Mr. Michael J. FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what plans he has for departmental(a) White and (b) Green Papers to be made available on floppy disk format in a form which facilitates access for the visually impaired. [67847]
§ Mr. ByersWe aim to make key departmental information as widely available as possible and to put departmental White and Green Papers on the DTI Internet web site. This is useful to people with visual impairments since they can adjust their software to increase the text size to meet their requirements.
It has not been our usual practice to offer texts on floppy disk simply because there has not been a demand. Availability of texts via the Internet may now be satisfying that demand but if we receive an ad hoc request for a text on disk we are happy to produce and supply it.
Officials are due to meet representatives of the RNIB in early February to discuss what further steps the Department could take to help the visually impaired access DTI material.