4. How is the Welsh Government supporting people with sensory loss? OAQ53938

Thank you for the question. The Welsh Government continues to support people with sensory loss through key initiatives, such as the integrated framework of action of care and support for people who are deaf or living with hearing loss and the eye health care plan for Wales.

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?

Well, this is a point about whether we require local authorities to provide a service where they have national standards they must meet or whether actually it's a matter for local authorities to make choices on. We do know that, because of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, each health board and local authority are due to undertake, or have undertaken, a joint assessment of need in their area and they are then supposed to meet those needs. I would expect that the analysis of local need would properly take account of the communication requirements of people with sensory loss. This is hardly a marginal area of activity, given the statistics on the number of us in this room who can expect in our lifetime to have hearing or sight impairment. So, I expect this to be core business in the way that local authorities run their services. 

If the Member does want to write to me and the Deputy Minister with detail of those areas where he does believe there's an inequality in provision, we'll happily look at them and undertake to look at whether there is more that we could do or whether it is a matter for local authorities to resolve issues themselves.

Minister, the First Minister, when he held the finance Secretary portfolio, announced that the Welsh Government was committing £2.9 million to fund specialist employment and training services for people with sensory loss, and Rebecca Woolley, the director of Action on Hearing Loss Cymru, said at the time that

'We are delighted to receive this funding. Not only will it ensure that people with a sensory loss are supported to achieve their full potential but employers in Wales will be empowered to confidently support them to thrive in the workplace.' 

Minister, the commitment from the Welsh Labour Government to the Job Sense project is further evidence of the ongoing priority that the Welsh Government places on improving the employment and training prospects of people with sensory loss. So, what further actions are the Welsh Government now considering to build on such good practice so that all persons with sensory loss can access improved access to employment and training?

I think this probably crosses over a number of different ministerial portfolios, but I'm happy to recognise the improvement that has taken place, and also the work that Action on Hearing Loss in particular do in their excellence awards to highlight the areas where good practice is already taking place and where further examples can be taken from. The recent awards, held in May this year, are a good example, and indeed they highlighted the work of a number of different employers. I'm happy to talk further about this with ministerial colleagues, both the employment Minister and also, I'm sure, the Minister leading on equalities, who is in the room and who will be happy to join that conversation as well.