Government Response

The Government responded to this petition on Tuesday 10th January 2023

Adult Education Budget funding is available for British Sign Language (BSL) qualifications, below Level 3. At Level 3 and above Advanced Learner Loans are available for certain BSL qualifications.

The government recognises how important it is for parents and guardians of deaf children to be able to access a British Sign Language (BSL) course if their own child is learning BSL to communicate with others. Although there are no plans to introduce a universal free BSL course for this cohort, funding is available through the Adult Education Budget (AEB) for qualifications in or focussing on British Sign Language (BSL) up to and including Level 2. About 60% of the AEB has been devolved to Mayoral Combined Authorities and the Greater London Authority who determine which provision to fund for learnersresident in their areas. The Education and Skills Funding Agency provides the remaining funding for learners resident in non devolved areas. Some providers of Community Learning offer BSL courses, and those providers determine the course fees, including levels of fee remission. For qualifications at Level 3 and above Advanced Learner Loans are available for certain BSL qualifications. BSL qualifications and the appropriate further education funding offer can be found here - https://www.qualifications.education.gov.uk/Search.


Department for Education

This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/623900)