The Bill would also work towards ensuring that BSL signers are not treated less favourably than those who speak Welsh or English, and make sure that deaf communities have a real voice in the design and delivery of services to ensure that they meet their needs. Existing legislation does not meet the needs of the deaf community and BSL signers.

In evidence received by the Scottish Parliament’s Education and Culture Committee on the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015, BDA Scotland stated that the Equality Act 2010

'accords rights to individuals to protect them from discrimination but it does not protect or promote BSL as a language.'

This Bill proposes to establish a BSL commissioner with the same powers as other minority language commissioners, such as those introduced after the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011; the Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, and the Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022. This would show a significant message of support to the BSL signing community in Wales.

The BSL commissioner would formulate BSL standards; establish a BSL advisory panel; produce reports every five years in BSL, Welsh and English on the position of BSL over that period; provide guidance and a process for public bodies to promote and facilitate BSL in their respective domains; and establish a procedure for the investigation of complaints. The exact nature, status and responsibilities of the commissioner would be further developed in collaboration with stakeholders, including the Welsh Government, to ensure that both costs and benefits are addressed as the Bill progresses.

The Bill would extend the reporting and guidance duties applying to the UK Government in England to the Welsh Government in Wales, and place a duty on the Welsh Government to prepare and publish an annual BSL report, describing what Welsh Government departments have done to promote and facilitate the use of BSL.

The Bill seeks to place a duty on public bodies to report on their progress in promoting and facilitating BSL through the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 reporting cycle. Ensuring that BSL is fed into the well-being of future generations cycle would embed BSL into existing policy and legal frameworks within Wales. This would ensure cost-effective resource sharing by leveraging existing structures to create a more equitable society for Welsh BSL signers in the long term.

Sign languages are full languages with their own communities, histories and cultures. The World Federation of the Deaf, with a membership of 136 national deaf associations, emphasises the importance of fostering a positive linguistic and cultural environment, so that deaf children can grow up with a profound sense of belonging, identity and pride in their deaf heritages.

BSL, which is the most common form of sign language in the UK, is a rich, visual, gestural language with a distinctive grammar using hand shapes, facial expressions, gestures and body language to convey meaning. The BDA state that

'BSL is not just a language; it is also a gateway to learning...and the means whereby Deaf people survive and flourish in a hearing world.'

Despite the Welsh Government recognising BSL as a language in its own right in 2004, there have long been calls to give BSL full legal status in Wales. Deafness is not a learning difficulty, but deaf children are being disadvantaged by the continuing inequity in outcome. The National Deaf Children’s Society has noted that the additional learning needs—or ALN—code states that deaf children and young people, alongside those who are blind or sight impaired, are

'more likely to have ALN by virtue of the fact the impairment is likely to prevent or hinder them from making use of educational or training facilities and is likely to call for'— additional learning provision. The need for BSL provision for families of deaf babies and children has also been highlighted, with families stating that they have limited access to support groups and other similar families, and are unable to learn BSL unless they can afford the high costs involved.

I have outlined initial costings for the Bill in its explanatory memorandum. The main potential areas of costs and benefits on the introduction of the Bill are around: establishing a British Sign Language commissioner and advisory panel, with supporting administration; formulating BSL standards; producing guidance and a process for public bodies to promote and facilitate BSL; additional costs for public bodies and Welsh Government to report on their BSL usage; annual reporting by the Welsh Government; establishing a procedure for the investigation of complaints; and producing reports on the position of BSL every five years. However, the principle of this Bill is to invest to save, applying early intervention and prevention measures to reduce cost pressures on statutory services further up the line.

If the Senedd agrees to allow me to introduce this Bill today, thereby ensuring that all four UK nations are covered by specific BSL legislation, my team and I will work with the Welsh Government, BSL signers, and public, voluntary and private sectors, to ensure that its development maximises policy impact and meets needs on a cost-efficient basis. I ask for your support. Diolch yn fawr.