Draft Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022

Debate between Margaret Greenwood and Brendan Clarke-Smith

Wednesday 19th October 2022 General Committees

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Brendan Clarke-Smith)]

I beg to move,

That the Committee has considered the draft Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2022.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mrs Cummins.

The purpose of the regulations, which were laid before the House on 18 July, is technical. They do not introduce any new policy, rather the main purpose is to update the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018, so that they can continue to operate, given that the UK has left the European Union. The amendments do not add any burdens to the UK’s public sector, nor do they reduce any of the UK’s standards and support for disabled people.

The 2018 regulations were transposed from EU Directive 2016/2102 which requires public sector bodies to make their websites and mobile applications accessible, unless it would impose a disproportionate burden on the public sector body to do so.

[Margaret Greenwood (Wirral West) (Lab)]

According to the Royal National Institute of Blind People there are 340,000 people registered blind or partially sighted in the UK, and there are more than 2 million people living with sight loss. The statutory instrument is particularly important to them. I know from blind and partially sighted people that I have spoken to just how important it is to them that they are able to access websites and other technologies, such as mobile apps, for a range of things including shopping, accessing services and communicating with friends and family.

It is important that the Government lead the way on this, so what steps does the Minister intend to take to encourage companies more widely to ensure that their websites are accessible to people with disabilities, including those who are blind and partially sighted?

[Brendan Clarke-Smith]

I share the hon. Lady’s passion for making sure that we can make things accessible. I have worked in my own constituency with organisations such as the RNIB towards that end. Existing regulations, such as those in the Equality Act 2010, aim to ensure accessibility. I will make sure that we not only enforce those regulations, but I want to see companies proactively implementing today’s proposed regulations without the Government having to get involved. From my perspective, I and, I am sure, my colleagues will continue to promote that work. The hon. Lady is absolutely right.

“Accessibility” refers to principles and techniques to follow when people design, build, maintain and update websites and apps in order to make them as easy as possible for people to use. That applies in particular to people with disabilities, and people who use assistive technology with their computers, tablets and mobile phones, such as a screen reader or screen magnification software. The regulations build on existing UK legislation and commitments such as the Equality Act 2010 in England, Scotland and Wales, and the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland, which placed duties on service providers to make reasonable adjustments for persons with disabilities when providing services and exercising public functions.

The current regulations also place some obligations on the Minister for the Cabinet Office, including monitoring of the public sector to ensure the regulations are being met, and sending a report to the European Union every three years, detailing what has been found during that monitoring. Those obligations were harmonised, so that implementation was similar across EU member states and so that there could be comparison between countries. That harmonisation is no longer required, and the specified monitoring process has been inefficient to implement. The amendments move the monitoring process from being defined in a European Commission implementing decision to being set by the UK Government. The model accessibility statement that websites and mobile apps need to publish is also moved to be set by the UK Government. The first report was due to be sent to the EU in December 2021. Instead of this, the Minister for the Cabinet Office published a similar report on GOV.UK, and the proposed amendments alter the obligation allowing the same procedure to be followed in the future. That ensures that the monitoring, and the effectiveness of the regulations, are transparent to all.

The 2018 regulations used a European technical standard as the definition of the accessibility requirements placed on the public sector. That standard is controlled by the European Commission and is subject to its funding and timeframes. Practically, that standard mainly references an international standard called the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, created and published by the World Wide Web Consortium. The proposed amendments would move the technical standard to that international standard, which is far more well known and used by digital accessibility experts, and is also open for all to contribute to.

The proposed regulations are made under section 8 of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018, which allows a Minister to make regulations to resolve any deficiencies in law that arise as a result of the UK’s departure from the European Union.

The technical standard, monitoring and reporting methodology and the model accessibility statement were set through European Commission implementing decisions. The UK no longer adopts new implementing Acts so changes to those Acts no longer take effect in the UK. The SI removes the links to the Commission’s implementing Acts and replaces them with UK-set implementations, as mentioned previously. Three European Commission implementing decisions will be revoked once the amendments are made.

I hope that colleagues will join me in supporting the draft regulations, and I commend them to the Committee.