To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in light of the recent pilot scheme for sign video relay service (SIGNVRS) technology launched in London whereby a small device attached to a videophone can enable deaf people to make phone calls using British Sign Language, it will consider launching such a pilot scheme in Glasgow.

The Scottish Executive is committed to linguistic access for Deaf people in Scotland and has noted the development of the SIGNVRS scheme.

We have no plans at present to launch such a pilot scheme in Scotland. However, we are aware of the interest in the use of sign video relay technology and will explore with our BSL and Linguistic Access Working Group how we might learn from this development.