Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of the accessibility to people who are digitally excluded of the DHSC group accounting manual 2025 to 2026 consultation exercise, published on 7 February 2025.

The Department launched the consultation, Changes to the DHSC Group Accounting Manual 2025 to 2026, on the GOV.UK website on 7 February 2025, with further information available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/changes-to-dhsc-group-accounting-manual-2025-to-2026

In accordance with the Government’s Publishing Accessible Documents guidance, the consultation document is published in Hypertext Markup Language format to enhance readability and ease of navigation. The digital survey for submitting responses is also hosted on an accessible platform.

Due to the length and technical nature of the accompanying Group Accounting Manual, it is provided as a Portable Document Format to preserve formatting and technical content. Users who require the document in an accessible format, for use with screen readers, can request a copy by emailing publications@dhsc.gov.uk.

For any queries related to the consultation, users are encouraged to contact the relevant sector leads, whose details are available on the GOV.UK website.

There has been no change in Government policy on ensuring the accessibility of consultations. We continue to follow the same approach as the previous administration to ensure accessibility standards are maintained.

We are carefully considering the best approach to making future consultations accessible to people who are digitally excluded.