Government confirms no discussions over decision not to provide BSL for Liz Truss statements (BSL)

To see the BSL translation of this article, thanks to Signly, please click on the signing hands icon at the bottom right side of the page! Then swipe on the text, or click on the play button to see it in BSL. 

There were no discussions between civil servants over their decisions not to have a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter present for three statements issued by former prime minister Liz Truss, No 10 has confirmed.

Last month The Limping Chicken emailed a Freedom of Information request to the Cabinet Office, asking for all emails and written correspondence relating to its decision not to provide either in-person or on-screen BSL interpretation for three statements given by Ms Truss during her 45 days as prime minister.

These referred to her first speech outside No 10 on 6 September, her eight-minute Downing Street press conference on 14 October in which she announced a screeching U-turn on her plans for corporation tax, and her resignation speech on 20 October.

In a letter to this website received on Monday, Downing Street official Nicholas Howard replied: “We do not hold information in relation to your request for email and written correspondence about any decision not to provide British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation for the dates you have provided.

“It may be helpful to explain that the stream on 6 September was a pool feed which was provided by an outside source. A BSL interpretation [sic] was arranged for the press conference on 14 October with an external provider. Unfortunately this failed due to technical reasons.

“The speech on 20 October was not live streamed by No 10, but was shared online afterwards with subtitles added.”

The Limping Chicken has since revisited this video and found the captions appear to be automatically generated, with the chair of the 1922 Committee of backbench Tory MPs, Sir Graham Brady, referred to as “Sir Gray and Brady”.

The livestream of Liz Truss’s 14 October press conference also came with erroneous captions, as the then Prime Minister talked of her vision to “set this country on the path to Grace [growth]”.

This is beyond farcical. As I receive new details this evening about BSL access to speeches during Liz Truss' premiership, I note Downing St's digital team can't even be bothered to spellcheck the manual captions they published for Ms Truss' 14 October presser.

Who's Grace? pic.twitter.com/plv40d6tEK

— Liam O'Dell (@LiamODellUK) November 21, 2022

 

No 10 did not respond to several requests for comment about the quality of the captions on its YouTube channel.

Mr Howard continued: “Nevertheless, the Government remains committed to ensuring deaf people can participate and play a full role in society. We support initiatives aimed at improving understanding of the needs of deaf people and how the barriers they face can be removed, as well as giving deaf people more say in how they can access services.”

“We will continue to ensure provision of an on-screen British Sign Language interpreter.”

Yet the three statements from Ms Truss weren’t the only ministerial addresses to come without BSL interpretation, with no recorded conversations between civil servants about whether to provide BSL access.

Earlier this month, The Limping Chicken revealed no plans were made to interpret Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s 17 October statement into BSL – an address which saw him reverse “almost all” of the economic measures announced in predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget.

HM Treasury also failed to respond to multiple requests by this website for comment.

In a statement, Vicky Foxcroft, Labour’s shadow minister for disabled people, told The Limping Chicken: “Time and time again I have raised the importance of BSL interpretation in Parliament, especially when it comes to government announcements. Earlier this year, I gladly welcomed the passing of the BSL Act as a momentous achievement for the Deaf community.

”It is therefore hugely disappointing that the Government are still not acting on this, meaning recent vital announcements by the current and former Prime Ministers were inaccessible to deaf people.

”A future Labour government would ensure that Government statements like these are available with BSL interpretation.”

Elsewhere, the UK Government’s legal representatives refused to provide lawyers representing Deaf campaigners with a copy of the Equality Impact Assessment for the daily coronavirus briefings, saying it would be “disproportionate” to do so – only for this website to discover no such document existed.

Commenting on the Treasury having made no plans for BSL access to Mr Hunt’s October address, Where Is The Interpreter founder Lynn Stewart-Taylor said: “The Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced some changes to the mini budget – for British Sign Language citizens, communication is being lost in no translation.

“Some deaf people are relying on family members for information, but others are just sitting there unable to comprehend what is happening.

“I’m very angry and very upset because we deaf people are having to take on our own fight, and it’s absolutely exhausting.”

Referencing the Cabinet Office being found to have breached equality law last year, she concluded by saying the Government has “not improved” and that “they still fail us again and again”.

Solicitor Chris Fry, who represents Deaf campaigners, added: “This shows a blatant disregard for making sure that it’s information is accessible. It also shows disrespect to the Courts who declared the Cabinet Office to have discriminated against deaf people who use BSL during the pandemic.

“We’re all worried about the fast-paced and changing economic circumstances at the moment and how they are affecting our everyday lives. If an announcement is important enough to be broadcast live, it should be easy enough to have an interpreter on-platform to ensure that the messages are properly received by everyone.”

Next month sees the latest step in a court case to determine whether more than 270 Deaf people should receive compensation for nine Covid briefings at the start of the pandemic – which also came without BSL interpretation.

A hearing is set to take place at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on 7 December.

Photo: Number 10/Flickr.

By Liam O’Dell. Liam is a mildly deaf freelance journalist and campaigner from Bedfordshire. He wears bilateral hearing aids and can be found talking about disability, theatre, politics and more on Twitter and on his website.