The All Party Parliamentary Group on Deafness

The APPG Deafness is a cross-party group of parliamentarians (MPs in the House of Commons and Peers in the House of Lords) who come together to discuss relevant issues and agree joint parliamentary actions.

The group meet regularly to:

understand the issues facing deaf people and people with hearing loss
campaign for policy change in Parliament.

RNID provides the secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Deafness. This means we support with the admin and logistics of the Group, but all the substantive decisions are made by its officers.

Officers

Chair

Catherine Atkinson MP (Labour)

Vice chairs

Lord Bruce of Bennachie (Liberal Democrat)
Alison Griffiths MP (Conservative)
Peter Prinsley MP (Labour)

Members

In addition to our officers above, the named members of the APPG are:

Richard Baker
Lorraine Beavers
Chris Bloome
Charlotte Cane
Ben Coleman
Deirdre Costigan
Jen Craft
Amanda Hack
Patrick Hurley
Brian Leishman
Seamus Logan
Brian Mathew
Perran Moon
Helen Morgan
Samantha Niblett
Jo Platt
Yasmin Qureshi
Naza Shah
Baggy Shanker
John Whitby

Agenda

The APPG is currently considering the range of issues which it can work and will agree a workplan shortly. We will provide a further update in due course.

Past successes

Over recent years the APPG on Deafness has:

The APPG was the key parliamentary forum through which support for the BSL Act 2022 was coordinated.
Successfully campaigned to change the law to give ministers the ability to require subtitles on on-demand programmes.
Pushed for the creation and delivery of NHS England’s Action Plan on Hearing Loss, which led to NICE guidance on hearing loss, revised criteria for Cochlear Implants and improvements in the provision of NHS audiology services.
Successfully lobbied for lifting the Government’s cap on Access to Work awards which disproportionately impacted deaf people who need British Sign Language interpreters in the workplace.
Called for British Sign Language to be part of the national curriculum in support of the National Deaf Children’s Society’s campaign.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the APPG on Deafness has called on the Government to distribute clear personal protective equipment (PPE) for workers within health and social care settings. This resulted in the Government providing 250,000 clear masks to frontline NHS and social care staff.