Members of the Community Planning and Regeneration committee met last week to discuss a report outlining the Council’s requirement to publish an action plan by October 2018 and the draft proposals to get work underway.
The BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 was delivered by the UK Government to promote and facilitate the use and understanding of BSL across the public sector, assisting public bodies to improve their understanding and response to the needs of BSL users.
A key requirement of the Act is the publication of a National BSL Plan, and the Scottish Government published this in October 2017, with a list of 70 actions to be achieved by 2020. It committed £1.3million to support Scottish public bodies to devise their own plans, with an initial £11,000 allocated to each local authority in Scotland, including Stirling, to help see this through.
The national strategy focuses on 10 goals, which include making public sector information and services accessible to BSL users, and supporting users to develop their skills needed to become valued members of the Scottish work force.
The report delivered at last week’s meeting outlined there are currently no children or young people in Stirling’s schools who use BSL, with the 2011 Census data showing around 12,530 (245 in every 100,000) people aged three and over registered as BSL users in Scotland.
Work to develop the Plan will include an up to date understanding of the numbers and needs of BSL users living, working and visiting Stirling.
Convenor of the committee, Councillor Chris Kane said: “Reported numbers via the Census may be relatively low, but this work is very important to our commitment to equalities and I’m delighted to see work has started on our plan.
“Local authorities are required to match their BSL plans to the national strategy as far as possible so the aim here is to increase inclusiveness and equal access for all and that’s a concept we are support with all our work across Stirling.”
Vice convenor, Councillor Maureen Bennison said: “Ensuring equality in our society and across our public services is crucial and it’s important we look at all the needs of the people we serve.
“Council officers will start a working group and will engage with users of BSL in the Stirling area where possible to make sure the strategy we develop is fit for purpose before bringing the final draft back before committee in September.”
Stirling Council will provide representation from areas of family support, early learning and childcare, school education, post-school education, training, work and social security, health, mental health and wellbeing, transport, culture and the arts, justice and democracy in the working group to develop the strategy.
The final plan will be presented for consideration to committee in September 2018.