MINUTES

Cross-Party Group on Deaf Issues

Monday 11 March 2024

9.30 – 10.00 AM

Meeting sponsored by Mark Isherwood MS

Attendees:	Mark Isherwood MS (Chair) Rob Wilks (Secretary) Altaf Hussain MS Mike Hedges MS Rachel Williams (Interpreter) Julia Jacobie (Palantypist)   Tom Lichy (BDA) Martin Griffiths (BDA) Collette Forrest (BDA) Dee Savage (BDA)   Tony Evans Cathie Robins-Talbot Stuart Parkinson Hazel Badjie (NDCS) Mark Davies Margaret Buchanan Geddes Tori Bishop-Rowe (AVUK) Ryland Doyle Lorraine Lewis (Cardiff & Vale UHB) Nigel Williams (NWSSP)
Apologies:	Joel James MS Rhun ap Iorwerth MS Cath Booth (WCDP) Sarah Thomas (COS)
BSL/English Interpreters:	Rachel Williams
Speech-to-Text Reporter:	Julia Jacobie
9.30 – 9.50	Annual General Meeting   Election of Chair Nomination(s): Mark Isherwood MS The Chair passed the chair to the Secretary for the election of Chair.  Mike Hedges nominated Mark Isherwood for Chair, seconded by Altaf Hussain.  With no objectives, Mark Isherwood was re-elected as Chair for another year, and expressed his gratitude for the trust placed in him.   Election of Secretary Nomination(s): British Deaf Association (see Appendix 1) The Secretary passed the chair back to the Chair, who proceeded with the election of the Secretary.  Rob Wilks has decided to step down and the Chair thanked him for his dedication.  There was one nomination for Secretary, the British Deaf Association (BDA).  Mike Hedges nominated the BDA for Secretary, seconded by Altaf Hussain.  With no further nominations or objections, BDA was formally named as the Secretariat, with Martin Griffiths as the lead officer. The Chair concluded the meeting, noting its brevity. He reminded the new Secretary of the responsibilities, including submitting the Annual Report and accounts within four weeks of the AGM. The Chair concluded the meeting by thanking everyone for their participation and wished all a good week.

 

 

Appendix 1

 

BDA Application for Secretariat of the Cross-Party Group on Deaf Issues (CPGDI)

 

BSL version here: https://youtu.be/1wJmNcyWxCY

04 March 2024

Dear all,

 

The British Deaf Association (BDA) would like to put ourselves forward to be the new Secretariat of the Cross-Party Group on Deaf Issues (CPGDI). Specifically, we are proposing the role of Secretariat is undertaken by our BDA Wales Manager, Martin Griffiths, who lives in Wales. In addition, we have staff in our Wales office, and in headquarters, who will be available to support the administrative running of the Group.

 

We believe it is right to put ourselves forward for the following reasons:

 

1)    The BDA is the UK’s only national representative organisation for British Sign Language and Irish Sign Language, as recognized by the World Federation of the Deaf and European Union of the Deaf, and as such should be involved in the development and implementation of legislation, policies, and other decision-making processes related to signed languages, as required under the UNCRPD Article 4.3.

2)    The BDA is Deaf-lead and Deaf-run. Our Board, Chair, and CEO are all Deaf and over 75% of our staff are deaf.

3)    As a member-led organisation, our members from across the UK have told us what they want us to focus on and this is articulated in the BDA 10-Year Strategic Vision: Taking BSL Forward. We are keen to work with Governments, public bodies and the Deaf community to make the changes the Deaf community wants to see, right across the UK.

4)    We believe strongly that Deaf people are the experts and must lead on all Deaf matters. Deaf people should lead the design, development, delivery and evaluation of services. Having a Deaf Secretariat for CPGDI sets the perfect example for this approach. 

 

If BDA is appointed Secretariat for the Group, we will endeavour to do the following:

 

1)    All communication will be in both BSL and English.

2)    We will continue with existing communication and document storage practices, for consistency’ sake. However, we do have additional resources at our disposal which we are happy to share with the Group, if beneficial, e.g. Customer Relationship Management database.

3)    We will book the next four quarterly meetings in advance on a day and time that suits as many members as possible.

4)    We will ensure that the Group’s business complies with the Senedd’s Cross Party Group rules.

 

Should you have any queries, please do feel free to get in touch. I appreciate you taking the time to consider my application and I look forward to the opportunity to present our offer to you at the meeting on 11^th March.

 

Tom Lichy, Head of Policy