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Written question asked by Ellie Reeves (Labour) on Monday, 16 March 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 18 March 2020. It was answered by Jo Churchill (Conservative) on Tuesday, 24 March 2020 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.


Coronavirus: Public Health

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure users of (a) other languages, (b) British Sign Language and (c) Braille have timely and accessible information on covid-19.

Answer

All guidance, statements and public information released by the Government are readily available to read online information on COVID-19 from Public Health England and the Department is translated into British Sign Language videos can be found at the following link:

https://www.signhealth.org.uk/

Resources for COVID-19 are currently available in nine other languages to ensure that support and advice can be given to non-English speakers. These languages are Polish, Welsh, Arabic (Modern), French, Simplified Chinese (Mandarin), Traditional Chinese (Cantonese), Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, and Portuguese.

NHS England’s Accessible Information Standard sets out the National Health Service’s obligations around providing information in an accessible format for people who use British Sign Language and braille.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
30119
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Braille Disease control Languages Publicity Sign language Public health Coronavirus
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk