This is a written transcript of the videos produced to highlight the key points for the Assembly Research and Information Service’s Sign Language Bill research paper.

Watch those videos and follow the progress of the Bill through the Assembly on our dedicated Sign Language Bill page.

Written transcript

The Assembly’s Research and Information Service has prepared a paper that provides Members with analysis of the Sign Language Bill (Northern Ireland) 2025, introduced to the Assembly on the 10th of February 2025.

The paper includes recommendations for further scrutiny and draws comparisons with equivalent legislation in Great Britain and Ireland.

This video contains a summary of the key points in the RaISe paper.

Key points.

1. The Sign Language Bill (Northern Ireland) 2025 was approved by the Executive on the 23rd of January 2025 and introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly on the 10th of February 2025. The Second Stage was completed on the 18th of February 2025.

2. The Bill contains 15 clauses and seeks to enhance the rights and opportunities of all British and Irish Sign Language users in Northern Ireland to ensure greater accessibility to services and information in their preferred languages.

It also recognises the deaf community as a cultural and linguistic minority group, reflecting the cultural and social models of deafness.

3. At present, deaf Sign Language users may have to identify as disabled to access communication services.

No other linguistic minority must do this to access services in their language.

Neither the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 nor the Disability Discrimination Order (NI) 2006 is an appropriate legislative instrument for cultural and linguistic recognition, as neither supports deaf communities to develop deaf culture or provide early years classes for deaf children and their support networks.

4. Clause 3 (1) of the Bill imposes a legally binding duty on all prescribed organisations, including all Northern Ireland departments and public bodies, to take all reasonable steps to ensure information and services are equally accessible to deaf individuals as to non-deaf individuals.

This requirement applies irrespective of whether a user identifies as disabled, reframing accessibility as a linguistic right rather than a disability accommodation.

5. Northern Ireland’s Sign Language Bill is an enabling Bill, providing powers to the Department for Communities to make regulations approved by resolution, including negative resolution, of the Assembly.

The negative resolution procedure provides minimal legislative oversight, as regulations are not debated unless specifically challenged by Assembly Members.

6. Further considerations include the lack of explicit identification of cross-cutting governance and delivery mechanisms to enable, for example, a joined-up approach to implementation across Executive departments and give effect to commitments given in other relevant strategies.

An example of such a mechanism was a national planning framework mandated by the BSL (Scotland) 2015 Act.

7. As DfC’s engagement with the deaf community is ongoing, no further formal consultation is planned for the Bill itself.

Consultation on DfC’s Sign Language Framework was conducted in 2016 and was not publicly reported on. However, this consultation may be considered outdated given the Bill’s introduction in 2025.
The lack of further formal consultation may limit opportunities for Members to address recent developments or concerns from the deaf community.

8. Considering Clause 5 subsection 3 (b) and Clause 8 subsection 1 (b), where the Department must consult with at least one person or group representing the deaf community, the effectiveness of ongoing engagement methods in capturing diverse perspectives within the deaf community could be examined further.

9. The Sign Language Bill is being introduced at a challenging time for the Northern Ireland Executive budget. The Bill’s explanatory and financial memorandum contains limited financial information.

It notes there will be no immediate costs, but add costs could incur at a later point should the Department for Communities use the enabling powers set out in the Bill. The reliance on secondary legislation may limit the Committee’s capacity to scrutinise those costs in the future.

10. There are a number of apparent unknowns that make it difficult to estimate the financial impact of the Bill. Key provisions, including which public bodies will be designated as prescribed organisations and the guidance they will be required to follow, are unknown at this point.
Evidence from the Department suggests that the Bill will have implications across the public sector.

11. Additionally, it is unclear at this time the extent other Northern Ireland departments and public bodies are currently facilitating access to information and services from the deaf community.
How prescribed organisations will interpret reasonable steps with regard to complying with the duties set out in the Bill and the precise number of British Sign Language and Irish Sign Language users in Northern Ireland.

Each of these factors may affect the impact the Bill has on the public purse.

12. The Bill does not outline dedicated funding for promotion activities, which could hinder implementation.

Although the Bill mentions promoting the further development of deaf culture, it does not provide specific measures or requirements for cultural promotion.

13. Clause 2 of the Bill mentions that DfC must ensure the availability of ISL or BSL classes for deaf children up to the age of 19.

Clause 10 mandates for the DfC lead accreditation scheme for BSL or ISL teachers and interpreters through regulations made by negative resolution of the Assembly.

While DfC is not directly responsible for the provision of qualified teachers of deaf children in schools, Clause 10 describes how DfC must provide an accreditation scheme for individuals to teach deaf children and their support networks Sign Language.
This accreditation scheme differs from mandatory qualifications of teachers of deaf children, which comes under the purview of the Department of Education under the Special Educational Needs Order.

Members may wish to ask officials to specify what support the DfC-led cross-departmental Sign Language Partnership Group has planned and modelled for the future provision of learning for deaf children.
For example, recent CRIDE research has reported that there has been a 38% decrease in teachers of deaf children between 2011 and 2024, and almost a quarter of the 46.8 FTE teachers of the over 1600 deaf children in Northern Ireland are qualified teachers without the mandatory training.

14. The reliance on negative resolution allows for changes to be made to the list of prescribed organisation without a full legislative review.

This could lead to inconsistencies in how different public bodies implement their duties under the Act, potentially disadvantaging some BSL and ISL users.

The Bill mandates the Department for Communities to publish five yearly reports, but does not specify metrics to be used to assess the impact of the legislation.