In light of its commitment in the British Sign Language National Plan 2023-2029 to promote and support the learning of BSL as a second lang…

We are committed to making Scotland the best place in the world for BSL users to live, work, visit and learn and will deliver on this through our BSL National Plan 2023-2029. The current National Plan 2023-2029 is ongoing, and Scottish Government will publish a midpoint Progress Report at the end of this year, which will include an overview of achievements and ongoing work.Action 28 within the BSL National Plan recognises that hard-of-hearing and deafened people should have tools for them to communicate, including learning BSL.There is currently no specific financial assistance available for hard of hearing and deafened people, funded directly by Scottish Government, to undertake accredited BSL learning.Additionally, the Equalities, Human Rights, and Civil Justice Committee’s Report on the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 made recommendations, which Scottish Government has either fully or partially accepted. One of which was in relation to exploring the establishment of BSL courses. Work is in progress to scope this recommendation further.We continue to work with and engage with our partners and stakeholders such as the Implementation Advisory Group (IAG) of the BSL National Plan to better understand the issues impacting on BSL users and their families and to address these issues.