22 September 2020 - publication of new accessibility statement

Accessibility statement

This accessibility statement relates to all web content of the website Lobbying Register located at https://www.lobbying.scot.

The Lobbying Register website is run by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB).  We are committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and applying the relevant accessibility standards.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate most of the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

How accessible this website is

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• Element Description: Lack of accessible names for content and features that support assistive technology or provide an alternative format.
• Audio and video: Due to inaccessible content that does not provide audio description or captions.
• Use of colour and styling: Lack of contrast between background and text colours and lack of visible focus outlines.
• Language: Lack of understandable content due to use of long sentences, jargon or acronyms.
• Keyboard Navigation: Some features of the website cannot be accessed with a keyboard.

Get content in other formats

We will do our best to provide you with the content you need in a format that is suitable for you. Please get in touch.

1. Email: lobbying@parliament.scot
2. Add the web address (URL) of the page the content’s on.
3. Describe the format you need, for example audio CD, braille, BSL or large print.
4. Enter your name and email address.

We’ll aim to reply within 2 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us by doing the following:

1. Contact us at: lobbying@parliament.scot
2. Add the web address (URL) of the page the content’s on or choose the whole site.
3. Let us know your issue.
4. Enter your name and email address if you want a response, or leave this blank if you want to remain anonymous.

If you request a response, we'll aim to reply within 2 working days.

 

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’). If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

SPCB is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Conformance status

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Lobbying Register is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 level AA, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

Most of the issues flagged regarding accessibility are connected to element description. These fail WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criteria 1.1.1, 2.4.1, 2.4.3, 2.4.4, 2.4.5, 2.4.6, 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 due to elements being inadequately described or not being supported by assistive technology.

Issues were flagged regarding audio and video content. These fail WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3 and 1.2.5 due to failure to provide audio description or captions.

Other issues regarding the use of colour and styling fail WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria 1.4.1, 1.4.3, and 2.4.7 due to the use of low contrast.

Some of the language of the website is not understandable due to the use of long sentences, jargon or acronyms.  This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 3.1.5.

Some website features cannot be accessed via keyboard shortcuts.  This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 2.1.1.

We are proceeding to fix these issues and improve accessibility overall, by working with our external provider NEC Software Solutions (formerly Northgate Public Services) on the technical aspects of the web design, and through staff training to ensure that content posted to the website meets accessibility standards.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

Some articles may have uploaded files in PDF format. Older PDF documents may not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured to be accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2.

However, it passed on manual and automated tests, presenting a good level of accessibility with bookmarks, tab support, and reading order.

The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.

How we tested this website

This website was last tested in September 2020. The test was carried out by Passion4Social CIC (third-party), not involved in the design and development process.

We used this approach to test:

• Automated tests: We used 6 software tools to identify accessibility and navigation issues across the entire website;
• The web pages with most issues were added to the manual testing;
• Using Google Analytics, we selected the pages most accessed by users since January 2020 and added to manual testing;
• Manual tests: performed by three people with disabilities (blindness, global learning disabilities, and motor disabilities) and one professional web developer that ran 3 simulation tools for dyslexia, low or partial vision, colour blindness, trembling movements, and keyboard navigation.

We tested the following pages:

• Home Page: https://lobbying.scot/

• News Page: https://lobbying.scot/SPS/Home/News

• Help Page: https://lobbying.scot/SPS/Home/Help

• Accessibility Page: https://lobbying.scot/SPS/Home/Accessibility

• Register Page: https://lobbying.scot/SPS/Account/Register

• Login Page: https://lobbying.scot/SPS/Account/Login

• Information Return Page: https://lobbying.scot/SPS/InformationReturn/History

As all pages are based on the same platform and template, they have not been tested individually but some samples have been selected from all of them.

Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology

Lobbying Register is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:

• JAWS
• NVDA
• VoiceOver
• Android
• BlackBerry
• Chrome
• Edge
• Internet Explorer (from version 10)
• Firefox
• Opera
• Safari
• iPhone/iPad
• Microsoft Edge

Technical specifications

Accessibility of Lobbying Register relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:

• HTML
• WAI-ARIA
• CSS
• JavaScript

These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.

Check out the full evaluation report.

This statement was prepared on 18 September 2020.

---

Accessibility of the Lobbying Register

The Scottish Parliament is committed to making the Lobbying Register website accessible to everyone. The website strives to uphold the principles and best practices of the WCAG 2.0 AA guidelines. We hope you find it meets your needs and that you can find the information you are looking for.

This site has been awarded the Shaw Trust 'Accessible' rating and details of the certification can be found by clicking the logo shown below:

How to contact us

If you have any questions about using our site, or wish to raise issues about how it works please let us know by contacting the Lobbying Register team. Call us on 0131 348 5408, or email lobbying@parliament.scot

Accessibility features

Our site’s code

The site has been built to comply with standards (x)HTML and CSS. The code has been checked for accessibility using a range of automated and (more significantly) manual checks. In older browsers it will appear as an unstyled document. All information and functionality will still be accessible.

We are aware that HTML errors may be encountered on some pages however this should not affect the usability of the Lobbying Register website.

Keyboard access

Tabbing round a web page using the keyboard

Using the keyboard to browse the web can be a useful alternative to using the mouse, and to some people is the only way they navigate a page.

Pressing the 'Tab' key while on a web page will select the next link on the page. You can press 'Tab' repeatedly to get to the chosen link. The selected link is indicated by the dotted border around the link.

Once your chosen link is selected, you can trigger it by pressing the 'Enter' key on your keyboard. You can move backwards through links by pressing 'Shift' + 'Tab' together.

Filling in forms with the keyboard

In forms there are specific keys for selecting radio buttons and checkboxes.

Radio buttons

When you 'Tab' into a form section with a choice of radio buttons you can change your choice using the 'up' and 'down' arrows or 'right' and 'left' arrows to move to the next section after making your selection hit the 'Tab' key.

Note: if you hit the 'Enter' key by mistake the form is often 'submitted' before you want to because the 'Enter' key is set to trigger the form 'submit' button.

Checkboxes

You navigate between checkboxes using the 'Tab' key, to select a checkbox you press the 'Spacebar' and then press 'Tab' to move onto the next 'checkbox'. To cancel or deselect a 'checkbox' press the 'Spacebar' again and the 'tick' will be removed.

Drop down combo box menus

This website uses drop down combo box menus. You can select a combo box menu item by tabbing into it and pressing the ‘down arrow’ to select an item in the list.

Screen reader keys

If you use a recent version of a screen reader you can navigate through the content on a page using the following keystrokes:

• H to navigate through all the headings on a page
• Shift and H to cycle backwards through the headings
• Insert and F6 to provide a list of all headings on a page
• Insert and F7 to provide a list of all links on a page
• Skip links

Each page contains a skip link. This is so that you can bypass the site navigation and jump to the content on a page if you are using a screen reader or keyboard.

Further help

The AbilityNet website My Computer, My Way provides further advice on how you can change your browser, computer, keyboard and mouse settings to make the web more accessible for you.  It provides advice on how to see, hear and read websites more clearly by:

• making text larger
• magnifying the screen
• making your mouse pointer easier to see
• changing your colours
• changing your font
• using your own style sheets
• making your device talk to you

Please note that some pages may not display correctly if your browser is set to display a larger text size.

Computer File Formats

The Scottish Parliament publishes content in a variety of electronic file formats. Tips and links to tools for accessing these files can be found below.

PDF files

To read PDF documents you will need to have the Adobe Acrobat reader which you can download for free from the Adobe website. If you want to access PDF documents with a screen reader please refer to the accessibility information on the Adobe website which provides useful tools and resources.

It is the policy of the Scottish Parliament to make all non-HTML documents published on the Lobbying Register website accessible from 1 April 2018.

Microsoft Office files

You will need either Microsoft Office or the free Microsoft Office viewers installed on your computer to view, save and print any Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files.