BSL Act Now: Who are the MPs who will discuss British Sign Language Bill at committee stage?

The 18 MPs who will meet on Wednesday to discuss the details of the British Sign Language (BSL) Bill, for its Commons committee stage, have been revealed.

While membership details are yet to be posted on the UK Parliament website, a House of Commons spokesperson confirmed to The Limping Chicken that the MPs sitting on the general committee were agreed in a vote on 9 February.

According to UK Parliament, the committee stage sees a Bill “considered line-by-line” with the opportunity “for changes to be made to the wording or for new clauses to be added”.

The full list of MPs, along with details of their connections to the Deaf community, are provided below.

Maria Miller MP (Chair)

A former Minister for Disabled People and Minister for Women and Equalities under David Cameron’s government, the Basingstoke MP has previously chaired the Women and Equalities Select Committee.

The Conservative politician also formed part of the committee which recently looked into the Taxi and Private Hire Vehicles (Disabled Persons) Bill, which seeks to place new duties on these vehicles to carry disabled people.

In relation to Deaf issues, Ms Miller spoke out against plans to close deaf units in three schools in her constituency in 2006, saying at the time that she was “deeply concerned at the recommendation for wholesale closure”.

Four years later, the MP met with local parents of deaf children to discuss setting up a new support network for them.

“There have been problems with supporting families with deaf children and deaf families for a number of years and I was involved with trying to keep the [defunct] Face Us organisation going.

“There’s a clear need for more support,” she said in 2010.

Rosie Cooper MP

The Labour MP for West Lancashire introduced the BSL Bill to Parliament last year. She is a Child of Deaf Adults (CODA), with BSL being her first language.

Chloe Smith MP

Ms Smith is the current Minister for Disabled People and is working with Ms Cooper to bring the BSL Bill through Parliament.

In December, she released a BSL video congratulating EastEnders actress Rose Ayling-Ellis on her Strictly Come Dancing win.

Vicky Foxcroft MP

Ms Foxcroft is Ms Smith’s counterpart as Labour’s Shadow Minister for Disabled People.

The Lewisham Deptford MP repeatedly challenged the UK Government on its refusal to provide a BSL interpreter for its coronavirus press conferences, at one point signing a question to the Prime Minister on the issue.

More recently, she has questioned ministers on the National Disability Strategy, which a High Court judge ruled as unlawful in a judgment last month.

Peter Aldous MP

As the Conservative MP who represents campaigners Daniel and Ann Jillings, Mr Aldous has supported calls for a BSL GCSE, describing the mother and son duo as “passionate campaigners for the Deaf community, particularly for deaf children”.

“Ann and Daniel, along with the National Deaf Children’s Society, have campaigned tirelessly for a GCSE in British Sign Language […] I would be most grateful if [Chloe Smith] could liaise with her counterparts in the Department for Education to ensure that the BSL GCSE is introduced as quickly as possible,” he told the Commons during the BSL Bill’s second reading last month.

Lillian Greenwood MP

 The Nottingham South MP is president of the National Association of Deafened People and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Deafness.

Marie Rimmer MP

Ms Rimmer is the Labour MP for St Helens South and Whiston, in the county of Merseyside. She’s profoundly deaf, and a cochlear implant user.

Maria Eagle MP

 Ms Eagle was the Minister for Disabled People when the Labour government recognised BSL as an official language – but without legal status – in 2003.

Not long after the statement was issued by the then-Work and Pensions Secretary, Andrew Smith, Ms Eagle said during a Commons debate: “BSL is important for deaf people’s sense of identity and self-esteem. It has a symbolic significance that should not be underestimated. However, its significance is greater than that.

“Practical benefits will follow from the initiatives that were announced in support of the statement. We will be working with deaf organisations to progress those initiatives.”

Two years prior, in response to a written question about the steps the Government had taken to ensure “only qualified sign language interpreters are used” for medical assessments for Disability Living Allowance, Ms Eagle said services “existing procedures” provide “a professional interpreter service for people with hearing difficulties”.

“Where problems arise advice is sought from the Royal National Institute for the Deaf s helpline. However, some people may prefer to have a friend, relation [sic] or colleague to act as an interpreter,” she said at the time.

More recently, Ms Eagle asked during a debate on the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill in June last year – which is set to allow Deaf people to become jurors through the use of an interpreter – whether contempt proceedings and punishments if a juror breaks their oath apply to British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters.

“The provisions create a new offence where a BSL interpreter intentionally interferes in or influences the deliberations of the jury in the proceedings before a court,” Home Office minister Chris Philp replied.

In her contribution to the BSL Bill’s second reading in January, Ms Eagle referred to her role as the Minister for Disabled People when BSL was officially recognised back in 2003.

“There was much debate then that it did not even count as a language. That line in the sand was important, but I am so pleased that [Rosie Cooper] is now bringing forward legislation to take a further step, which has been too long coming, to promote the use of the language.

“It will enable it to flourish in a way that other languages that have been recognised in statute have flourished thereafter,” she said. 

Marion Fellows MP

 Ms Fellows is the Shadow Spokesperson on Disabilities for the Scottish National Party.

In May 2019, ahead of that year’s Deaf Awareness Week, she called for a Government debate on what it can do to better support deaf people to “contribute even more fully […] in society as a whole”.

After the Women and Equalities Committee published its report looking into disability and access to services during the coronavirus pandemic, Ms Fellows criticised the difficulty the UK Government have had in communicating with disabled people.

“Even an easy thing to do such as having a BSL signer at No. 10 briefings during the pandemic was not in place, whereas in Scotland the daily briefings with the First Minister were signed from the start.

“It is not hard to arrange, but the lack of that basic tool for the deaf community reveals a lack of thought on the best way to communicate directly with deaf members of the population who need to understand what is going on.

“They feel cut off at the best of times,” she said.

In her contributions during the BSL Bill’s second reading, the Scottish MP described the proposed legislation as “a great opportunity to break down barriers; to begin to create a more inclusive, equal and fair society for deaf people across the four nations; and for signers to be prominent in the public arena, as they are in Scotland”. 

Nickie Aiken MP

 Elected as the Conservative MP for the Cities of London and Westminster in December 2019, Ms Aiken has since made two contributions in the Commons on the subject of BSL.

On 6 January, during a debate on the business of the House, Ms Aiken revealed it was her New Year’s resolution to learn BSL.

A few weeks later, during the BSL Bill’s second reading, she explained why she uses a clear face mask “as much as possible” and added that she had her first BSL lesson the next week. 

Gareth Bacon MP

While Mr Bacon did not speak during the second reading of the BSL Bill last month, Minister for Disabled People Chloe Smith MP said in her closing remarks that she wanted to thank the Orpington MP “for his support in forging cross-party consensus for an important goal here today”.

Anthony Browne MP

 In June 2021, the Conservative MP published a response to calls for BSL to be recognised in law by saying “the Government formally recognised British Sign Language as a language in its own right in 2003” and referenced existing equalities legislation.

“Employers, service providers and public bodies must provide services in BSL when it is reasonable to do so.

“It is clear to me that the Government and the public sector should lead by example in ensuring that important communication is accessible to all,” he said.

The MP for South Cambridgeshire also spoke during the second reading of the BSL Bill and said: “We must make sure that people who are hard of hearing or deaf who use BSL have full access to all the services, can lead a full life in terms of employment and do not face any of the barriers that currently exist.

“The Bill will be a big step towards that full equality and inclusivity of deaf people in the rest of society.” 

Chris Clarkson MP

The Conservative MP for Heywood and Middleton spoke during the BSL Bill’s second reading, in which he said the failure by the UK Parliament to recognise British Sign Language is a “serious misjustice”.

Virginia Crosbie MP

The Welsh Conservative MP met with the National Deaf Children’s Society in October to discuss “the challenges [deaf children have] faced during the pandemic and how schools can support them effectively during the new academic year”.

She used her contribution in the BSL Bill discussion last month to highlight the fact there is no school for the deaf in Wales, and described the proposals as allowing the UK “to take an important step to recognising the rights of deaf people to access the education, support and assistance they need using their own language”.

Danny Kruger MP

In August 2020, the Conservative MP acknowledged the communication challenges posed by face coverings during the pandemic.

He wrote on his website: “It is vital to ensure that patients who are deaf or hard of hearing are not isolated from care through face coverings preventing them from lip reading, particularly children who may not feel confident asking someone they have not heard correctly to repeat themselves.

“I am glad that a coalition of charities, including the National Deaf Children’s Society, Action on Hearing Loss and the Royal Association of Deaf People have joined forces to issue guidance on how to speak with a face mask.

“I will work with my colleagues in the Department of Health and Social Care to ensure that NHS Staff are able to protect themselves and others from the virus without restricting communication for those who are hard of hearing or deaf.” 

In his contribution to the BSL Bill second reading, Mr Kruger said “the essence of a just society” is that “we do not write people off”.

“First, from the perspective of rights – particularly, in this case, those of deaf people – it is absolutely right that we make all efforts to ensure that deaf people can participate fully in all the activities of society, whether those are leisure activities, education, opportunities for work or healthcare; we heard a powerful point about the role of communication in access to healthcare and advice.

“The second value is the benefit to society. The hon. Lady told a powerful story about her father and his work as a plasterer, not a joiner, and the enormous benefit if we properly include all our citizens,” he said.

Carla Lockhart MP

Ms Lockhart was previously a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly before becoming an MP in 2019.

A year before she met representatives of the National Deaf Children’s Society to discuss support for deaf children and young people, writing on Twitter following the “informative” meeting that there is “lots to be done with regards to equality for people from the deaf community”.

Marco Longhi MP

 In a contribution to last month’s second reading of the BSL Bill, Conservative MP Mr Longhi said: “This country has a proud history of leading and improving accessibility for those with disabilities, and it is so important that we create public policy mechanisms that will remove the countless barriers that society places in front of deaf BSL users in their daily lives.

“What is also important is listening to the lived experience of those who use sign language as their primary language. They are best placed to understand and take decisions about their own needs.

“When decisions are taken without involving and properly consulting those they affect – in this case, the Deaf community – it leads to inappropriate and inadequate services, which also leads to a waste of public money and taxpayers’ cash.”

Mike Penning MP

The Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead is an honorary patron of Hertfordshire-based charity the Hearing Advice Service. He has previously revealed that he has a “hearing impairment from my military service”, and was a former Minister for Disabled People from 2013 to 2014.

Addressing the All-Party Parliamentary Disability Group in December 2013, Mr Penning spoke of abuse of disability support, saying a “member of the deaf lobby” came and told him “of some of the abuse”.

“It’s a tiny majority and that spoils it for everybody, but they are taking a disproportionately higher amount of money from the system,” Disability News Service reported at the time.

David Buxton of the British Deaf Association pointed out, however, that abuse of Access to Work was just 0.3% of government spending on the programme.

In a debate on deaf children’s services in September 2018, Mr Penning said it was “fundamentally wrong” that no formal qualification was available for BSL.

The Commons committee stage of the British Sign Language Bill takes place on Wednesday, from 10am to 11:15am.

Photos: UK Parliament.

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: This piece was amended on 22 February after a new time for the committee was given.