§ Dr. CableTo ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if he will list the actions he(a) has taken and (b) is taking to ensure that the websites of the Cabinet Office, its agencies and non-departmental public bodies are accessible to partially sighted and blind people; and if he will make a statement. [118844]
§ Mr. AlexanderThe Cabinet Office website (www.cabinet-office.gov.uk) makes every effort to be accessible for partially sighted and blind people.
It adheres to the relevant sections of the Office of the e-Envoy's Guidelines for UK Government websites. It has passed the Bobby accessibility tool and meets key guidelines set out in the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).
Specific measures that have been taken are:
- Text size can be increased by users according to their needs
- Colour or shading is not used to convey key information
- Frames are not used
- Plug-ins are not used
- Images have alternative text to aid screen readers
- Links and navigation are meaningful through speech browsers
We will address other accessibility issues, such as ensuring that all PDF documents are offered in alternative formats, during on-going improvements to our web presence.
There are a number of other websites managed by the Cabinet Office; details of which have been placed in the Libraries of the House.