British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 - recommendations: SG response
Sets out a range of government actions in response to recommendations made by the Equalities, Human Rights, and Civil Justice report into the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015, the BSL National Plan 2023-2029, and BSL Local Plans by listed authorities.
11. Justice
11.1 Recommendation 22-24/paragraph 105, 106 and 107
Paragraph 105: The Committee agrees with our witnesses that Deaf women in particular should have better access to education and information about their rights and the law and that Deaf specific service providers would help to achieve this.
Paragraph 106: The Committee further agrees that it is highly unsatisfactory for Deaf survivors of domestic abuse to be “lumped in” with disabled survivors in domestic abuse statistics, given the differing challenges they face and the importance of having robust, disaggregated data on which to base policy initiatives.
Paragraph 107: The Committee therefore invites the Scottish Government to consider what further steps should be taken to:
- Help educate Deaf people (particularly women) about their rights and how the justice system works.
- Increase the numbers of suitably trained Deaf experts (and failing that, BSL interpreters for IDAAs) to provide support and advice to survivors.
- Consider what steps could be taken to improve the accuracy and robustness of data in this area.
11.1.1 Decision
Partially accept
11.1.2 Scottish Government Response
The Delivering Equally Safe Fund provides support to Deaf Links to deliver the Violence Advocacy service for Deaf women.
This project integrated within Deaf Links, and Dundee, Angus and Perthshire Women's Aid supporting Deaf women in Tayside to have equal and appropriate access to specialist violence against women/domestic violence services. It provides local basic needs assistance through advocacy support in BSL and specialist support for Deaf Women experiencing Gender Based Violence.
We are supporting Deaf Links to develop tools and assets to raise awareness of domestic abuse amongst the Deaf community
We continue to engage with Deaf Links and the Sign Loud team at Herriot Watt University and University of Edinburgh, a project focused on experiences of domestic abuse and communication barriers, to consider deliverables that will make a difference to Deaf women within the new Equally Safe Delivery Plan.
With regards to the point on increasing the numbers of suitably trained Deaf experts to provide support and advice to survivors, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) does not provide legal advice or support for victims of crime. This recommendation would be best addressed to services such as Victim Information and Advice, which is part of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPS) or Victim Support Scotland. The Scottish Government will facilitate a meeting between BSL stakeholders, members of the community, and these bodies to capture areas for improvement in this area.
As part of the Justice partners domestic abuse roundtable, we are currently looking at how we can utilise the data regarding domestic abuse offences to better inform policy and operational practice. We commit to exploring how to best capture data relating specifically to Deaf survivors of domestic abuse. We will also raise at the Police Scotland Domestic abuse Forum where stakeholders from the Deaf community are represented