UK Government document says BSL was provided for COP26 press conferences – despite live broadcasts suggesting otherwise

A UK Government report obtained by The Limping Chicken has claimed that British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation was provided for the Prime Minister’s COP26 press conferences, despite no interpreter being visible in livestreams uploaded to YouTube.

The Equality Impact Assessment Screening Report, provided to this website under the Freedom of Information Act, details the potential impact of the climate change conference – held in Glasgow late last year – on different “equality groups”.

In the undated document, the UK Government writes: “At COP26, we provided British Sign Language (BSL) during the WLS [World Leaders’ Summit] opening ceremony.

“British Sign Language was also provided at the COP26 Presidency, and the UK PM’s press conferences, and key speeches the COP President made in the plenary hall. This included the closing plenary sessions.”

However, in videos available on the 10 Downing Street YouTube channel, the Prime Minister’s address on 1 November and press conference on 2 November came without BSL interpretation.

An interpreter was, however, provided for Boris Johnson’s press conference on 10 November – just days after the UK Government was issued with a fresh legal threat on behalf of Deaf campaigners.

In a statement issued at the time, Where Is The Interpreter founder Lynn Stewart-Taylor said she could not believe the Deaf community had been “totally ignored again”.

“Sign language people messaged me straight away, including a deaf teaching assistant concerned about the lack of access for sign language children that meant they were unable to follow the COP26 announcements. The government has failed us.

“I feel that having come this far, we need to hold the Government to account, and let them know that our rights cannot be ignored. If we don’t fight to change the system, things will continue to be the way they are!

“So I have taken the decision to bring legal proceedings again, against the Cabinet Office.”

The ongoing legal challenge follows last year’s judicial review against the Government over its failure to interpret its coronavirus press conferences – a case which saw a judge rule that the Cabinet Office had breached the Equality Act by not providing an interpreter for two COVID data briefings.

In a letter rejecting the private law claim over COP26 – seen by The Limping Chicken – the Government’s legal department write: “The reason why an Interpreter was not initially used for the broadcasts relating to COP26 is because the requirements for COP were set by the Secretariat of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as part of the Host Country Agreement.

“This agreement included a set of technical requirements which outlined all of the facilities the Government was required to deliver. These requirements did not include the provision of an interpreter and it is not something the [UNFCCC] Secretariat have provided at previous COPs.

“The Blue Zone (where all press conferences and key speeches from the Prime Minister and COP26 President took place) at the time of COP was under UN control – the Government simply built the infrastructure based on their requirements.”

However, speaking to The Limping Chicken, lawyer Chris Fry – who led last year’s judicial review over inaccessible COVID briefings – criticised the Government’s response to the issue.

He said: “[The] first thing is that the Government had said the event was planned by the UN and they weren’t responsible for it, so this document undermines that.

“Second is that it shows us that nothing was done before the event, which means that I’m confident that the court will hold the Government in breach of the Equality Act – again,” he said.

As well as including information about BSL interpretation, the Equality Impact Assessment also mentions the “consideration of International Sign Language usage, pending budgets”.

The document does not make clear whether ISL interpretation was provided for any part of the conference.

The availability of BSL interpreters wasn’t the only accessibility issue faced by the COP26 summit, as the Prime Minister had to apologise to Israeli minister Karine Elharrar – a wheelchair user – after she couldn’t access the event.

In a statement to The Limping Chicken, a UK Government spokesperson said: “COP26 was a UN conference and was organised strictly in line with UN guidance which does not include agreement about the use of sign language including BSL. During the conference the UK proactively sought out opportunities for providing BSL and we hope sign language can be included in future COPs.”

This website also understands that the Equality Impact Assessment Screening Report has since been updated to reflect the fact that BSL was provided at the opening ceremony, and for all presidency press conferences in the second week of the event.

Photo: Simon Dawson/No 10 Downing Street.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is an award-winning Deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.

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Update – 10/03/22 – 12:45: A Freedom of Information request submitted by The Limping Chicken has since revealed that while a Disability Inclusive Working Group was set up to “help guide [the Government’s] preparation for delivering a disability inclusive summit”, no internal documents were produced by the group.

A response from the Cabinet Office reads: “We are writing to advise you that following a search of our paper and electronic records, we have established that the information you requested is not held by the Cabinet Office.