THE UK Government’s Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has been slated for removing the words “as they are in Scotland” from a quote in a 760-word press release on sign language services, claiming it would have made it too lengthy.
The DWP had been seeking support from deaf organisations for a new pilot scheme that will allow some benefit claimants to make calls to the department via a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter.
Jim Edwards, chairman of the UK Council on Deafness and chief executive of Signature, the deaf communication charity, told the DWP his organisation was “delighted” that it had “taken this step to open up access for deaf people who use BSL”.
In a comment given to the DWP press office, he added: “We trust the pilot will be successful and look forward to more government services becoming accessible, as they are in Scotland.”
However, when the official press release was published on the DWP website, the last four words were missing and all mention of Scotland deleted.
The DWP insisted they were happy with the release and said the removal of any reference to Scotland in Edwards’ comments were “made for brevity – nothing more”.
The DWP’s video relay service (VRS) scheme – which will be delivered on a six-month contract by the deaf-led social enterprise SignVideo – only applies to calls relating to disability living allowance, attendance allowance and Access to Work.
But The Scottish scheme is much broader, and allows BSL-users to contact their doctor, local council and all other public bodies, including the Scottish Government. It was origin- ally launched as an NHS online interpreting service, but was extended to other public bodies last March.
The DWP’s decision to omit any reference to the Scottish scheme drew criticism from the charity and the SNP. Dan Sumners, senior policy adviser at Signature, said: “It’s not surprising DWP removed that reference [assuming they did it on purpose], as it highlights the fact Scotland is leading the way on this.
“As Jim’s full quote suggests, we hope the UK Government uses the DWP pilot as a springboard to launch a cross-government service in the near future.
“Of course, this service should already be in place so deaf people have the same access as hearing people. But we’re simply glad things are now moving forward.”
The SNP also said it was not surprised the DWP had taken the last four words out of the Signature comment.
An SNP spokeswoman said: “It is no surprise that the DWP has removed any mention of the positive work being carried out by the Scottish Government as, historically, Scotland has always been talked down by the established Westminster parties.”
Damian Barry, British Deaf Association director of community development, said the pilot project was “an encouraging step towards our wish to see full VRS access for deaf people across all government departments”, but declined to comment on DWP’s decision to censor the reference to Scotland.
A DWP spokesman said: “You’ll have noticed that there are a number of quotes in the press release, and the amends you’ve asked about were for brevity – nothing more.
“UKCoD is content with the way its quote was used.”
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