Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 5 June 2019.
Diolch. Well, just like people without a sensory loss, there's no one-size-fits-all way of providing information in accessible format for people with sensory loss. Some local authorities fund local organisations to provide support services to residents, enabling British Sign Language users and, in some cases, people who identify as hard of hearing or deafened, whilst others have no provision at all. The services that do exist not only provide people with a sensory loss access to information, but also go hand in hand with an advice or advocacy service. But for local authorities and Government departments, provision of information is usually produced in BSL only or in BSL with subtitles, without access to people with a visual impairment, although videos etcetera could be produced with that provision, and provision in both Welsh and English languages also. These concerns have been raised with me by sensory loss charities in north Wales. How, therefore, will you respond to their concern that the inequality in access to information for people with sensory loss is affecting the people they work with and that we need parity of funding between the general population, access to information, and that for people with sensory loss in all local authorities and not just those that choose to do so?