§ Lord Harris of Haringeyasked Her Majesty's Government:
How they intend to achieve the widest possible availability of fully qualified interpreters of spoken languages and British Sign Language for those seeking services from government departments and other public agencies. [HL2373]
§ The Lord Privy Seal (Lord Williams of Mostyn)The Immigration Research and Statistics Service, within the Home Office, has commissioned a consultant to conduct a mapping exercise which will focus on the use of interpreters by government departments and other public agencies.
The remit of the exercise is to look more carefully at how public services provide interpretation/translation services, where they are adequate, where they are not, what they cost and best practice.
With regards to the availability of fully qualified interpreters of British Sign Language (BSL), I refer my noble friend to the written ministerial statement made by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on 18 March, Official Report, Commons, col. 41WS, in which he announced a discrete programme of initiatives to support the Statement. Among the priorities identified are raising awareness of the communication needs of deaf people who use BSL, and increasing opportunities for people to learn BSL to a professional standard and to become interpreters. We will be consulting organisations of and for deaf people about how the additional funding of £1 million should be allocated.