Parliamentary Questions
Access to Information
June 2009
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the outcome was of the pilot study of the online British Sign Language interpreting service.
Alex Neil: The Scottish Government funded Deaf Connections to conduct a time-limited online British Sign Language (BSL)/English interpreting pilot during 2007-08. The pilot was funded to test the new approach to interpreting provision and to start to explore if it could contribute to a better deployment of the limited number of interpreters available in Scotland.
Whilst the evaluation suggested that an online interpreting service can be useful in a number of situations, particularly in rural areas or when the interpreting assignment is of a short duration the service should not be seen as an alternative to the existing traditional, face-to-face service. The evaluation suggested that the deaf people who used the online interpreting service preferred it to online services delivered in English. Interpreters felt the pilot had allayed their initial professional concerns.
The pilot demonstrated that an online interpreting service can work and that technical difficulties and professional concerns can be overcome. The lessons from the pilot are helpful to policy makers and have contributed to the government’s understanding of online services for people who use BSL.
A copy of the evaluation of the pilot carried out by Deaf Connections is available on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/disability/remit/projects/.
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it supports the use of a multimedia platform for the provision of a British Sign Language interpreting service.
Alex Neil: The Scottish Government is interested to note the progress in multimedia technology which will benefit deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL). A number of voluntary organisations and private companies in Scotland are testing the market by offering online BSL/English interpreting and other products. These services are at an early stage of development and while advancing technology will offer opportunities for online interpreting services to be developed, online interpreting may not be appropriate for all occasions and safeguards need to be built in to any future developments.
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will develop and improve access to British Sign Language interpreting services.
Alex Neil: The Scottish Government is taking action to improve access to British Sign Language (BSL)/English interpreting services by supporting measures to increase the number of BSL/English interpreters available across Scotland. In 2003 there were 39 registered interpreters in Scotland and there are now 60 interpreters and 10 apprentices currently registered in Scotland.
Over the period 2008-11, the Scottish Government has committed £1.5 million to support an innovative package of measures to increase the number of registered BSL/English interpreters working in Scotland and to develop a work-based route to becoming an interpreter. This will complement the already established academic route, and make becoming an interpreter more accessible. Part of this funding will also support the teaching of BSL at all levels to increase access to services either directly though BSL, or through appropriately qualified interpreters.
May 2009
Nigel Don (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many sign language interpreters there are in Scotland; whether any disparities in the numbers between local authorities have been addressed, and what steps it is taking to increase numbers to provide the most efficient coverage to serve the deaf community.
Alex Neil: There are a total of 60 interpreters and 10 apprentices currently registered in Scotland. There is an uneven spread of interpreters with some rural areas and the Scottish Islands having very limited provision. With the support of our BSL and Linguistic Access Working Group, the Scottish Government is actively working to increase the numbers of interpreters nationally. We are doing this by putting in place an infrastructure which will increase the numbers of both BSL/English interpreters and the number of tutors able to teach BSL at advanced level and we have allocated £1.5 million over 2008-11 to support this work.
The Scottish Government funded a pilot online interpreting project in 2008 to explore the potential for remote interpreting. Further work on this is now being undertaken by the voluntary organisations and private businesses involved in interpreting to consider the implications of this model of service for deaf people.
January 2009
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will adapt its website to enable British Sign Language (BSL) to be used.
Stewart Maxwell: The British Sign Language and Linguistic Access Working Group advises the Equality Unit on improving linguistic access for deaf people in Scotland. Since January 2008, the Scottish Government’s website has included a BSL translation of an introductory page within its People and Society Topic at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/disability/remit
The Scottish Government has funded a wide variety of initiatives to promote BSL and has committed £1.5 million for 2008-11 to increase the number of BSL teachers and of BSL/English interpreters.
November 2008
Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review its support for the provision of accessible information.
Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government is committed to making its information available to all, including disabled people. We take our duties under the Disability Discrimination Act seriously, and expect other organisations to do so too.
Both the Scottish Government website (www.scotland.gov.uk) and Intranet (Saltire) aim to ensure all content meets a minimum web accessibility initiative "AA" rating. All official publications are made available online in both html and PDF format. In addition www.scotland.gov.uk uses Dexerit text to speech software for official publications and news releases.
We will supply Scottish Government published documents in alternative formats where appropriate or on request to increase public accessibility. These will include other languages, audio, Braille and large type formats and will include availability in electronic as well as printed formats.
We currently have no plans to review this provision.