Ministerial roundtable on audiology and Deafblindness: Report published

The ALLIANCE has produced a report for the Scottish Parliament's Cross-party Group on Deafness.

On 10 March 2026, Jenni Minto MSP, Minister for Public Health and Women’s Health, held a roundtable on audiology and Deafblindness in the Scottish Parliament.

The session was chaired by the Convenor of the Cross-party Group (CPG) on Deafness, Colin Beattie MSP, and attended by Jenni Minto MSP, Annabelle Ewing MSP, Chair of the CPG Short Life Working Group (SLWG) on Deafblindness, and members of the Scottish Government’s Sensory Loss Policy Team.

The focus of the roundtable was “what does community support look like for Deaf and Deafblind people in Scotland?”

The aims were:

• To highlight the experiences and needs of Deaf and Deafblind people accessing community audiology services.
• To discuss how to provide effective and sustainable access to community audiology services for Deaf and Deafblind people.
• To discuss how to embed the Scottish recognition of Deafblindness as a distinct disability within health and social care services.

The roundtable was structured around panellist input from Deaf and Deafblind people, NHS audiology staff, British Academy of Audiology representatives, and members of the CPG on Deafness.

The ALLIANCE has published a report on the Ministerial roundtable as secretariat for the CPG on Deafness. This report provides a summary of the panel discussion, key questions for the Minister, and recommended actions for the new government to take forward after the Scottish Parliament election on 7 May 2026.

A BSL version of the report, with captions (no voiceover), is available below.

If you have any questions about the report, please email the Scottish Sensory Hub team at sensory@alliance-scotland.org.uk.

A full version of the report is available in Word and PDF formats at the links below.

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