BSL Advisory Board will have ‘minimum of 16 members’

The non-statutory group of British Sign Language (BSL) users advising the UK Government on the BSL Act will be made up of at least 16 people, The Limping Chicken understands.

The clarification comes after a livestream hosted by the British Deaf Association on Tuesday – the day the Act took effect – shed more light on the board’s membership.

The Act, which cleared all of its parliamentary stages earlier this year, gives legal recognition to BSL as a language of Great Britain and mandates the UK Government to produce regular reports on how it is ‘promoting and facilitating the language’.

While it is not included in the Act itself, the government committed to setting up a BSL Advisory Board to help with the creation of guidance on “the use of British Sign Language”.

Speaking earlier this week, British Deaf Association chair and BSL Act Now founder David Buxton said: “Ultimately there are nine people that make up the Advisory Council, then there will be four organisational seats and there will also be four seats for the civil service as well.”

However, a civil service official has since confirmed there will be “no member seats on the Board for civil servants or for representatives from government departments”.

In a statement issued to The Limping Chicken, they said: “The BSL Advisory Board will be a Deaf- and BSL-led Board, with two co-chairs (one external appointed through the application process, and the second, a senior civil servant) supported by a small civil service secretariat.

“The Board members will include BSL signers from across the 9 regions of the UK, plus one additional space for Wales and an additional representative from Scotland, a reserved space for a tactile signer, and four representatives from the BSL Act Now! campaign.

“We are in the process of creating BSL signed guidance on the application process. It will be possible to apply to join the Board in either BSL or English.”

While further details about the Board, including recruitment details, are yet to be revealed, The Limping Chicken understands there will be at least 16 people recruited to the panel.

This includes nine people from the regions of England, one space for a tactile signer, one for Scotland, one for Wales and four BSL Act Now campaign representatives.

Meanwhile, the external co-chair would serve as a chair of the board, and would not serve as a member.

Although no official timescale has been announced for the establishment of the Board, Mr Buxton previously said the group would be set up “by the summer”.

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.