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Written question asked by Anneliese Dodds (Labour) on Monday, 27 October 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 29 October 2025. It was answered by Ian Murray (Labour) on Tuesday, 4 November 2025 on behalf of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.


Sign Language: Public Sector

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what British Sign Language (BSL) standards are being used in (a) government and (b) public services in the commissioning of BSL AI.

Answer

Providing BSL translations of pre-recorded audio and video content is a WCAG 2.2 AAA criterion. As outlined in the Government Service Standard, all digital government services must as a minimum meet Level AA. AAA is best practice.

Current best practice guidance for use of BSL in digital public services advises that BSL videos are independently assured by a Deaf-led BSL supplier.

We are not aware of any digital public services currently using AI generated BSL content. No specific accessibility standards for this use case of AI are currently applied and would be guided by both the government’s Data Ethics Framework and Service Standard.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
85288
Session
2024-26
Related items
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Friday, 16 January 2026
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Transferred
Yes
Subjects
Public sector Procurement Standards Sign language Artificial intelligence
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk