

Question 3: How effective have the BSL plans from listed authorities been in improving outcomes for BSL users?  

Question 4: What reforms do you think are needed to improve outcomes for BSL users?

Question 5: Do you have any other comments?

How to give us your views

You can respond to each question using written text, or you can send us a BSL video with your responses.

When you answer the questions, please do not tell us anything that could identify anyone else, for example, the name of a school or a teacher. If this is not followed, the Committee may have to ask you to review your responses before they can be accepted.

Your responses will be published on this platform in English, along with your name, unless you tell us that you don’t want your name or your response to be published.

If you are responding by written text, please share your answers on this platform, using the text boxes beneath each question.

If you are responding using a BSL video, please use a file transfer service and state clearly which question numbers you are referring to in your video. Please send your finalised BSL video file, with your name, to ehrcj.committee@parliament.scot

If you send us a BSL video, we will translate it into written English. Only the written English translation will be published on our website, not the original video. Your video will not be made public.

Please state in your video if you wish the written English translation of your responses to be published and if you wish your name to be published. If you do not want your response to be published – or if you want it to be published without your name – please tell us this at the start of your video.

If you have any questions about this call for views, please email info@parliament.scot or call 0800 092 7500. To contact us in BSL, you can call the same number through the Contact Scotland BSL video relay service: contactscotland-bsl.org

This call for views closes at 11.59pm on 2 May 2025.