 more colourful, Presiding Officer, than anything that I could ever manage. Many thanks. Our next item of business, this afternoon, is stage 3 proceedings on the British Sign Language Scotland Bill. In dealing with amendments, members should have, the bill is amended at stage 2, that is SP bill 55a revised. The martial bliss, that is SP bill 55aml revised. The groupings that is SP Bill 55AG revised, and the division bell will sound and proceedings will be suspended for five minutes for the first division of the afternoon. The period of voting for the first division will be 30 seconds and thereafter I will allow a voting period of one minute for the first division after a debate. Members who wish to speak in the debate on any group of amendments should press the request to speak buttons as soon as possible after I call the group. I would also ask members to note that we have interpreters in the chamber this afternoon, and therefore it would be helpful if speeches were delivered more slowly than usual. Can I now ask members to refer to the marshaled list of amendments please? I call group 1, status of British Sign Language, and I call amendment 7, in the name of Mark Griffin, in a group on its own, and I ask Mark Griffin to move and speak to amendment 7, please, Mr Griffin. Thank you, Presiding Officer. This is a small amendment, but it is a significant amendment. It just removes one word from the bill. It removes the word sign from the bill because British Sign Language, while it is a sign language, is a language in its own right. I think that amendment 7 will give additional resonance and emphasis to the fact that BSL is a language in its own right. Throughout the progress of the bill, one of the clearest arguments put forward by witnesses in favour of the bill was that BSL should be recognised as such. I think that amendment 7 will help to achieve that goal and make it clear to non-BSL users that BSL is a language and not simply a form of communication for a particular group when I move amendment 7, in my name. The Scottish Government clearly likewise regards a British Sign Language as a language, and we confirmed that in a formal statement of recognition in 2011. In referring to British Sign Language simply as a language, rather than as originally written as a sign language, amendment 7 is consistent with our support for BSL. Therefore, the Scottish Government is very happy to support amendment 7. Many thanks. Mark Griffin, do you wish to add anything further, and please indicate if you intend to press or withdraw? Nothing further to add, just to press the amendment, Presiding Officer. Thank you. In that case, the question is that amendment 7 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. That brings us to group 2, BSL translation of progress reports, and I call amendment 1 in the name of the minister, which is grouped with amendments 2 and 3. I ask the minister to move amendment 1, please, and speak to all of the amendments in the group. Thank you, Presiding Officer. Mr Griffin lodged a series of amendments at stage 2, requiring that both the BSL national plan and listed authority BSL plans be translated into British Sign Language. The Scottish Government fully supported those amendments at the time. This amendment requires Scottish ministers to translate the national progress report into British Sign Language. That means that the national progress report, which will be published every six years, will be accessible to British Sign Language users, who will naturally take very great interest in what progress is being made by national, regional and locally based public bodies. Amendments 2 and 3 are minor technical amendments, which are necessary as a consequence of amendment 1. Many thanks. I call Liam McArthur. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I just very briefly welcome the minister's statement today, and honouring a commitment, as he said, that he gave to the committee at stage 2. That was an anomaly that we largely addressed through Mark Griffin's amendments at an earlier stage, but I very much welcome the further commitment that he's been able to give. Many thanks. Mark Griffin. A welcome amendment 1 extends the requirement to make progress reports available in BSL in the same way as that has already been extended in relation to national plans and authority plans as a result of those earlier stage 2 amendments mentioned by the minister at support amendment 1 and amendment 2 and 3, as the minister says, are of a minor nature. Thank you. Thank you, minister, to wind up, please. Merely to formally move amendment 1. Thank you. The question is that amendment 1 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. I now call amendment 2 in the name of the minister, which has already been debated with amendment 1, and I ask the minister to move formally. Thank you. The question is that amendment 2 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. I now call amendment 3 in the name of the minister, already debated with amendment 1, and I ask the minister to move formally, please. The question is that amendment 3 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. That brings us to group 3, minor and technical. I call amendment 4 in the name of the minister, which is grouped with amendments 5 and 6. I ask the minister to move amendment 4, please, and speak to all of the amendments in the group. In moving those amendments, I can confirm that they are very minor tidying amendments as a result of the scale of amendments that were passed by the committee at stage 2. Amendment 4 inserts into section 8 some words that are necessary to make the provision read properly. Amendments 5 and 6 bring the long title into line with what the bill provides for in relation to references to plans following those amendments at stage 2. I note those minor amendments, which are of a tidy up nature and also ensure consistency in references throughout the bill as a result of stage 2 amendments. I am happy to support those amendments in the name of the minister. The question is that amendment 4 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. In which case I call amendment 5 in the name of the minister, already debated with amendment 4. I ask the minister to move formally, please. The question is that amendment 5 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. I therefore call amendment 6 in the name of the minister, already debated with amendment 4. I ask the minister to move formally, please. The question is that amendment 6 be agreed to. Are we all agreed? We are. That ends consideration of amendments, which then brings us to the next item of business, which is a debate on motion number 1411 in the name of Mark Griffin on the British Sign Language Scotland Bill. I invite members who wish to speak in this debate to press the request to speak buttons now, please. I call on Mark Griffin to speak to and move the motion. Ten minutes, please, Mr Griffin. Thank you, Presiding Officer. It's with great, great pleasure that I opened today's debate. The bill was introduced to Parliament on 29 October 2014 and concluded stage 1 with a parliamentary debate on 5 May 2015. The Education and Culture Committee considered the bill at stage 2 on 2 June, and today the Parliament debates whether to pass the bill. I very much hope that members will come together and welcome in this legislation and support the bill at decision time. Before I go on to discuss the main amendments to the bill that were agreed at stage 2, I would like to put on record my thanks to a number of people who have helped to shape and develop the bill. In particular, I would like to thank the Education and Culture Committee for its consider scrutiny of the bill and for its continued engagement with members of the deaf community by giving them the means to participate in the progress of the bill. I think that the Education and Culture Committee's processes enable as many people to participate as possible. I think that it is an exemplar for the Parliament. My thanks also goes to members of the Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee for its continued scrutiny of the subordinate legislation powers and to those people who have worked so hard to support me in the bill prior to its introduction and through its parliamentary stages. I would also like to express my gratitude for the positive and constructive way in which the Minister for Learning Science and Scotland Languages, Dr Allan, and his officials have approached the bill. I would also like to thank you and your office for the support of your staff in the bill's unit for doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of developing the bill and accompanying documents. They really have been a tremendous support. I would also like to thank you, personally, while you are clearly impartial today for the support that the Presiding Officer as a whole has given in terms of the corporate body translating a large volume of documents into BSL videos. Without that support, it would not have been possible to make the bill process as inclusive as it rightly was. Finally, I would like to thank members of the cross-party group on deafness, many of whom are in the chamber today. The bill marks almost a decade of its hard work. The bill is a fantastic advert for our Parliament in terms of its openness and accessibility. It is a fantastic example of a minority group in our society coming together, forming a cross-party group, setting out its priorities and lobbying members to the point where we have a bill that is here in front of us today because of their dedication. I think that it is only right and proper that we show our appreciation and thanks for them. As I said, there have been a number of changes made to the bill since I last stood in the chamber at stage 1. Those changes are the result of a lot of joint working with the Scottish Government and valuable contributions from stakeholders such as Deaf Bind Scotland. However, one thing that has not changed is the aim of the bill. As I explained at stage 1, British Sign Language is the first language and only language of many deaf people in Scotland. BSL is a visual gestural language that uses space and movement. The hands, face and head are used to communicate and it has a different grammatical structure from English. Across Scotland BSL is the Indigenous manual language in the same way as English is the Indigenous spoken language. Deaf people who use BSL are part of a recognised cultural and linguistic minority. Unlike people who speak other minority languages, many deaf sign language users cannot learn to speak English as they cannot hear the language. The aim of my bill has been to encourage the use of BSL in Scottish public life and raise awareness of the language amongst the hearing population. I am confident that it is in good shape to achieve those aims. During the stage 1 process, the Education and Culture Committee heard evidence from witnesses who gave examples of how a lack of BSL awareness and skills among members of the hearing population affected their everyday lives. I would like to tell you about another case that is included in the Scottish Public Service Ombudsman's annual report. A woman who communicates through BSL was admitted to hospital for surgery during her 12-day stay in hospital at 12-hole days, although hospital staff tried to communicate with her, they did not provide her with a BSL interpreter. That was despite the women repeatedly pointing to a poster for interpreter services and twice handing staff a BSL interpreter's card. It was clear from the hospital records that she felt isolated because of the lack of communication. That is just one example that has been published by the Ombudsman. We also heard statistics provided by the Scottish Council on Deafness, who found that 77 per cent of BSL users who had visited hospital could not easily communicate with NHS staff. It is that sense of abandonment and isolation, whether it be in a healthcare situation, in a school, in an education situation, that I hope the passing of that legislation will address. I would like to focus on some of the key changes that have come about from the stage 2 consideration of the bill, and firstly the scope of the national plan for Scotland. The amendments that have been made in this area lodged by the minister reduced the total number of plans by bringing a number of other public bodies within the scope of the national plan. That gives greater clarity about the purpose of the national plan and will reduce that administrative burden on the public sector. At the same time, a number of bodies were added to the schedule, which means that the Scottish Government is able to take a more strategic co-ordinated approach to BSL at a national level. On planning and reporting, the amendments that have been made in that area create a fixed cycle for the production of plans and progress reports. When I first considered the timing of plans, it was my intention that national plans should be linked to each cycle of Parliament, so that every Government would produce their own plan and review their own plan. However, I accepted the minister's argument that a fixed-term cycle is much more predictable, simpler and that a parliamentary cycle is potentially unhelpful for local authorities who operate on a different cycle. The bill instructed to perform its reviews, which would highlight good and poor practice and name and shame those authorities who were falling short. I was persuaded that the minister's approach to replace that with a progress report that will identify progress with authority plans through a self-assessment process involving feedback from BSL users made sense. I would also like to thank Dennis Robertson for his continued keen interest in the bill. Dennis and I lodged some amendments that will guarantee the inclusion of people who are death blind in the implementation of the bill. Firstly, a new section to the bill now means that references to BSL and the bill are in the main, both the visual form and the tactile form of the language. When we originally drafted the bill, we took the view that the term BSL covered all forms of BSL, but I was happy to amend the bill to deliver that clarity. I put on record my thanks to Mr Griffin and Mr Robertson for the changes that will benefit the deafblind community. Having talked to some of my constituents who are deafblind, that is immensely advantageous to them. I would like to thank Mr Griffin and Mr Robertson for their efforts in that front. I thank Mr Stewart for those kind words. I think that it just shows how mobilised and ambitious and enthusiastic the deaf and deafblind community are about this bill, that I think that most MSPs had communication on this particular amendment. It was great that we were able to do something about it. Those changes have been made so that tactile BSL is specifically included. There was also a change around ministerial responsibility. The bill included a section on the Scottish Government identifying a specific minister, but I am happy that the Government operates on the basis of collective responsibility, and I have indicated that it will identify Dr Allan as the least minister in point of contact for anyone wishing to engage with BSL. The stage 2 process, along with today's final amendments, means that the bill is now in good shape to start delivering real tangible change for BSL users in Scotland. I am delighted to move the motion in my name that the Parliament agrees that the British Sign Language Scotland bill will be passed. Thank you very much. I now call on Dr Allan, minister, seven minutes. Thank you, Presiding Officer. To the many in the gallery, I simply say thank you and welcome to the Scottish Parliament. I had the privilege of meeting with a few of our deafblind visitors and deaf and deafblind visitors just before today's debate. I know that many of you have campaigned for a British Sign Language bill for many years and I recognise that this is a significant day for that community. I would also like to congratulate Mark Griffin for proposing the bill, and I want to thank him likewise for working with the Scottish Government so closely over the past few months to help together to improve the bill's provisions. The bill has enjoyed cross-party support throughout its parliamentary progress. Indeed, all of the amendments at stage 2 were supported by Mr Griffin and by all members of the Education and Culture Committee. As Mr Griffin has said, the aim of the bill is to promote the use and understanding of BSL across the Scottish public sector. The clear intention is that, over time, the bill will improve the way that we understand and respond to the needs of our deaf and deafblind citizens, who, as has been mentioned, use BSL as a first language. It is more than that. Too often, perhaps, we talk about BSL users only as recipients of our public services. Instead, I want to pay tribute to the resilience and creativity of the deaf community in Scotland, and I would suggest that we will all benefit all of us in Scotland from their contribution to our country and to our economy. The bill before us today requires Scottish ministers to publish a BSL national plan within two years of the act receiving royal assent, listed authorities, including local authorities and regional NHS boards. We will have to publish our own BSL plans a year later. We will be required to publish a national progress report that will highlight progress, best practice and areas for improvement across the entire public sector, which subsequent BSL plans will need to address. BSL plans and reports will be published every six years, meaning that we will be able to see real progress over time. As a result of our amendments, the BSL national plan will cover all public bodies with a national remit that is directly accountable to Scottish ministers. We think that that will enable a more co-ordinated strategic approach at a national level. It will also significantly reduce the number of plans being produced, which will reduce the administrative burden and the cost on the Scottish public sector. I am determined, Presiding Officer, to ensure that the bill, if passed, will help us to take the practical steps that will make a real, tangible difference to the day-to-day lives of our citizens who use BSL and to their families and to their communities. It is therefore crucial that the national and local BSL plans properly reflect their priorities. We intend to establish a BSL national advisory group, which will advise Scottish ministers on the content of the national plan. The group will include a significant proportion of deaf BSL users. The BSL national advisory group will draw on the views of the wider deaf and deafblind community and will develop a set of priorities to be included in the national plan. We also want to share expertise and resources to help public bodies to improve their understanding of and response to the deaf communities that they serve. This year, we have provided funding of £415,000 to five deaf organisations to help to make that happen. Working with the British Deaf Association, the Scottish Council on Deafness, Deaf Action, Deaf Connections and Deaf Blind Scotland, we have created the deaf sector partnership. The most important function of the partnership will be to support proper engagement between public bodies and the BSL communities that they serve. It is this engagement that will help to ensure that the plans focus on the right things and, in doing so, make a real practical difference to people's lives. I look forward to sharing more detail on this programme of work in due course. Before I finish, I want to make it clear that the Scottish Government recognises deafness as a culture and British Sign Language as a language. We recognised and formalised that in a statement of recognition in 2011, and I quote from it. The Scottish Government recognises the importance of British Sign Language to the deaf community in Scotland and the contribution that this vibrant language makes to the rich and varied use of language in Scotland today. British Sign Language is a vital means of communication for deaf people as well as a part of their linguistic and cultural identity. It is my view, Presiding Officer, that if we promote, protect, support and value British Sign Language and Deaf Culture, we will all of us benefit from the greater contribution that deaf and deaf blind citizens can and want to make to our communities, to our country and to our economy. In doing so, it will contribute to our wider efforts to create a fairer Scotland, and in saying that, I commend this Bill to Parliament. Can I first congratulate Mark Griffin on bringing forward this Bill? It requires hard work and determination to bring out Bill through the Parliament, and he has just done that. I hope that the whole Parliament will support the Bill, passing it into legislation tonight. It will send a strong message to the deaf and deaf blind community that we value them and that we value their language. BSL is the main language used by people born deaf or deaf blind, and it can also be used by people who have become deaf later in life. The Bill highlights that BSL is a language in its own right, like any other language that is used to pass down culture and history through the generations. The rich and famous have their history and culture written down in history books for them, while the masses are dependent on their stories being handed down through generations. Language is hugely important in that process, which is why we value our languages that are used by all our communities. Indeed, we need to take steps to preserve and promote them, promoting them, the culture and history of our people. The Bill will bring a focus on BSL. The requirement for plans will make public bodies and government think through their policy with regard to promoting and protecting the language. There are a number of issues that the Bill will help to address. Making BSL more accessible will have an impact on school attainment. We have heard before that deaf children have a lower attainment than hearing children. That is a built-in inequality that we must tackle to ensure that all young people reach their full potential. As people progress through school, language becomes technical, especially in the STEM subjects where we really need to encourage young people to participate. To increase attainment, we need to make sure that BSL is available to young people in school and that the signer has adequate knowledge of the subject to translate it back to the people in a way that will allow them to attain the same as hearing pupils in the school. It would also be useful if BSL, like other languages, was available as part of the school curriculum, so that young people who do not require it to communicate would learn it and be able to communicate with deaf and deafblind people and enrich their lives through that learning. We also need to look at rolling out more BSL training. I would like to pay tribute to trade union learning that has done a huge amount of work in that respect. I undertook a short course through trade union learning in BSL. Sadly, because I have not been using it, I would have to say that the knowledge that I learned has been pretty sketchy. I think that it is really important that we continue to learn and also have the opportunity to use skills that are gained through language courses to make sure that we continue to use it. Trade union learning was really keen that people in the public sector, in the service industries, had those skills to enable them to better communicate with their clients. In Scotland, 90 per cent of deaf children are born to hearing parents. That indicates a real need for BSL for families and adult learnings. For parents to be able to communicate effectively with their children, it requires them to learn the language before their children in order to help them to develop skills. Therefore, that learning needs to take place immediately when deafness is identified in a child. Promotion of the language will also ensure that many professionals learn to speak the language. One of the big issues for BSL users is access to services. There are times that this can be an inconvenience, but there are other times when it is detrimental. Mark Griffin told us about some awful stories. We are all nervous about going to hospital, but how much so if you are so isolated. However, it also interferes with the need for confidentiality, because that is compromised through a translator. That becomes even more difficult for people with mental health issues who need to be able to explain their thoughts and feelings to medical professionals. The use of an interpreter can be a barrier to that, so it is vital that people undertaking that role understand the issues that are involved and are able to put them across to health professionals. The bill highlights BSL as a language in its own right, a language to pass on history and culture, a language to communicate, to build relationships and, indeed, a language for fun. Isolation can be devastating, and if BSL were more widely used and understood, it would tackle isolation. It would also give hearing users access to another language with its rich heritage and culture. I thank and congratulate Mark Griffin again for bringing forward the legislation. The Parliament has passed many pieces of legislation that make us all proud. The bill will be another great example of that, and I hope that we can all support it tonight. Many thanks, and I now call on Murdo Fraser. Five minutes or so, please. Oh, sorry. Mary Scanlon, I seem to have the wrong script. Five minutes or so, please. I have never been taken for Murdo Fraser before, but there is always a first. I would also like to thank Mark Griffin for successfully steering this bill to its final stages in the Parliament. I commend his commitment, which I understand was based on family experiences. At this final stage, it is also worth commending Kathy Craigie, former Labour MSP and, more recently, Jenny Marra for their excellent work on behalf of deaf people in Scotland. The Scottish Conservatives fully support the measures in this bill, and we will be voting 100 per cent for this bill at 5 o'clock tonight. We also support any measures to assist deaf people and their families to communicate effectively. The bill will make a difference in promoting and raising awareness of BSL, as well as keeping the issue on the political agenda and it is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. The words postcode provision is often used in relation to BSL, and I fully agree with Inclusion Scotland when they ask for an honest appraisal of where the gaps in provision exist and how those will be addressed during the period of the plan. Accurate baseline data is essential for the bill in order to achieve the success that we all hope for. One fact is that Inclusion Scotland states that there are 30 qualified BSL interpreters here in Scotland, and the National Deaf Children's Society says that there are 80. That is an example of two organisations that are well versed in the issue that disagree with the number of interpreters. Unless accurate figures are assured from the start, then any progress measures are meaningless. On the subject of postcode lottery, there is one place that qualifies as a centre of excellence, and that is Dingwall academy in the Highlands. I am very pleased to welcome Margaret Kinsman and the pupils to the gallery today along with so many other people in Scotland who have joined this Parliament to see this bill going through. I met teaching staff at Dingwall academy earlier this year, and I have to say that I was inspired by their enthusiasm and commitment to extending BSL to pupils. I make no apology for bringing forward what they want done after today. Every single pupil in first year at Dingwall academy gets 16 hours of BSL, every pupil. I am not sure if Dingwall is the only secondary school in Scotland to offer all S1 pupils BSL, but I can ask if any MSP can give a local example to match Dingwall or do better than Dingwall, then I would be pleased to hear about it. While we fully support and welcome all the progress today in today's bill, there is still more to do. It is disappointing that there is no formal qualification to national four or five in Scotland. Given that the Scottish Government is always like comparisons with England, I can say that in England a GSE has been developed in BSL and it is being piloted in five schools and one college starting this month. Given the equivalence between GCSE and the national exams, I hope that the Scottish Government will now work with English authorities with a view to bringing BSL into parity with qualifications for other languages. I have been asked by Dingwall academy that they would quite like to be one of the first when a pilot comes forward. I do not mind waiting until you sum up for you to give this guarantee. A reason often given for the lack of BSL teaching and support is the lack of teachers. I think that the Scottish Government could be looking at how to incentivise teachers to take up training and qualifications. I did not realise that currently a teaching qualification is needed. Three years of teaching experience followed by another two years of distance learning through Murray House in Edinburgh. I understand that most local authorities will fund around 85 per cent of fees and allow time off, but this is still a huge commitment for any individual to do this course of training, given that there is no pay enhancement at the end of study for teaching BSL. My five minutes are up. I am summing up, so I will finish off the rest of my speech later. Thank you very much. I have a little bit of time in hand, so as we turn to the open debate, speeches of five minutes please. I call Dennis Robertson to be followed by Kara Hilt. I welcome all our guests to the gallery this afternoon, Presiding Officer, and to those in the overspill room. I am not sure when last this Parliament had to use an overspill room when we were debating in this chamber. It gives me great pleasure to thank Mark Griffin for bringing this forward. Rurah Grant said that it is a proud moment, and I sincerely hope that Mr Griffin will have that sense of pride come five o'clock when his bill is passed. I also thank Mark Griffin and my friend and colleague Kevin Stewart for acknowledging the very small part that I played in this particular bill at stage two. It is small but very important. It is important to the deafblind community, a community that wishes to have the same equality as everyone else. To have tactile BSL to be recognised within this bill is a journey that they have been on for so long. I would probably like to offer my sincere thanks to Drina O'Malley. It is not often that I would say that, Presiding Officer. Having worked with Drina O'Malley probably for the last 30 years are so indifferent sensory services, I can assure you. However, Drina's hard work, determination and enthusiasm energy has helped in steering and bringing this acknowledgement of tactile BSL, and I thank her and everyone else in deafblind Scotland. I want to look at raising the awareness aspect and what it means. Presiding Officer, prior to being elected, I had the great privilege to be the service manager for north-east century services. That included providing services for blind people who are deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind. At that time, when we were awarded the contract to provide services for those who are deaf and deafblind, we had a staff group who had little knowledge, apart from those who had been too paid over from a different organisation. However, the majority of our staff group had no awareness of BSL. When we asked staff to come forward to learn BSL, we were absolutely astounded. Every single member of staff came forward. Everyone wanted to embrace that stage 1 acknowledgement on BSL, so they could be at the front line. If any person who required BSL that came into the services, whether it be in Aberdeen or Murray, came in, they would at least face someone who could acknowledge their language and their wants, their needs and their requirements. That is all people ask for, Presiding Officer. People in the deaf community just want to be the same as everyone else. They want to be able to communicate and to be understood. The Scottish Government has not sat back and done nothing over the years. In some respects, the work that has gone on within the cross-party group, and I thank Mark Griffin for his kind comments on the cross-party group. Jenny Marra is convener of that, and I am one of the co-conveners. We are under a great deal of—I was going to say pressure, but it is not pressure. It is a great deal of understanding and taking forward the needs and the wants of the people who recognise that they have a different need, a need that needs to be recognised. The point that I want to make is that we have moved forward and we have embraced technology. One of the examples that I give with the technology—I know that my time is running out, Presiding Officer—is the video relay system. The video relay system is there. Initially, it was with NHS 24, but it has now been rolled out to all public services with additional funding from the Government. That enables people who use BSL to be able to communicate the same as anyone else. If they want to make a point with a GP or go to any other public service, they have an app on their phone, smart technology—all those things are available. The chief officer from the Scottish Council of Deafness, when that was rolled out, said that it was terrific, because she said that it gave people using BSL the confidence and the confidentiality to speak and to be heard the same as everyone else. Presiding Officer, my time is up, but when I looked at the national advisory group, I saw three initials—NAG. I sincerely hope that the advisory group will continue to nag the Government. Thank you very much. I now call Cara Hilton to be followed by Liam McArthur. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I begin by paying tribute to my colleague Mark Griffin for his tireless work in promoting this bill and progressing the welfare culture and values of the deaf community right across Scotland. I would also like to welcome all the guests to the gallery today. This bill presents us with an opportunity to drive an important culture change in society's attitude to BSL. I followed the bill with interest from its early stages and noted some of the comments from stakeholders that the bill was unnecessary as a quality act. I might just say to the member that he will acknowledge that we have signers in the gallery. One of the aspects of being able to sign to ensure that all your words are passed over to those in the gallery and to those who are watching in video is perhaps the speed of presentation. I speak very fast—I think that it is a grangemouth thing. We are also aware that there has been very limited progress in secure and equal rights, which is why we are debating the bill today. The importance of the bill is that it does not treat British Sign Language as an aid of those perceived as being disabled. It gives BSL its correct status as a fully independent and indigenous language of Scotland with its own culture, grammar and history. At the bill's heart is the aspiration to drive real change for deaf children, their families and all BSL users in Scotland. Turning to the provisions of the bill, I hope that the requirement for both the Scottish Government and the public bodies to draft British Sign Language action plans will ensure increased support for deaf people, particularly for young people and children still in the education system. That is important because the National Deaf Children's Society estimates that there are as many as 3,850 deaf children in Scotland and every year 120 children are born with severe or profound hearing loss. Figures show that a very worrying attainment gap between deaf children and their peers. Scottish Government figures reveal that only just over a third of deaf pupils attain higher or advanced hires compared to 60 per cent of hearing pupils. In 2012, almost 10 per cent of deaf school leavers left with no qualifications at SCQF2 or above compared to just 2 per cent of all pupils. That discrepancy is unacceptable and it leaves many deaf young people struggling to find a decent college place or university place or to access job opportunities. However, it is not just about qualifications. The BDA and its evidence to the education committee highlighted how reliance on interpreters in the classroom means that deaf children are often unable to be fully engaged with classroom activities, including the natural jokes and banter of the classroom environment. That leaves many feeling bored and socially isolated at school. That is obviously going to have a lasting effect on children's mental health. As the Children's Commissioner, Tam Bailey, pointed out in his briefing for today's debate, the failure of our education system to fully meet the needs of children who use BSL as their main language is not only a lost opportunity for those children, it is a denial of their basic human rights. The provision of national and local BSL action plans provides an opportunity for us to set goals and priorities to deal with those issues to address the attainment gap and to prevent deaf children from being left behind by our education system. In their submission to the education committee, the BDA also highlighted the poor level of knowledge among some teachers and interpreters using BSL in the schools. Many of those professionals have qualifications in BSL no greater than a higher. I welcome the opportunity that the bill offers to set more rigorous targets for the training and monitoring of BSL that is used by teachers and school interpreters. I hope, too, that we will see BSL becoming part of the school curriculum. As Rhoda Grant has already highlighted, 90 per cent of deaf children have hearing parents and many report difficulties in adjusting to a child's diagnosis and a struggle to find the resources to help the children to communicate. I welcome the steps that have been taken by some local authorities to provide home visits from BSL interpreters working with parents from a fairly early age to encourage linguistic development, rather than waiting until the children start school. Yet, again, that support can be patchy. A recent survey of parents across Scotland found that a worry in 35 per cent had received no information about using BSL with their child before they started school, so there must be more done to ensure that local authorities share best practice as they develop their local action plans. I hope, too, that there will be more investment from the Scottish Government to address the current gaps in delivery and deliver real change. That is especially important in closing the attainment gap. To conclude, today is an historic moment for the deaf community in Scotland. The bill sends out a really important message to those who use BSL that their language and culture are valued and that their rights are recognised. It will help to raise and increase awareness of BSL across the hearing population, too. This is a bill that really will transform the lives of every British sign language user in Scotland. I would like to thank Mark Griffin once more for his tremendous work in bringing this bill through Parliament, and I hope and trust that we will have the unanimous support of members today. Thank you very much. I now call Liam McArthur to be followed by Stuart Maxwell. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I, as I did at stage 1, start by thanking all those who helped the education committee in our scrutiny of the bill, particularly the BSL users and people from the deaf community who took time to give evidence. Thanks to those who helped us break all previous attendance records at the education committee, many of whom are in the gallery this afternoon, including the representatives of Dingwall academy. I wish Mary Scanlon well in her campaign, presumably to become director or rector of Dingwall academy once she retires from this place. I offer sincere congratulations to Mark Griffin on his work alongside the minister in delivering for the BSL community. While the bill will not in itself deliver early improvements in access to services, better educational outcomes or the removal of barriers to employment, it does, however, hold out the very real possibility of accelerating a cultural and attitudinal change that makes those changes more likely, more quickly in the future. By increasing recognition of BSL as an indigenous language that has its own culture and identity, as the minister remarked, we can pave the way for ensuring that deaf people are able to access information and services in their first language. Despite overwhelming support for Mr Griffin's bill, concerns were raised with us, partly related to the potential risk of expectations being raised unfairly. I think that we had some sympathy with it. To a large extent, the BSL community has shown themselves to be very well aware of what the bill would and would not achieve, but there is the potential for misunderstanding. There was also an argument that the bill's aims are already covered elsewhere, notably by equality legislation. I think that we were right to reject this assertion as it fundamentally misses the point that equality legislation will do nothing to promote BSL as a standalone language. That said, I think that we did succeed in making a number of important improvements to the bill, reflecting some very genuine concerns and sensible suggestions put forward by those from whom we took evidence. The way in which national and local authority plans will be developed is, I believe, more pragmatic and meaningful as a result of changes that have been made to the bill as first introduced. There was always a balance to strike between ensuring transparency and accountability on the one hand, while on the other not drowning councils, public bodies and others in costly reporting requirements that would do little for the BSL community. Again, I think that the bill now better reflects that proper balance. The content of the plans will be developed over time, but we know from the evidence that we received that they will need to prioritise promotion of BSL in education settings, including in early years support, as well as opening up access to healthcare and employment opportunities. It is right that ministers should be required to keep Parliament updated on progress, not as a means of naming and shaming, but to ensure that the bill is actually doing what we intend it to do and identifying, along with the work of the advisory group, potential areas where changes and improvements might need to be made. That advisory group, as I said at stage 1, should be drawn in the main from the BSL community itself. Two other changes that I would like briefly to highlight fall into the category, I think, of the painfully obvious, yet for various reasons they were not explicit in the original bill. The first relates to the need for specific recognition of the distinct needs of the deafblind community. I know that this was something that Mark Griffin himself was keen to see, but it also came through strongly during our evidence session, and it is something that the law society also drew attention to. I am delighted that this initial weakness in the bill has now been addressed, thanks to the efforts of Mark Griffin and, indeed, of Dennis Robertson. The other area relates to the availability of the plans being produced in BSL. Frankly, it was utterly inconceivable that this would not be the case, but nevertheless, again, it was something that needed to be strengthened at stage 2. I very much welcome the further improvements that have been made earlier this afternoon at stage 3. I think that the final comment that I would make about the bill is the impact it has had on Parliament itself. I referred earlier to the committee meetings where we struggled to accommodate all those who wished to attend, not a regular challenge that we are forced to confront, but I think that that reflects the inclusive way in which we have gone about engaging with those most directly affected by the legislation that we are scrutinising. That is how it should be, even if it is not always as it is. I therefore pay tribute to the committee clerks and the other parliamentary staff for the creativity and dedication that they have shown to this task. I think that they can be rightly proud of what they have been able to achieve, not just in relation to the passage of this bill, but for the way that I hope it influences the manner in which we operate more generally and more excessively in future. Presiding Officer, as I said at stage 1, this bill can and will help raise the profile of BSL as a distinct language and, over time, increase its use in delivery of services. For that, committee colleagues, the minister, but most of all Mark Griffin, deserve great credit. I now call Stuart Maxwell. Can I begin, like many others, in offering my sincerest congratulations to Mark Griffin? For those of us who have experienced trying to take a bill through this place, we understand and sympathise with any other member who is going through the difficult process of trying to take a bill through the Parliament as an individual member to have achieved, not only to get the bill partway through and supported by the Government, but to get your own bill all the way through to stage 3 is a tremendous achievement and you should be very proud of what you have done. I also thank all those who gave evidence to the committee. They really helped the committee in its examination of the bill. I want to thank in particular my fellow committee members, but one of the problems, Presiding Officer, of speaking after fellow committee members, Mary Scanlon and Liam McArthur, is that, effectively, they cover the detail of the bill and many of the things that you want to receive. In genuine appreciation of their work and their efforts throughout the process, but I also echo what they have said today in the comments about the bill. I hope that the actions taken by the committee and indeed the Parliament to ensure that as many people as possible from both the deaf and the deafblind communities could fully engage with the committee and the Parliament have made a genuine difference. I am sure that, like others, I was lobbied by deaf and deafblind constituents. Not only was that a tremendously important part of the process of my understanding the need and the importance of the bill, but it also made very clear to me in a very stark way the difficulties that individual members of the deaf and deafblind community face on a daily basis. I will give you one example. A deaf constituent approached me and attempted to make an appointment to come and see me to talk about both the bill and the issues that he wanted to talk about personally. I could have seen him very quickly. In fact, the problem was getting a BSL interpreter to be available on the day that he and I were both available. Instead of being able to meet that constituent within a few days or a week, it took many, many weeks to arrange the appointment where three people could sit down so that we could speak to each other and understand each other and make sure that that constituent got their points across and that their view was recognised in the work that I was doing in Parliament. With the new video relay system that has been rolled out to more public services, does the member feel that that would avoid any further delay in making appointments with constituents? I think that Dennis Robertson makes an extremely important point. The use of technology—we have been talking about it in the committee—will be an extremely important way of ensuring that deaf members of the community, deaf constituents and deaf-blind constituents can indeed get in touch very quickly with their own MSPs. I am sure that MPs will get their voice heard. I would be very interested to hear the detail of that particular roll-out of that programme. I am going to do something now that does not often get done in this Parliament. I am going to blow our own trumpet. I am sure that what the education committee did was not perfect by any means, but I believe that it was a substantial step forward in the way that this Parliament operates. We in the education and culture committee created a BSL Facebook group, and we invited the BSL community to join and share their views on the bill posting BSL video clips. The group was extremely well received, and it attracted some 2,400 members who posted simply hundreds of BSL videos and comments relating to the bill. I think that that was a tremendous step forward. We also translated key documents into BSL, including our call for views and guidance on how we handle submissions, summaries of the evidence received and our stage 1 report. We adopted a bilingual approach to the committee's public meetings, and we invited witnesses to give evidence in BSL and provided English BSL interpretation for the public gallery and via Parliament TV. To accompany the launch of our stage 1 report, we filmed a Q&A session involving some BSL users who had given evidence to the committee, and that video was posted on our website and various social media to offer deaf people an alternative means of finding out what the committee had included in its report. I think that that was a tremendous step forward, and I again want to echo the comments of Liam McArthur to thank those in the Parliament who did all the hard work in making sure that we could achieve that. I think that a number of benefits came from that. In fact, the committee initiatives were particularly—the Facebook group were—wildly held up as good examples of how public bodies could be inclusive, and the feedback that we got was indeed very good for those in the BSL community who engaged with that process. Expectations are high amongst many of what this bill can deliver. We all hope that those expectations will be met and that much can be achieved through the recognition and long overdue promotion of BSL. I want to quote from the very beginning of the bill, an act of the Scottish Parliament to promote the use of British Sign Language, including by making provisions for the preparation and publication of national plans in relation to British Sign Language. Many people have waited a long, long time to see those words on an act of the Scottish Parliament. Scotland has many languages and, indeed, many cultures, and I am delighted that we are taking this vital step today in putting BSL on an equal footing to the other languages of Scotland. We now move to the wind-up speeches, and I call Mary Scanlon. Stuart Maxwell mentioned expectations, and I think that that is what this bill is all about if we look at the expectations of deaf children and adults, but if we also add on our expectations in the education committee and the work that we are doing on attainment. That takes me back to Dingwall. Dingwall academy is rightly proud of their pupils in recent years, and I have to say that I saw no limits to their expectations, with one profoundly deaf pupil becoming a maths teacher, another becoming an audiologist, two other profoundly deaf pupils now at university, and a third graduated with first-class honours last year and various other ex-pupils at college in Highlands. I think that that is what the bill is all about. It is about bringing deaf children on a level footing and giving them the same opportunities and career opportunities as all other children. A hearing pupil who studied BSL and deaf studies at Dingwall has now gone on to be an interpreter graduating with first-class honours. I see no limit given that deaf children are given the proper support when they need it. The focus on progress reports against the published performance plan is commendable. I hope that those who make progress, but from a very low base, will realise just how much progress is still required. I also hope that, where provision is good, they will continue to make improvements and make progress in terms of providing BSL. Conservatives also welcome the setting up of a national advisory board to support the implementation of the bill, and I hope that they will adhere to the principles and the hopes contained in the bill. Presiding Officer, my final issue is one that I have raised at every opportunity since the commencement of the bill, and I have to say that it was raised again by Dingwall academy today. That is the proposal to improve the availability of family sign language, to enhance the ability of hearing parents to communicate with their deaf children and help to promote their development. Helping the child and also helping families must be such a positive way forward, given that 90 per cent of deaf children are born to hearing parents. I did not know that prior to looking at this bill. When it comes to postcode provision, this service certainly fits. I understand that there is an early years project by the National Deaf Children's Society, but there is still much that Scottish Government could do in future to ensure that all families are given the support that they need just to communicate with their own children. Not much to ask. I think that Rhoda Grant made the point that it should be at the point of diagnosis, not when they start school or when they go to secondary school. According to NDCS, there is currently no nationally funded provision for those parents to access training or classes in order to communicate with their child through sign language, suggesting that family provision needs to include signs and phrases to facilitate play and child-centred activities, so the appropriate support for families, particularly birth to preschool. The family sign language improves vocabulary for deaf children, but it also contributes so positively to family relationships. I cannot imagine as a parent what it could be like not to communicate with a child. I think that we should all think of that. I would like to see family sign language included in the progress reports and the performance reviews in future. I ask the minister if that is a consideration that he will take on-board for future. I very much welcome the bill. The Scottish Conservatives support every word in the bill, but we are also looking for more. I once again commend Mark Griffin and give my party's full support to the bill. It gives me great pleasure to close the debate for Scottish Labour today. I congratulate my colleague Mark Griffin on bringing the bill to the chamber and forgiving the deaf community of voice in Parliament. I know that the bill means a lot to Mark, and that is evident from the effort that he has given to the bill throughout its entire process. I would also like to pay tribute to Cathy Craiggy for her work in this area. Mark and I share a regional office, and I know of the hard work key and the staff that Cathy and Frank have dedicated to the bill. I am so pleased that that will be recognised at 5 p.m. tonight when this Parliament, hopefully, unites to pass this historic bill. It is a great privilege for me to be part of today's debate. As a member of the education and cultural committee at the time that we were scrutinising this bill, I have heard first-hand evidence as to why we require this bill and what impact it is likely to have on people's life if it fulfills its potential. As Heather Gray, director of the National Deaf Children's Society, said, the British Sign Language Scotland Bill marks a historic moment for the deaf community in Scotland, many of whom have British Sign Language as their first or preferred language. The National Deaf Children's Society strongly believes that if implemented, this landmark legislation will become a key driver in Scotland towards more effective service provision, better opportunities and improved life chances for deaf children and young people. However, we must not rest on our laurels. When I spoke in the debate at stage 1, I highlighted a number of issues that are facing deaf people in Scotland today. I do not want to go through each of them again today, however, I believe that it is important to draw the chamber's attention to the attainment gap that is currently faced by deaf learners, which is extremely concerning. Scottish Government figures for 2011-12 show that 36.4 per cent of deaf pupils attained higher or advanced hires compared to 60.2 per cent of hearing pupils. Scottish Government data also shows that only 26 per cent of deaf school leavers are likely to go on to higher education compared to 39 per cent of hearing school leavers. We also know from the Grimes report that only 8 per cent of teachers of the deaf can sign. We must address that, and I hope that the forthcoming report from the Education Committee on the attainment gap for those with a sensory impairment is looked at closely by the Scottish Government, and that all issues highlighted will be addressed as a matter of urgency. Statistics from the Scottish Council of Deafness show that up to 70 per cent of deaf people believe that they have failed to get a job because of their deafness. That is a sobering statistic, but one that has become all too familiar. In June of this year, I had the honour of sponsoring the action on hearing loss reception, which a vast number of MSPs attended. The reception was to highlight deaf awareness week and to recognise the importance for everyone to receive deaf awareness training and learn about the communication needs of the 850,000 people across Scotland. At that event, we heard from Abigail Matheson about her experience of trying to gain employment. Abigail said at that time that employers lack of understanding of communication support, poor deaf awareness and not knowing about the access to work scheme are creating barriers preventing deaf people from having the chance to get into their preferred careers. Abigail also raised the problems that deaf people often face at job centre plus, where staff will not always book British Sign Language interpreters or use the correct terminology when talking about the deaf community and their individual communication needs. We must do more to help those like Abigail to get the support that they require to enter the workplace. It is true that the bill will address some of the problems that Abigail outlined, but it will not address them all. It has been made clear by Mark Griffin and organisations supporting the bill that this bill is the first step on the journey to improve the lives of deaf people in Scotland. The bill will not solve all the problems that deaf people currently face, but it is an important first step that this Parliament must take today. As we heard in evidence, the bill will give deaf people the opportunity to access life through their own language. There could be no stronger point to end on. I look forward to supporting this bill at decision time tonight. Thank you, Presiding Officer. I would like to thank members for their contribution to this afternoon's very productive debate. Many people in the gallery will take the view quite historic debate. As I said in my opening remarks, the bill has enjoyed strong cross-party support from the start. It is clear that there is a great deal of interest in British Sign Language and in the experience of deaf BSL users in our communities from right across the chamber. I would like to add my own congratulations and thanks to the committee convener Stuart Maxwell, deputy convener Siobhan McMahon and all the members of the Education and Culture Committee for their very detailed and careful consideration of the bill, which, as has been said, allowed the bill to be improved and strengthened. The Scottish Parliament has been applauded for the approach that it has taken to ensure that its work on the BSL bill is accessible to deaf BSL users. That is partly to the committee, to the Parliament itself. I hope that we have a new sense of understanding more generally as a society in the importance of being inclusive in that way. I wonder whether Dr Allan would like to put in record the thanks to the parliamentary staff who have worked tirelessly to ensure that deaf and deafblind people here in the gallery in the overspill have been adequately looked after and accommodated in terms of the requirements. I will happily echo those remarks. As I have indicated, it is not often other than that First Minister's questions when there is an organised fight to put it on every week. It is not often that we see the gallery as full as we have today, and I think that that tells its own and very important story about the subject matter at hand. I want to comment on a couple of contributions that were made. Firstly, Mr Griffin mentioned an incident about a lack of interpretation in hospital. It is an incident that I know about, and it is one that the Scottish Government is addressing with the support of the Equality and Human Rights Commissioner. I do not want to pretend, for a moment, that the existence of legislation of this kind will overnight transform all those situations, but I very much believe that it strengthens the hand of all those who campaign to put those situations right. Mary Scanlon in her contribution generously said that she would wait until I stood up and started speaking before I needed to answer her question. I do slightly feel as if I was intervened upon while silent, but she made a very important and, indeed, a very pertinent point. She asked about, among other things, the role that schools can play in providing BSL more generally beyond the deaf community. BSL can be offered as part of 1plus2, and Scotland's national centre for languages can advise schools about how BSL can fit into their language learning plans alongside other languages. I recognise that there is some work to be done in this area to ensure that BSL learners can progress in their language learning in the same way as spoken languages. I am very happy to explore that and to keep in touch with the member about the issues that she rightly raises. Dennis Robertson pointed to the great willingness that there is beyond the deaf community to learn BSL, which is something that I hope we can now all work together to try to meet that demand. Liam McArthur and others pointed to the importance of deaf people accessing services in their own language. Contact Scotland is an organisation that enables deaf BSL users to contact public services by phone, but I absolutely recognise that that does not replace the need for face-to-face interpretation. I will do my best to ensure that the levels of participation that many members have mentioned, which surrounded the bill's passage through the Parliament, are sustained through the bill's implementation of past in a few minutes' time. I would also like to thank the deaf and deafblind community and the many organisations that work with them for their contribution to the bill. As I mentioned, many of them are here in the gallery and I know that there are many, many more watching the debate online. By sharing their experiences and insights with us, they have helped us to gain a better understanding of the needs of BSL users and of what those users need from us. Not all people's experiences around the country, of course, are the same. I would particularly like to mention in that context the very different needs that there are of deaf people in remote and rural areas. I represent 13 islands and I know of BSL users who find it difficult to access a conversation, never mind services in their own language within many, many miles radius. I would particularly like to put on record my thanks to the five organisations that make up the deaf sector partnership, all of whom I think are here present in the gallery today. They are the British Deaf Association, Scottish Council on Deafness, Deaf Action, Deaf Connections and Deaf Blind Scotland. I am very grateful for their work with us over the past few months, which has helped us to prepare for implementation of the Bill and I look forward to continuing to work with them over the coming months as we work to establish the BSL national advisory group and start to work on the BSL national plan. Finally, I would again like to thank Mark Griffin for proposing the Bill in the first place. He has made a significant contribution to improving the lives of deaf and deaf-blind BSL users in Scotland and he should feel proud of that. We have made a good start, but it is clear that there is much more that can be done and much that we must do across Scotland to help to ensure that in the future we remove the barriers, which still in many cases prevent deaf and deaf-blind BSL users from maximising their potential and making their fullest contribution to daily and public life in Scotland. The BSL Scotland Bill sets us firmly on the right path to address this and I would therefore urge my fellow members from across all political parties to vote in favour of this Bill. Thank you minister. I now call Mark Griffin. Mr Griffin, I would be obliged if you would continue until five o'clock. I would like to thank the minister and members for the valuable contribution to the debate in those organisations outside of the chamber who have provided fantastic supportive briefings. I would also like to thank the interpreters who have been at the back of the chamber for interpreting everything that has been going on and particularly to the hands-on tactile BSL interpreters who will be in the gallery doing one-to-one interpretation for any deaf-blind members in the audience. I know that they will be very tired by this point. I would just like to briefly remind members of some key facts about BSL in Scotland. According to the latest census figures, there are approximately 12,000 BSL users in Scotland, although there is thought to be a great deal of underreporting there due to issues with BSL users being able to access a census form in written English. Nevertheless, 12,000 is the figure that we have. It is estimated that 120 children a year are born with a hearing loss, the majority of whom are born to hearing parents. As you can imagine, a child being born with a hearing loss can have a huge impact on parents, guardians, brothers and sisters and other family members, which Mary Scanlon pointed out in a support or call for lessons for family members of children who are born deaf. That has been provided at a very early stage of a child's development. Scotland has a serious shortage of BSL-trained teachers, which has an obvious effect on the number of deaf children who are able to access their education. It was raised repeatedly by Rhoda Grant, Cara Hylton and Siobhan McMahon. Siobhan McMahon quoted Scottish Government figures that showed that only 36.4 per cent of deaf pupils attained higher or advanced higher in comparison with 60.2 per cent of hearing pupils and only 26 per cent of deaf school leavers go on to higher education, compared with 39 per cent of hearing school leavers. That comes down to an issue of the language skills of the teachers. It is not difficult to see why there is an attainment gap when a BSL user can be taught complex subjects such as maths, physics and chemistry. When the proficiency of the language skills of the teacher is lower than the learner itself, that is something that we will need to look at in the future to bring that attainment gap down. That skills gap can then lead to a higher rate of unemployment among young deaf people. Data from a deaf achievement Scotland project shows that the unemployment rate of young deaf people aged 16 to 24 was 49 per cent compared with 19 per cent of all young people. One of the reasons why we need this legislation is to encourage education providers to think about how deaf children can be educated in the language and in the culture that they belong rather than forcing their own methods of education on those children. I hope that my bill can go some way towards that. Dr Allan said in his opening speech that I fully agree with, and we are missing out on what deaf and deaf blind people have to offer society and the world of work and we can no longer afford to do so. One of the reasons for my attempt to introduce a British Sign Language Bill was personal. Mary Scanan mentioned that earlier. It was two of my great-grandparents who were deaf blind. I never met them because they died before I was born, but I was brought up with stories from my mum and her mum about how they raised their children, the difficulties they faced, how they interacted with their children and grandchildren, how they attempted to access services and carry out everyday activities with a geosensory impairment that we just take for granted. When I became an MSP, I joined the cross-party group on deafness, where I had some of the experiences of the people in that group. I was sad to learn that almost three generations later, people are still experiencing the same difficulties as in accessing services, including medical and police, and in educational attainment. It struck me that the language is still marginalised and misunderstood. I am under no illusion that the bill is anything other than a starting point. It is the starting point for a continuous cycle of improvement and access to services for BSL users. It aims to raise awareness of the language, to highlight gaps in provision and to identify and enable the sharing of good practice. The Education and Culture Committee heard evidence from witnesses who gave examples of how a lack of awareness of BSL affected their everyday lives. One witness told the committee about going into hospital having experience of having to wait hours, days after appointments, weeks and months after appointments, without knowing what was going on, about being able to communicate what their symptoms were, about being able to get information about their medication and how to take it, because no BSL interpreter was available to help. I hope that that video service is available for every member of the BSL community who accesses any medical services. Mary Scanlon spoke about the number of BSL interpreters that we have in the debate and discussion. The number that I have is that we have 80 registered BSL interpreters in Scotland, whereas in Finland, a country that has a similar population to Scotland has 750. I hope that, if the bill is passed, the promotion of BSL in public life will lead to a resurgence of the language and an interest among all people in learning it, which hopefully will in turn cause an increase in the number of interpreters who come into the system. Many organisations have already made great progress. I do not think that anyone would deny that when we hear examples of what the NHS has done with the video relay service in considering the needs of BSL users. It is time that experience is shared across the public sector so that others can start to catch up with them. I recognise that it is not possible to wave a magic wand and instantly enable BSL users to start using the language every time they engage with the health service, educational establishments and others. I wish I could do that, but I believe that the bill is an important first step in putting BSL on a firmer footing and that it will make a positive difference to the lives of BSL users. Over the course of taking this bill through Parliament, it is often mentioned that the Equality Act 2010 is in place and that that should be enough to cover the needs of BSL users. It is important that I and others have stated that deaf BSL users do not define themselves as disabled. They are intellectually and physically as capable as any member in here, and they resent the fact that they have to define themselves as disabled to access services that we take for granted. We do not go to a foreign country and define ourselves as disabled. That is about people communicating in their own language. We have to recognise that there is a minority in Scotland to use a different language. We have no opportunity to learn the Indigenous spoken language and it is up to us to address that and adapt to our services accordingly. I hope that the bill will pass. I hope that the bill will achieve that aim and I commend the British Sign Language Scotland Bill to Parliament today. That concludes the debate on the British Sign Language Scotland Bill. We now move to the next item of business, which is consideration of a Parliamentary Bureau motion. I would ask Joe Fitzpatrick to move motion number 14291 on approval of an SSI. The question in this motion will be put a decision time to which we now come. Because this is a very important day, we have a very important person. We have Shauna Dixon, who is going to sign decision time for us. There are five questions to be put as a result of today's business. The first question is at amendment number 14272.3, in the name of Sarah Boyack, which seeks to amend motion number 14272, in the name of Fergus Ewing, on the future of renewables in Scotland's energy policy, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? No. The Parliament is not agreed. We move to a vote. Members should cast their votes now. The result of the vote on amendment number 14272.3, in the name of Sarah Boyack, is as follows. Yes, 33. No, 72. There were four abstentions. The question is at amendment number 14272.1, in the name of Murdo Fraser, which seeks to amend motion number 14272, in the name of Fergus Ewing, on the future of renewables in Scotland's energy policy, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? No. The Parliament is not agreed. We move to a vote. Members should cast their votes now. The result of the vote on amendment number 14272.1, in the name of Murdo Fraser, is as follows. Yes, 13. No, 96. There were no abstentions. The amendment is therefore not agreed to. The next question is at motion number 14272, in the name of Fergus Ewing, on the future of renewables in Scotland's energy policy, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? No. The Parliament is not agreed. We move to a vote. Members should cast their votes now. The result of the vote on motion number 14272, in the name of Fergus Ewing, is as follows. Yes, 63. No, 13. There were 33 abstentions. The next question is at motion number 14291, in the name of Dolfitt's Patrick, on approval of an SSI, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? The next question is at motion number 14111, in the name of Mark Griffin, on the British Sign Language Scotland Bill, be agreed to. Are we all agreed? Yes. The motion is therefore agreed to. And the British Sign Language Scotland Bill is passed. I take this opportunity to thank Mark Griffin, the Government, the Education Committee for all their work in bringing the bill to this stage. My thanks to our parliamentary staff who have excelled themselves. I also take this opportunity to thank all of our signers today. You have done a fantastic job and the whole of the Parliament thanks you for that. Members can see for themselves the reaction from the blind and deaf blind community as to how much the bill means to them. Thank you. That ends decision time. I now conclude this business.