British Sign Language (BSL) route map

I am proud to present the British Sign Language (BSL) route map, which will help us strengthen the recognition, promotion and facilitation of BSL across Wales, and to improve outcomes for the deaf BSL signing community.

The route map is a first step toward realising our ambition of creating a Wales that respects, promotes and facilitates BSL. The short-term actions within the route map, which are to be completed within 18 months, have been informed by the recommendations produced by the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group.

The BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group has advised on the priority areas needed to promote BSL, challenge barriers and ensure the language is respected as a vital part of Welsh society.

Whilst the initial work of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group has now concluded, we recognise the importance of continued engagement with the deaf BSL community in Wales. Members of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group have reconvened as a new group, to provide advice on the development and implementation of the BSL route map.

I would like to thank all members of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group, along with the 2 co-chairs, for their hard work and dedication throughout this process. The actions within this route map have been shaped by the lived experience and resilience of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group members.

The work of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group marks a positive step forward in supporting deaf leadership and strengthening engagement with members of the deaf BSL signing community through meaningful partnership working. Using BSL as the main language and learning from the lived experiences of members of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group, has helped us better understand the priority areas for action and change, and to identify the challenges and language barriers faced by deaf BSL signers.

We will continue to strengthen this engagement with the deaf BSL signing community further through future work and engagement, ensuring that their lived experience continues to shape and inform our work and cross-government policies.

I am committed to our long-term ambition of empowering our deaf BSL signing community and ensuring BSL is valued and visible across Wales. By firstly focusing on the delivery of short-term priorities, we can build the foundation for future progress.

Through our collective efforts, we can make an impact and bring about meaningful change for deaf BSL signers across Wales.

Jane Hutt MS.

Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip.

Ambition

British Sign Language (BSL) is the first or preferred language of the deaf community in Wales, with its own linguistic identity and rich cultural heritage. BSL is a distinct language with unique grammar, syntax, and vocabulary. It was recognised by the Welsh Assembly Government as a language in 2004.

Our ambition is to build a society that empowers the deaf BSL signing community, and to create a Wales that promotes equitable access and which promotes, facilitates and values BSL as a vital part of Welsh society.

Our aim is to promote and raise awareness of BSL, and to encourage greater understanding, visibility, and inclusion across all areas of Welsh society. By fostering a culture of respect and recognition, we seek to ensure that BSL is embraced and celebrated as an integral part of Wales’s linguistic and cultural landscape.

Purpose of the route map

The Welsh Government are committed to addressing and challenging the existing language barriers to ensure equity for deaf BSL signers. We are determined to drive long term positive change for deaf BSL signers by strengthening the recognition, promotion and facilitation of BSL across Wales.

The BSL route map sets out the initial short-term actions that Welsh Government will take forward, to be completed within 18 months. These actions represent the first steps toward realising our ambition of creating a Wales where BSL is respected, promoted and facilitated. The route map lays the groundwork for future Welsh Government policy, strategies and plans, and to ultimately create lasting change and greater inclusion for deaf BSL signers.

An initial focus on short-term actions enables Welsh Government to carry out important pieces of mapping, scoping and data collection work. The actions will act as the necessary preparatory steps to best inform and guide future policy development. These early-stage actions will help build the foundation for future progress and provide the evidence required for the delivery of further actions.

Equality

Equality and Human Rights is embedded within the actions outlined in the BSL route map. All individuals are entitled to fair treatment. We are committed to fostering a more equitable Wales, one that ensures equal access to services and proactively addresses inequality. This reflects our broader aim of a nation built on dignity, equity and inclusion. 

As part of our duties under the Equality Act, the Welsh Government Strategic Equality and Human Rights Plan 2025 to 2029 has set out 7 National Equality Objectives (NEOs).

The BSL route map, will contribute to the delivery of the Welsh Government NEOs as well as our overall ambition of creating an equal Wales with inclusion at the centre of Welsh Government policy.

Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act aims to improve the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales. It establishes legally binding common purpose through seven well-being goals for national government, local government, local health boards and other specified public bodies. 

The policy provisions outlined within the route map will contribute directly towards the aims of the Welsh Government’s Equality Objectives, helping to maximise its impact on the Well-being Goals set out in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act. In particular, the route map supports progress towards: a more equal Wales and ‘a Wales of Cohesive Communities’. 

The BSL route map has been informed by the lived experience of the deaf BSL signing community in Wales, through advice from members of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group. The BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group was established in January 2025, following the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip’s written statement published in November 2024.

The terms of reference for the group has been published on the Welsh Government website. The group was tasked with developing a set of recommendations to inform the Welsh Government’s production of a BSL policy ‘route map’. The group has concluded its work and their recommendations have been published.

The BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group met monthly between January and July 2025 to explore language barriers and the actions required to ensure equitable access to information and services for deaf BSL signers across a broad range of policy areas.

The BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group brought together a diverse and representative mix of stakeholders, including deaf organisations and charities, each contributing valuable expertise and lived experience.

The BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group has enabled a model of deaf leadership, where BSL was the primary language of the group. It was co-chaired by 2 deaf BSL signers. This structure set a precedent for inclusive, language-centred collaboration.

Working with the deaf BSL signing community in Wales has been essential in ensuring that our short-term actions are meaningful and address the needs and priorities of the deaf BSL signing community.

We remain committed to strengthening our relationships through ongoing work and engagement, ensuring that deaf leadership and lived experiences of the community continue to inform and influence our work and cross-government policy development. The Welsh Government has set up a new BSL Stakeholder Group to provide ongoing advice and oversight of the implementation of this route map.

The short-term actions to be delivered by the Welsh Government in the next 18 months are laid out below. By initiating these foundational actions, we aim to sustain momentum and ensure that future long-term goals are actively prepared for.

Across government, we have begun making progress in strengthening the recognition, promotion and facilitation of BSL across Wales, and to deliver our ambition of building a society that empowers the deaf BSL signing community. The short-term actions laid out within the route map will align with and build upon cross-government work and strategies that are already underway.

The ‘NHS All-Wales Standards for Communication and Information for People with Sensory Loss’ 2013 were reviewed in 2023 in collaboration with stakeholders. On 22 September 2025, the Welsh Government published broadened and renewed NHS All-Wales Accessible Communication and Information Standards.

The Standards are now accompanied by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for commissioning interpretation and translation services in primary and emergency healthcare, and the Accessible Information Standard (AIS) for GP Practices.

The renewed Standards include capturing and retaining accurate patient information, to allow service providers to communicate with patients, including deaf BSL signers, clearly and effectively. The implementation of the renewed Standards will complement and support the work of the BSL route map. The Welsh Government will continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure equitable healthcare services for deaf BSL signers.

The Disabled People’s Rights Plan for Wales sets out our ambition for a Wales where disabled people can enjoy equitable rights, inclusion and participation. The Plan includes action in relation to deaf BSL signers in Wales. We recognise that many deaf BSL signers do not consider themselves to be disabled but rather consider themselves a linguistic minority. The BSL route map will sit alongside the Disabled People’s Rights Plan, recognising BSL with its own unique cultural, historical and linguistic identity. Actions within both the BSL route map and the Disabled Peoples Rights Plan will support each other and compliment the goal to promote and facilitate BSL.

Initial preparatory work on many of the short-term actions outlined below has commenced ahead of the route map being published. Cross-government engagement has confirmed that these actions will integrate with and enhance ongoing Welsh Government policy work.

Short-term actions

Short-term actions have been grouped together into the following themes:

• BSL data collection and evidence.
• Promotion of BSL as a language.
• Welsh Government BSL provision.
• Pathways within public Services.

Theme: BSL data collection and evidence

We will address the lack of rich and representative BSL data and explore what BSL data can be derived.

Our actions

BSL data collection

The Welsh Government will commission research to explore and identify what barriers exist when collecting and collating BSL data, to inform future statistics data collection. Research will explore and assess the ways in which BSL data is currently collected in Wales and at a UK level. Comparisons should be made with existing data collection models from across the UK and internationally. 

BSL capability within the education workforce

As part of the implementation of the Strategic Education Workforce Plan, the Welsh Government to work with partners to develop an understanding of how many existing school practitioners and local authority advisory teachers can sign BSL, to ensure sufficient provision to develop the BSL ability of practitioners for the future.

Theme: promotion of BSL as a language

We will promote, raise awareness, and increase the visibility of BSL across Wales, while improving understanding across Welsh public services that BSL is a full, rich language that is part of a unique cultural heritage.

Our actions

Scheme to Identify if a person can sign BSL

The Welsh Government will scope the development of a scheme, such as a badge, to visibly identify BSL signers, and people who are learning BSL. This may be worn by professionals and people working within service provision, like the Iaith Gwaith scheme, which is used to show if a person can speak Welsh and if a person is learning Welsh. The scheme may also be used to visibly identify public settings where BSL is welcomed and staff who sign are identifiable.

The Welsh Government will consider and build upon historic and existing symbols and schemes relating to the use, visibility and recognition of BSL.

Promoting the role of BSL within the education sector

The Welsh Government will promote BSL as a language within educational settings and raise further awareness of the linguistic and cultural identity of BSL. BSL should be promoted and recognised within educational settings as a language which is separate to communication tools and sign systems.

Sharing examples of good practice: what good looks like

The Welsh Government will use evidence to identify and promote examples of good practice across public service settings.

Theme: Welsh Government BSL provision

We will strengthen BSL provision across Welsh Government BSL communications.

Our actions

Review and strengthen Welsh Government BSL provision

The Welsh Government will review its existing models and processes for BSL provision and procurement to strengthen BSL provision across communications with the public, with the aim to ensure consistent provision across the organisation. This may include but is not limited to public communications, public guidance and consultations. The review will consider the current position and where there are gaps and areas which require strengthening.

Review and strengthen safeguarding guidance for the deaf BSL signing community

The Welsh Government will strengthen the provision of BSL safeguarding guidance and resources relating to reporting the abuse and neglect of children and adults at risk. To do this, the Welsh Government will work with local authorities to undertake a review of existing guidance, and reporting pathways to identify whether:

• existing guidance is available in BSL and that translations are accessible to the most vulnerable deaf BSL signers, including those with additional language or cognitive needs. The focus of this review will be in relation to guidance and information for members of the public, on recognising, identifying and reporting safeguarding risks which is the responsibility of local authorities 
• reporting mechanisms allow deaf BSL signers to raise concerns directly in BSL
• awareness of safeguarding support is effectively promoted among the deaf BSL signing community

A further review being undertaken as part of the 10-year strategy for Preventing and Responding to Child Sexual Abuse will identity wider public resources available and map where there are gaps in BSL provision, and areas which need to be strengthened.

Theme: pathways within public services

We will review and improve pathways for BSL provision across public services.

Our actions

All-age mental health services

The Welsh Government will review the current pathway and process for accessing BSL mental health services. This work will explore the availability of linguistically and culturally appropriate mental health support and care and preventive measures, considering how deaf BSL signers can access this.

Mapping early years BSL provision

The Welsh Government to work with partners to map and review how deaf children are identified through early years healthcare screening, and to understand the pathway of support that is provided. This work will assess the current provision of BSL available to enable early language acquisition for deaf children and their families from the point of diagnosis, identifying where there are existing barriers and gaps.

Population needs assessments

The Welsh Government will explore how BSL considerations can be embedded into assessment of need through guidance, to include a specific reference to the health and care needs of BSL signers.

The implementation of the short-term actions will commence upon publication of this Route map, with a target for completion within 18 months from the starting point. Setting a period of 18 months for the completion of short-term actions, allows us to set measurable, time-bound actions to deliver meaningful change to deaf BSL signers.

The development of the BSL route map marks a significant milestone in advancing linguistic inclusion in Wales. It reflects the collective expertise, lived experience, and commitment of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group, whose contributions have shaped the short-term actions outlined in this document.

The work of the Task and Finish Group and development of the BSL route map have emphasised the importance of meaningful participation from both the Welsh Government and the deaf BSL community in shaping, delivering, and evaluating policies and services.

This collaboration is not simply consultative, it is foundational to recognising BSL as a language in its own right and ensuring its consideration in public policy. We remain committed to deepening this engagement, ensuring that deaf BSL signers are central to decision-making processes and that their lived experience continues to inform and drive policy development.

To ensure continued momentum and accountability, meetings with BSL stakeholders will be held throughout the delivery period. Following the completion of the work of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group, the group has reconvened under a new Terms of Reference. These meetings will provide opportunities to review progress, share updates, and maintain strong engagement with stakeholders.

The route map will be a living document which can be adapted as work progresses, to ensure actions stay relevant and responsive to change.

This BSL route map is not the end point, it is the beginning of a longer journey toward equity, visibility, and meaningful change for deaf BSL signers in Wales.

The work of the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group in producing a set of recommendations will provide foundational work to inform future policy.

The route map sets out the important priority actions the Welsh Government is taking to promote and facilitate BSL and to improve outcomes for the deaf BSL signing community of Wales in the short term. These actions will support future Welsh Government policy work. It is expected that any incoming Government will likely consider the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group’s longer-term recommendations when developing future policies and strategies.

Actions in response to the long-term recommendations produced by the BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group, will be determined and progressed by future governments, ensuring continuity and sustained progress beyond the initial phase.

British Sign Language (BSL)

BSL is a distinct language with unique grammar, syntax, and vocabulary, and is the first or preferred language for many deaf people in Wales.

BSL workforce

The BSL workforce is made up of both the:

• teaching and education workforce (made up of those that work in school settings)
• BSL interpreters and translators

Deaf leadership

Deaf leadership refers to the active participation, representation, and empowerment of deaf individuals to support decision-making. It seeks to ensure that people with lived experience shape policies, strategies, and services that affect their lives, particularly in relation to cultural understanding and linguistic identity to inform decision making, ensuring that policies accurately reflect the needs of the deaf BSL community. The BSL Stakeholder Task and Finish Group meetings were chaired by deaf BSL signers, with BSL as the main language of the group.

Lived experience

Lived experience refers to the knowledge and expertise gained from people’s own experiences. It is often used to inform and improve services and policies.