British Sign Language: national plan 2023 to 2029 - easy read

Introduction

The Scottish Government sees British Sign Language (BSL) as one of the languages of Scotland.

BSL users have a right to equal choices and chances to take part in things and to be fully included.

The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 says we must publish plans every 6 years, showing how we will tell more people about BSL in Scotland and encourage them to use it.

Since the first BSL National Plan was published, we have had a public consultation and 43 community consultation events.

A consultation is when people are asked what they think about something.

These events helped us to decide what work should be in this plan.

We will start an Implementation Advisory Group - this group will check how the work in this plan is going.

We will publish a progress report in 2026 to show if work is going well.