Lords wanted Sign Supported English and lipspeaking to be noted in last-minute amendments to BSL Bill

Some members of the House of Lords were considering tabling amendments to the British Sign Language (BSL) Bill to include lipspeaking and Sign Supported English (SSE) – in a move which could have derailed plans to have the Bill passed before the Parliamentary deadline.

The news was revealed by David Buxton, chair of the British Deaf Association and founder of the BSL Act Now campaign, during a Question Time event held on Tuesday evening.

Mr Buxton told viewers: “We’ve made it really clear a, we have a really dedicated period of time and b, that this is really a British Sign Language Bill. So lipspeaking […and] Sign Supported English on that basis really doesn’t have any place within a BSL Bill.

“Thankfully, through those sort of behind closed doors conversations, we’ve been able to – via these back channels – try and make sure that the Bill can get a safe passage through the Lords.”

Lipspeakers repeat clearly words said by another speaker – using facial expressions, gestures and fingerspelling – to aid lipreading, while SSE uses signs with English grammar and is not the same as BSL.

Mr Buxton also confirmed he had been assured by Lord Holmes of Richmond, who is sponsoring the BSL Bill in the Lords, that no amendments have been tabled for the Bill’s third reading on 27 April “as far as he knows”.

If an amendment is tabled next Wednesday, then Parliament time would be needed to debate and vote on it, with the RNID’s Robert Geaney warning the deadline for the Bill to receive Royal Assent is between 28 April and 4 May.

Once confirmed, the date will be the final sitting day of this Parliament before it is dissolved and remaining Bills will fall, ahead of the Queen’s Speech launching a new Parliamentary session on 10 May.

While the House of Lords is due to give the BSL Bill its third reading next Wednesday, it’s understood that the Scottish and Welsh Parliaments will pass a consent motion a day before.

According to the UK Parliament website, the motion enables a devolved Parliament to state “that it is content for the UK Parliament to pass a law on a devolved matter”.

Mr Geaney, the RNID’s head of campaigns and public affairs, added that both Parliaments have published documents expressing their satisfaction with the Bill being passed at a UK level.

Meanwhile, unlike the Trafalgar Square rally on 18 March – which marked the Bill’s third reading in the House of Commons – Mr Buxton confirmed an event would not be taking place next week for the third reading in the Lords.

He said this was due to both Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square being unavailable on 27 April, but hinted that a “celebration” is needed if the Bill becomes an Act.

Details were also shared about the non-statutory advisory board who would create guidance under the Act, with both Mr Geaney and Mr Buxton saying the group Is expected to be set up “by the summer” if the Bill becomes law.

Mr Geaney added: “The advisory board should acknowledge and represent the diversity of the Deaf community. I also think it’s important that the advisory board isn’t there to give 10 people a voice.

“What we want is an advisory board that has the resources, the capability and actually the remit to engage itself with the Deaf community in a meaningful way.”

 

In response to comments from Mr Geaney that the BSL Advisory Board could lobby for BSL being taught in schools “if the Deaf community wants that”, The Limping Chicken asked both the RNID representative and Mr Buxton what their charities would do to ensure the work of the potential lobby group does not undermine their organisations’ work.

Mr Geaney replied: “I think I want to be comfortable with that […] assuming the BSL Board is properly formulated, has the diversity and the representation that we want it to have. As I said before, assuming that it’s not just 10 people sat around the table making decisions, assuming the BSL Board has the resources and the capability to do its own work for the Deaf community.

“I’m relaxed if the BSL Board doesn’t say what RNID wants it to say, but my job as a lobbyist will be to get it to do the things we want it to do – but I’m relaxed if it doesn’t, strangely.”

Mr Buxton added: “It’s also important to have co-produced campaigns, and working together, we can obviously survey the community and understand what’s important and try to feed back to the minister.

“So I think when it comes to feeding back directly to government, I think it is important that there is some communication. I think it’s about co-production with how the community engages with government.”

The Limping Chicken also questioned if the charities would push for politicians to add amendments which place a financial cost on the Government once the Bill becomes an Act, and whether they are hopeful ministers will deliver on commitments to the Deaf community.

The question comes as the RNID has waited almost five years for the UK Government to implement legislation which would place legal requirements on on-demand services to make their content accessible – a delay which Mr Geaney said had left the charity “deeply angry and frustrated”.

Also, under rules surrounding Private Member’s Bills – the process which enabled Labour MP Rosie Cooper to introduce the draft legislation last year – a draft Bill cannot cost the Government money unless a money resolution is tabled.

Mr Geaney responded by saying the UK Government “spends an incredible amount of money […] very badly on how it supports the Deaf community”.

He said: “There are some shocking examples of how NHS England commissions interpreting support so that we see people with a level two BSL qualification turning up to interpret medical appointments.

“So I think there’s an element to which if this guidance is done properly, it will I improve the way the money spent, but without actually creating money itself.”

The campaigner also said the guidance element of the Bill – which will apply to government departments and the public bodies they manage – would “outlive” the current minister and government because the guidance would “have to be refreshed”.

Despite this, both charity representatives agreed there had been a “huge attitude change” and big “change in mindset” from the current UK Government around Deaf rights.

Mr Geaney explained: “This clearly isn’t just the campaign we’ve been working on. It clearly isn’t just Rose [Ayling-Ellis] on Strictly, but something has changed.

“It wasn’t that long ago that ministers stood up in the House of Lords, and essentially said the BSL community is something that the Government needs to manage the decline [of] until it’s not there anymore – and the Government’s been almost open about that.

“I’ve seen Access to Work put up policy statements where they talk about VRS as a form of automated artificial intelligence that doesn’t involve human people.

“Something has changed in government in the last year that they’re now open minded, […] thinking about the Deaf community in the way the Deaf community wants to be thought about,” he said.

Photo: Jessica Taylor/House of Lords/Flickr.

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.