§ Mr. GrayTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills whether she intends to include British Sign Language within the personal, social and health education component of the national curriculum. [60127]
§ Mr. Ivan Lewis[holding answer 10 June 2002]: We have no plans to include British Sign Language in the national curriculum. Schools that wish to do so can offer British Sign Language lessons to their pupils as part of the wider school curriculum. Teaching additional subjects, such as sign language will usually be built around the skills and strengths of the teaching staff and the learning needs of their pupils.