Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultations took place before the Government Digital Service changed its style guide to exclude the use of words such as eg, ie and etc.

Contrary to some reports in the media, the use of Latin has not been banned on GOV.UK.

Rather, the Government Digital Service style guide champions plain English, but also considers how the GOV.UK website can be more accessible to those with disabilities.

As an illustration, researchers have observed that screen reading software used by some people with visual impairments reads ‘eg’ aloud as ‘egg’. Consequently, the guidance suggests alternative words such as ‘for example’ or ‘such as’ - depending on the specific context.

If I may re-assure the noble peer: Caesar non supra grammaticos.