Deaf campaigners welcome PM's support

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 11th Feb 2008

Prime Minister Gordon Brown meeting MPs -including Malcolm Bruce- and Sign Language users

Campaigners representing a range of campaigners on behalf of deaf people have welcomed the Prime Minister's interest in sign language and commitment to review its provision.

At a meeting with the Prime Minister organised by the Chairman of the APPG on Deafness, Malcolm Bruce MP, Gordon Brown agreed to complete a review of the attainment of deaf children by Easter.

He also asked for a report by the same time on the Welsh Assembly's initiative to train more sign language interpreters and how it may be applied across the rest of the United Kingdom.

Mr Bruce commented,

"The Prime Minister is clearly interested in the needs of sign language users. We undertook to inform him of the case for more sign support for deaf children and their parents and for more interpreters for deaf adults.

"The Welsh Assembly is in the process of training more interpreters to bring the provision in Wales up to the European median. This would require a trebling of the number of interpreters across the UK.

"We will make sure the Prime Minister is fully informed of the needs of deaf people for much better communication support. Legal recognition of sign language is our aim but, in the meantime, we are pursuing practical ways of persuading Government to make more and better provision for sign language users."

ENDS