Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that people with a) eyesight impairment and b) poor technology skills are able to access government services online.

Government services must work for everyone who needs to use them, including people who are visually impaired and those with poor digital skills.

Public sector organisations have a legal duty to consider everyone’s needs when they’re designing and delivering services. The Service Standard sets out that to support people with visual impairment, online government services must ensure their service works with assistive technology, including screen readers, screen magnifiers and speech recognition software across common browsers.

Inclusive, accessible services are better for everyone. For example, using simple words helps people who are in a hurry as well as people who lack the skills or confidence to use online services.