To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to setting up a free-to-access video relay service for public services in England; and what assessment they have made of the take-up of such services in Scotland.
Answered on
5 June 2018
British Sign Language (BSL) users already have a well-established, free-to-access Video Relay Service network allowing accessible communication with a range of public services in England, including the Department for Work and Pensions, NHS providers and Local Authorities.
Equality legislation means that public bodies and others have to provide services in BSL and other formats when it is reasonable to do so and the Public Sector Equality Duty requires public bodies to have due regard to the needs of all those with protected characteristics.
BSL is a devolved matter and the Scottish Parliament decided to introduce the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act and have different arrangements to England and Wales. We are looking at developments in Scotland including the take-up of such services to inform our thinking for England and Wales.