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24 Mar 2003 : Column 127—continued
DELEGATED LEGISLATION
Mr. Speaker: With permission, I shall put together the motions relating to delegated legislation.
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 118(6)(Standing Committees on Delegated Legislation),
Local Government Finance
- That the Local Government Finance (England) Special Grant Report (No. 115) (HC 449) on Special Grants for Local Authorities, a copy of which was laid before this House on 26th February, be approved.
Government Trading Funds
- That the draft Vehicle and Operator Services Agency Trading Fund Order 2003, which was laid before this House on 3rd March, be approved.
That the draft Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency Trading Fund Order 2003, which was laid before this House on 6th March, be approved.
Immigration
- That the draft Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (Consequential and Incidental Provisions) Order 2003, which was laid before this House on 28th February, be approved.
Local Government Finance
- That the Local Government Finance (England) Special Grant Report (No. 111) (HC 421) on the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, which was laid before this House on 27th February, be approved.
Town And Country Planning
- That the draft Town and Country Planning (Electronic Communications) (England) Order 2003, which was laid before this House on 6th March, be approved.
Social Security
- That the draft Child Benefit and Guardian's Allowance (Decisions and Appeals) Regulations 2003, which were laid before this House on 5th March, be approved.
Local Government Finance
- That the Local Government Finance (England) Special Grant Report (No. 114) (HC 477) on the Social Services (High Performers) Grant for 2003–04, which was laid before this House on 6th March, be approved.
Climate Change Levy
- That the draft Climate Change Levy (Combined Heat and Power Stations) Prescribed Conditions and Efficiency Percentages (Amendment) Regulations 2003, which were laid before this House on 11th March, be approved.
Criminal Law
- That the draft Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 (Powers of Seizure) Order 2003, which was laid before this House on 24th February, be approved.—[Mr. Jim Murphy.]
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY DOCUMENTS
Motion made, and Question put forthwith, pursuant to Standing Order No. 119(9)(European Standing Committees),
Takeover Bids
- That this House takes note of European Union Document No. 12846/02, draft Directive on Takeover Bids, and the unnumbered Explanatory Memorandum from the Department of Trade and Industry dated 4th March 2003 on the Council Presidency Compromise Proposal of 14th February 2003; welcomes the draft Directive as an important step forward in seeking to complete the European Union Financial Services Action Plan; and supports the Government's initial approach to negotiations in seeking to achieve a common framework for the treatment of shareholders and encouraging a single market for corporate control.—[Mr. Jim Murphy.]
PETITION
Malmesbury Community Hospital
10.14 pm
Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire): I have the honour to present a petition signed by 2,366 residents of the ancient town of Malmesbury, the oldest borough in England. They are not unnaturally concerned about the indifference of the Department of Health to their inherited debt from the local primary care trust, which may well result in the closure of, or suspension of, some of the services of Malmesbury community hospital.
- To the House of Commons
The Petition of the people of the Malmesbury and North Wiltshire communities declares
- The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons prevents the Kennet and North Wiltshire NHS Care Trust from closing Malmesbury Community Hospital thereby forcing local elderly and infirm patients to be hospitalised outside their local community and that the House of Commons direct that the PCT should continue to provide these essential services locally, under their statutory Duty of Care responsibilities.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
British Sign Language
Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Jim Murphy.]
10.15 pm
Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington): I am grateful for the opportunity to raise this important matter, and I was delighted by the announcement last week that the Government have recognised British sign language as a language in its own right and committed funding to it. As the Minister is aware, 8.7 million people in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing. BSL is the language of the deaf community in the UK. There are no accurate figures for the number of deaf people who use BSL, but it is estimated that 70,000 deaf people use BSL as their first or preferred language. In Northern Ireland, an estimated 30 per cent. to 40 per cent. of the deaf population use Irish sign language.
BSL is not a new language and it was not created by hearing people. BSL is a naturally occurring form of communication. It varies from area to area, just as dialect affects spoken languages, but it is clear that there is one single British sign language in the UK. I find it remarkable that BSL has survived through the prohibition of the use of sign language in educational institutions, the oralist movement, much prejudice and a period of being ignored and shunned. What does that suggest? It is that BSL is natural and inherent to the deaf. It is appropriate that BSL should receive the recognition it deserves. When the Minister responds to the debate, I hope that she will confirm that that rightful recognition will also be extended to Irish sign language.
Although BSL is different from English, it has much in common with spoken languages, sharing grammatical processes and features that have led linguists to begin to analyse it as a natural language. I shall touch later on some of the results of that research, along with the results of neurological research. BSL is a language of movements and space. It uses the hands and facial movements, storytelling and abstract communication. It exists in a visual-spatial mode, allowing much versatility, such as juxtaposition, the manipulation of symbols, the isolation of features and the discussion of events and objects that are separated in time and space. There are iconic symbols, such as those for "give" and "food, but there are also signs that are arbitrary, such as those for "easy" and "allow".
Stories in BSL incorporate mime, but contrary to popular belief mime is not the essence of BSL. If it were, a hearing person would have no difficulty understanding BSL, but I know from experience that it is not possible to understand a signed story. Mime is used as a vehicle for enhancing the story, rather than to convey the full meaning.
Linguists say that all natural languages have design features, including a semantic system, a grammatical system, a sound system and a lexicon. BSL has its own semantic system, in the form of signs instead of words, and its own grammatical system. It would not be possible to translate word for word from BSL to spoken English. Obviously, we cannot expect it to have a sound system, but building blocks are present in signing. Spoken language consists of sounds that have little meaning in themselves, but which are used as building blocks to make words. Similarly, in sign language we can see components that are smaller than signs, such as
the location of the sign in space or its direction, the type of movement made by the hand or the hand shape. Each sign is complex, with an inner structure comprising all those features.It is clear that BSL is a rich, complex and unique means of communication, with spatial syntax and grammar that conform to the definition of a language. Linguistically, BSL has all the components of any spoken language. Neurological research carried out on stroke victims has shown that BSL uses the same neural pathways as grammatical speech. Stroke lesions to the left hemisphere can cause aphasia for sign that is analogous to the aphasias of speech. The Minister may be interested to know, or may know already, that aphasic signers are not impaired in other non-linguistic visual-spatial abilities, such as waving goodbye and shrugging. That illustrates the distinction between sign and gestures.
Visual-spatial activity is controlled by the right hemisphere of the brain. Lesions to the right hemisphere therefore result in spatial disorganisation, but the ability to sign is not affected. Even though sign is a visual-spatial language, it does not use the visual-spatial processing area of the brain. Instead, it uses the same area as spoken language. That demonstrates clearly that BSL is a language in its own right.
When the UK signed up to the European charter for regional and minority languages, we agreed to sign up to the provisions of part II of the charter, which ensures that languages are properly taught and that they are protected, and to promote academic research into all the regional and minority languages used in the UK. As hon. Members know, the Council of Europe does not recognise any indigenous sign language under the charter. I hope that my argument demonstrates that sign language is a language linguistically and neurologically, and that that will strengthen the case in the discussions with the Council of Europe and will help to convince the council that sign languages should be adopted under the charter.
In last week's statement it was announced that the Government would consider the proposals of my hon. Friend the Member for Gordon (Malcolm Bruce) in the report to the Council of Europe on European sign languages. I hope that the Minister will give some assurance that she will do what she can to ensure that the members of the Council of Europe give the report full consideration on 31 March.
The official recognition of BSL will provide many practical benefits. Although the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 provides some protection of the rights of deaf people, there are aspects to which the Act does not apply. Those are linked not with deafness as a disability, but with sign language as a minority language. I seek assurances from the Minister that last week's announcement will rectify the problem, bearing in mind that legislation that would provide better protection for BSL users could be included in the European charter for regional and minority languages.
I am sure the Minister shares my concern that much of a deaf child's time is spent outside their natural language. I should like her to consider the amount of learning time that is consumed by the lack of a shared language between student and teacher.
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