I'm very pleased to support Mark Isherwood's motion, which asks us to note a proposal for a Bill that would make provision to encourage people to use British Sign Language in Wales and to increase access to education and services through the medium of BSL.

Now, over the years, as a GP, and, in more recent years, as chair of the cross-party group on deaf issues, I have become very much aware of the whole host of challenges facing the deaf community, including the range of solutions to those challenges, and Mike Hedges has spoken very well about those. BSL is one of those solutions. 

Now, in an ideal world, the majority of our population would, naturally, respect the rights of any minority, looking at everyone as being equal. But, as we know, that isn't always the case, with the expectation that the minority will comply with the priorities of the majority for all sorts of different reasons. So, we must safeguard the rights of the minority through law. We cannot rely on the goodwill of the majority. It is law that allows a change of attitudes, as Mike has just outlined. We have seen this in a number of areas already. And, in the linguistic context, we have seen legislation in the area of the Welsh language in order to secure rights and services through the medium of that language in Wales. Well, I would argue that the need is exactly the same with BSL. We need legislation. Mark Isherwood has already outlined the case in favour. There is a need, as many of my constituents have told me over these past few days, once they discovered that this debate was taking place today.

A Bill or a piece of legislation isn't going to transform the situation overnight, clearly, but it is a way of showing respect and giving credibility to valid beliefs on the dire need to develop further training, more job opportunities, better communication and, in general terms, to enhance the lives of deaf individuals within our nation. Although BSL is the only language of many of the deaf community in Wales, it does not have legal status. So, support this motion today in order to change that. Thank you.