Analysis of Local BSL Plans 2024-2030 – report published

The ALLIANCE has published a report on local BSL plans and compliance with the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015.

The ALLIANCE Scottish Sensory Hub recently undertook independent analysis of local British Sign Language (BSL) plans for 2024-2030. The findings and recommendations are now available in a report.

The BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 is the legislation which recognises both visual and tactile forms of BSL. The Act requires the Scottish Government to publish a national plan every six years, setting out their strategy to “make Scotland the best place in the world for BSL signers to live, work, visit and learn”. The Act names a range of “listed authorities” who must produce their own local BSL Plans.

The publication of the new BSL National Plan 2023-2029 and the second round of BSL local plans represents a new milestone in promoting and supporting the human rights of BSL users in Scotland. The ALLIANCE Scottish Sensory Hub have analysed these new BSL local plans to assess compliance with the law and highlight examples of good practice and areas of learning so far.

The report contains an overview of all published local BSL plans until August 2024, including the number of plans compliant with the legislation, the inclusion of Deafblindness and tactile BSL within plans, and the availability of information on the consultation process. The reports also features an analysis of the accessibility of plans (written and in BSL), and the content for regional Health Boards and local authorities on the 10 priority areas found in the BSL National Plan 2023-2029. The report includes reflections and recommendations for ensuring that BSL users can participate fully and equally in society and enjoy their human rights.

The main finding in the report was that from 99 listed authorities who must produce a local BSL plan, 72% had published a local BSL plan in written English, and only 62% had published a local plan in BSL (and so were compliant with the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015). The report raises questions as to who is responsible for monitoring and evaluating legal compliance on local BSL plans, and how best to support listed authorities to fulfil the requirements of the legislation and support BSL users in their communities.

A BSL video of the executive summary report, with captions, 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 and an executive summary version of the report are available in Word and PDF formats at the links below.

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