SignPort payments and tendering process information: FOI release

Information requested

1. How much the Scottish Government has paid out in relation to Signport to date and

2. Whether an equality impact assessment (EQIA) has been completed prior to the tendering process being implemented and

3. The outcome of such assessment and any follow up review following competition of the project.

Response

1. How much the Scottish Government has paid out in relation to Signport to date

All of the information you have requested is available from the following post made by the Scottish Government on the social media platform X. Under section 25(1) of FOISA, we do not have to give you information which is already reasonably accessible to you. If, however, you do not have internet access to obtain this information from the website(s) listed, then please contact me again and I will send you a paper copy

2. Whether an equality impact assessment (EQIA) has been completed prior to the tendering process being implemented.

An Equality Impact Assessment was not completed prior to the tender process being implemented. This is because the Civtech challenge that led to Signport was informed by two pieces of research that identified an inequality issue in accessing interpreters for which the Civtech challenge invited a solution. Firstly, the Scottish Government commissioned research by Queen Margaret University, British Sign Language Interpreting in Scotland: A Landscape Review 2019 Executive Summary, which included as one of its recommendations "Reducing the length of the ‘booking chain’ for public bodies" including "investigating the creation of a central information and booking system to be used across the public sector". In addition to this the Scottish Government commissioned Snook, a design research company, to conduct further research with BSL users, interpreter, agencies, and public bodies on potential solutions. Further information can be found here: CivTech Challenge 7.5 — Matching British Sign Language users and their interpreters — CivTech

3. The outcome of such assessment and any follow up review following competition of the project

As highlighted above the recommendations from the Queen Margaret University research and the findings of the Snook research helped to inform the design of Civtech Challenge 7.5. Following completion of the project the Scottish Government continues to engage with SignPort to review progress of delivering this service.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.