Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place to monitor the public sector’s compliance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018; and what have been the findings of any compliance monitoring exercises so far.

The Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations, came into force in September 2018. They aim to ensure public sector websites and mobile apps are accessible to all users.

In May 2020, Government Digital Service (GDS) began monitoring a sample of public sector websites using a combination of automated and manual audits. GDS also monitors websites where complaints have been sent to the Equality Advisory and Support Service and the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland.

More information on how GDS monitors the accessibility of public sector organisations websites can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/public-sector-website-and-mobile-application-accessibility-monitoring

GDS is creating an independent group of stakeholders consisting of organisations who represent the interests of users with a wide range of access needs to help aid GDS’s accessibility monitoring duty as well as ensuring that website users and the wider accessibility community’s views are heard.