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The Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Bruce MPLiberal Democrat MP for Gordon |
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PM to discuss improvements for British Sign Language provision
December 13, 2007 4:44 PM
Having being challenged by Malcolm Bruce MP to do more to assist British Sign Language users the Prime Minister has agreed to meet with the MP to discuss this "very important issue".
Malcolm Bruce has called on the Prime Minister for the protection of British Sign Language
Mr Bruce who is Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness questioned Gordon Brown during the last Prime Minister's Question time of the year in the House of Commons.
The Prime Minister agreed that the issue of support for British Sign Language was very important and vowed to "see what we can do together."
Afterwards, Mr Bruce said:
"I am delighted that the Prime Minister has agreed to meet with me to discuss this important issue. Currently, between 50,000 to 60,000 people use British Sign Language as their first language but there are less than 500 interpreters in the UK. If we followed the Finnish example however, we should have something approaching 6,500 interpreters.
"When I meet the Prime Minister, I hope he will back my efforts to seek further legal recognition and protection for sign language users so they can fully integrate into British society."
ENDS