Official Report: search what was said in Parliament
The Official Report is a written record of public meetings of the Parliament and committees.
All Official Reports of meetings in the Debating Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.
All Official Reports of public meetings of committees.
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Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
Subordinate Legislation
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
As no other members wish to comment, that concludes consideration of the instruments.
Before we move into private to consider the remaining items on our agenda, I note that, although there will be further meetings in private to consider our draft reports, this is expected to be our last meeting in public. With that in mind, I thank all committee members, past and present, and our Parliament staff. We absolutely could not do this without you, and you have all contributed so much to the work of the committee. I also thank all those who have given evidence, particularly those who have shared their lived experience with us, which has allowed us to undertake our work in a much more profound and informed way.
11:21
Meeting continued in private until 11:41.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
We will now move on to questions from Paul McLennan.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
I understand that things such as sexual health, women’s hormones and sexual consent are often taboo to talk about, but coercive control is quite hard to describe in the hearing world as it is. We know that those discussions are often hard to have in the public space, so should we be more cognisant, particularly in public services, of the need to be more active in reaching out to deaf communities, and that materials have to be in BSL?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
That is really interesting, Jemina, because if you do not have the language for it, how do you communicate it? That is a really pertinent point. Thank you for that.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
We move to questions from Maggie Chapman.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
I was also thinking about the preventative work that you have spoken about and that early-years intervention. That would be covered as well.
Another side—which you touched on, Jemina—is the education of perpetrators. In what you have said today, I hear trauma for deaf mothers and their children, pressure on courts and access to legal aid and solicitors. All that is because of male perpetrator behaviour. That is why we are doing this. There is service pressure and the need for domestic abuse advisers for deaf women. Have you been able to share your report with the people who do some of the work on challenging misogyny and male perpetrator behaviour?
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
Before we move on, I will pick up on a point that Tess White made. The committee highlighted in our post-legislative scrutiny of the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 that there should be parity with Gaelic. I am paying attention to what you have said about that. If there was parity of investment in deaf and BSL services, would that support a lot of what you have said today and what is contained in your report?
Lucy is signing, “Yes, no question.”
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
Our second agenda item is a consideration of the findings of a joint research report on the perspectives of deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on deaf families, by Professor Jemina Napier, Dr Claire Houghton, Lucy Clark and Tasnim Ahmed, which was published in December 2025. At this point, I make a declaration of interest, in that I wrote the foreword to the report. I am grateful to have been given that opportunity, and I put that on the record. The research report came to the attention of the committee during its inquiry in early 2025 into the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015.
I refer members to papers 1 and 2, and I welcome to the meeting three authors of the report: Professor Jemina Napier from Heriot-Watt University, Dr Claire Houghton from the University of Edinburgh and Lucy Clark from LCC Scotland. You are all very welcome. Thank you so much for joining us. We have scheduled up to an hour and a half for the discussion. We have not scheduled any breaks, but please indicate to me or the clerk if a break would be helpful.
Before we move to questions, I invite you all to make an opening statement. We will start with Jemina.
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
That is great, thank you so much, Lucy.
10:15
Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee [Draft]
“Sign LOUD: Perspectives of Deaf mothers and signing practitioners on domestic abuse, communication issues and the impact on Deaf families”
Meeting date: 3 March 2026
Karen Adam
I am cognisant of the fact that we are now an hour into this evidence session, and we still have half an hour to go, so I just want to check whether we are okay or whether anyone needs a comfort break. Do we need to suspend briefly for a few minutes, or are we all good?
