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Publication of EHRCJ Committee report on BSL (Scotland) Act 2015

  • Area of Work: Scottish Sensory Hub
  • Type: News Item
  • Published: 30th September 2025
Graphic image with a spider graph. ALLIANCE logo is in the centre circle, with six other circles branching off with various accessibility images.

The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee investigated whether the Act has improved the lives of BSL users

A decade has passed since the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 received Royal Assent.

The Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee agreed on 4 February 2025 to hold a short inquiry considering actions taken by the Scottish Government and public authorities listed under the Act to tackle barriers faced by BSL users in Scotland.

Specifically, the Committee agreed to focus on:

  • Whether the BSL Act, the current BSL Plan and listed authority plans are improving the lives of BSL users; and
  • What changes could be made in the shorter and longer term to improve the lives of BSL users.

To help inform its scrutiny, the Committee issued a call for views running from 3 April to 2 May and received 37 submissions.

The Committee then held four formal evidence sessions which included the ALLIANCE and other third sector organisations, academics, two authorities listed under the Act, and the Deputy First Minister and Scottish Government officials.

The Committee also held two informal engagement sessions with BSL users from the British Deaf Association, Deaf Action and Deafblind Scotland to hear first-hand about their experiences and priorities.

The findings and recommendations from the inquiry are now available in a report. The full written report is available here.

A BSL summary of the report (with captions) is available below.

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