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This is the BSL Plan for Queen Margaret University (QMU), as required by the BSL (Scotland) Act. It sets out actions we will take over the period 2024-2030. It was initially published on 6th May 2024 and will be reviewed annually by the Equality and Diversity Committee.

At QMU, we are highly committed to protecting and promoting BSL. In our organisational structure, we have the Human Resources (HR) department and the Disability Service that work towards ensuring that BSL users at QMU are properly supported.

We have experience of supporting BSL users as students and staff on programmes within 17³Ô¹ÏÍø. We are committed to building on this.

We are committed to an action plan, which is ambitious, responsive, builds on our progress and which is continually shaped by national initiatives, local needs and the priorities of BSL users. Our actions will be embedded into our Inclusive Learning and Teaching Materials Policy and feedback sought continually from students and staff through informal and formal mechanisms, including staff development and workshop sessions.

Overall responsibility for the implementation and reviewal of our BSL Action Plan lies with the Equality and Diversity Committee, and by extension, the University Court. The EDC is responsible to the University Court for the development of the strategic framework for equality in service provision and in employment across the University.

The Committee reports directly to the Court on its discussions, on the development of specific initiatives, and presents policies and procedures for Court approval. The Court is, as a matter of law, responsible for ensuring compliance with the Equality Act 2010 and for ensuring that the University meets its duties to the British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015.

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Name and contact details of lead officer:

Paola Tisi, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Adviser, Queen Margaret University Edinburgh EH21 6UU, ptisi@qmu.ac.uk

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Please note: Wherever we refer to ‘BSL users’ we mean D/deaf people whose first or preferred language is British Sign Language and/or Deafblind people (those who receive the language in a tactile form due to sight loss).

Whilst we believe we have made good progress on our 2018-2024 Action Plan, we have identified several areas for improvement which we have incorporated into this new plan, as detailed below.

In delivering our plan over the course of 2018-2024, we identified issues with the complexity and length of the original plan, making it unwieldy and not particularly user-friendly. To address this, we have taken a more streamlined and simplified approach to devising our 2024-2030 plan, which we have broken down into two key sections: ‘Studying at QMU’ and ‘Working at QMU’.

In addition, as our 2018 – 2024 plan did not identify ‘action owners’ for the actions within the plan, we have identified issues with determining responsibility and accountability for the commitments made in our former plan. We have addressed this within our new plan by identifying key responsible roles and teams for each individual action.

Over the course of its lifespan, overall responsibility for our 2018-2024 Plan sat with Student Services. We have since reflected that, as the Plan is wider than a student-only plan, responsibility for this newly developed plan will sit with the Equality and Diversity Committee, with the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Adviser as the lead contact.

Where we describe the provision of interpreting services within the plan, we will endeavour to ensure interpreters are registered with a professional regulatory body, and have appropriate experience and skills to practice in the higher education domain.

Studying at QMU

Objective: Encourage BSL Users to study at QMU

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Objective: Support BSL Users' study at QMU

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Objective: Promote awareness of BSL and the skills needed when engaging with BSL users

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Objective: Support career development for BSL users

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Objective: Improve the wider student experience

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Working at QMU

Objective: Ensure staff are well trained and aware of their duties to BSL users

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Objective: Improve support to staff who are BSL users