Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he is taking steps to (a) ensure consistency in the accessibility of departmental communications and (b) support the use of (i) sign language videos, (ii) audio recordings and (iii) other accessible formats in such communications across Departments.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
On 5 February 2024 the government published the final Disability Action Plan together with the independent analysis of the consultation findings. The Disability Action Plan sets out 32 practical actions which the government will take forward over the next 12 months.
Action 28 outlines steps the government is taking to ensure consistency in the accessibility of departmental communications. These steps include the publication of accessible standards, revising and improving guidance, training, and monitoring. The accessibility guidance emphasises the need for government organisations to consider the communication needs of individuals and, where appropriate, the provision of BSL and commonly-requested alternative formats.
In July 2024, the government will publish the second BSL report that will outline what ministerial departments have done to promote and facilitate the use of BSL in their communications with the public. This follows the publication of the first BSL report in July 2023, which included a number of actions to continually improve the government’s use of BSL in public communications (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-british-sign-language-bsl-report-2022)
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she is taking to help reduce discrimination faced by people of restricted growth.
Answered by Stuart Andrew - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)
The Government is committed to improving life choices and opportunities for disabled people in their private lives, in their communities and in employment. We want everyone, including people of restricted growth, to live their lives free from discrimination and harassment.
The Equality Act 2010 may protect people of restricted growth on the grounds of disability, depending on the particular circumstances. The 2010 Act defines disability as “a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities”. An employer or a service provider is required to make reasonable adjustments to ensure that disabled people are not put at a substantial disadvantage compared to non-disabled people.
On 5 February 2024 we published the final Disability Action Plan together with the independent analysis of the consultation findings. The Disability Action Plan sets out 32 practical actions in 14 different areas which the government will take forward over the next 12 months, with disabled people, disabled people’s organisations, and other government departments and public service providers, to improve disabled people’s daily lives, as well as laying the foundations for longer term change.
Any disabled person who may have been personally discriminated against in employment or provision of services because of a disability may contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS), the government helpline established to provide free bespoke advice and in-depth support to individuals with discrimination concerns. The EASS can be contacted via their website at www.equalityadvisoryservice.com/, or by telephone on 0808 8000082.
Asked by: Vicky Foxcroft (Labour - Lewisham, Deptford)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of increases in cost of living on people with complex disabilities.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Cabinet Office Disability Unit is considering the potential impacts of cost of living on disabled people.
The Disability Unit continues to liaise with stakeholders and across government departments to ensure the broadest understanding of how increases in living costs affect disabled people, including people with complex disabilities, and advises Ministers accordingly.
Asked by: Tobias Ellwood (Conservative - Bournemouth East)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the effectiveness of the Disability Action Plan.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Since the Disability Action Plan consultation closed on 6 October, we have been working closely with other government departments, including discussions with the Ministerial Disability Champions, to help finalise policy proposals for the Plan. We will publish the Plan as soon as possible.
Asked by: Justin Tomlinson (Conservative - North Swindon)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department has taken to ensure the provision of accessible communications for disabled people in (a) pandemic and (b) disaster preparedness work.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government Communication Service (GCS) is committed to ensuring that all government communications are available and accessible to all audiences. Its crisis communications operating model commits to improving preparedness plans across the risks facing the government. This includes meeting statutory requirements and setting standards of best practice for accessible communications.
Departments make commonly-requested alternative formats of communications such as Easy Read and Large Print available in order to meet people’s needs. The recently published British Sign Language (BSL) report details what the government is doing to promote and facilitate the use of BSL in its communications with the public.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, GCS continuously engaged with disability charities, using polling and focus groups with hard-to-reach audiences, to better understand how our communications were received. Examples of new guidance were also discussed in regular sessions with disability charities and experts in accessibility, so these groups could review and make recommendations on how to improve government communications. We used these insights to improve government messaging and challenge misinformation.
Asked by: Lord Wigley (Plaid Cymru - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether the Written Statement by Viscount Younger of Leckie on 18 September (HLWS1021), following the Court of Appeal judgment of 11 July, has any implication for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The National Disability Strategy contains commitments from departments across the UK Government; where these commitments involve Reserved or Partially Reserved matters, there may be implications for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as is usual in policy changes on reserved or partially-reserved matters. Departments leading on such issues are responsible for engaging with devolved administrations as necessary on specific issues where the policy is not fully devolved.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Wales Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, what steps their Department is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by David T C Davies - Secretary of State for Wales
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) leads the Government Digital and Data function; this includes setting strategy and direction for the improvement of digital services and understanding current performance.
Since the publication of the National Disability Strategy in July 2021, CDDO has published the outcome of its work to monitor UK public sector websites and mobile applications. This can be found at the following link: Accessibility monitoring of public sector websites and mobile apps 2020-2021 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Outputs of this publication and other reviews of digital service performance across government have informed a new performance framework, created by CDDO, for service provision in Government.
This framework forms part of mission 1 of the Transforming for a Digital Future strategy, which commits HMG to move 50 of its Top 75 services (by volume) to ‘Great’ standard on the framework by 2025.
It explicitly requires compliance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (“accessibility regulations'') and sets thresholds for user experience, which are in line with global best practice.
CDDO is working proactively with departments to ensure that public services meet the requirements set out in the framework, in order to move them to ‘Great’ standard.
Alongside this, Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to monitor legal accessibility compliance across the public sector and CDDO monitors adherence to the Service Standard and Design Standard, all of which set out minimum requirements for user experience and accessibility and are formally monitored by CDDO through its Service Assessment process.
GOV.UK’s strategy aims to improve the overall user experience by making it quicker and easier for users to access information and services, in formats and channels of their choice.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Prime Minister’s Office is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) leads the Government Digital and Data function; this includes setting strategy and direction for the improvement of digital services and understanding current performance.
Since the publication of the National Disability Strategy last July, CDDO has published the outcome of its work to monitor UK public sector websites and mobile applications. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-2020-2021/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-2020-2021.
Outputs of this publication and other reviews of digital service performance across government have informed a new performance framework, created by CDDO, for service provision in Government.
This framework forms part of mission 1 of the Transforming for a Digital Future strategy, which commits HMG to move 50 of its Top 75 services (by volume) to ‘Great’ standard on the framework by 2025.
It explicitly requires compliance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (“accessibility regulations'') and sets thresholds for user experience, which are in line with global best practice.
CDDO is working proactively with departments to ensure that public services meet the requirements set out in the framework, in order to move them to ‘Great’ standard.
Alongside this, Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to monitor accessibility compliance and CDDO monitors adherence to the Service Standard and Design Standard, all of which set out minimum requirements for user experience and accessibility and are formally monitored by CDDO through its Service Assessment process.
GOV.UK’s strategy aims to improve the overall user experience by making it quicker and easier for users to access information and services, in formats and channels of their choice.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps their Department is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) leads the Government Digital and Data function; this includes setting strategy and direction for the improvement of digital services and understanding current performance.
Since the publication of the National Disability Strategy last July, CDDO has published the outcome of its work to monitor UK public sector websites and mobile applications. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-2020-2021/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-2020-2021.
Outputs of this publication and other reviews of digital service performance across government have informed a new performance framework, created by CDDO, for service provision in Government.
This framework forms part of mission 1 of the Transforming for a Digital Future strategy, which commits HMG to move 50 of its Top 75 services (by volume) to ‘Great’ standard on the framework by 2025.
It explicitly requires compliance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (“accessibility regulations'') and sets thresholds for user experience, which are in line with global best practice.
CDDO is working proactively with departments to ensure that public services meet the requirements set out in the framework, in order to move them to ‘Great’ standard.
Alongside this, Government Digital Service (GDS) continues to monitor accessibility compliance and CDDO monitors adherence to the Service Standard and Design Standard, all of which set out minimum requirements for user experience and accessibility and are formally monitored by CDDO through its Service Assessment process.
GOV.UK’s strategy aims to improve the overall user experience by making it quicker and easier for users to access information and services, in formats and channels of their choice.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps their Department is taking to improve its digital services to provide better (a) accessibility and (b) user experience for the public.
Answered by Mark Spencer - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) leads the Government Digital and Data function; this includes setting strategy and direction for the improvement of digital services and understanding current performance. Defra’s new digital strategy (to be published this Autumn) is set around 5 missions which align to the CDDO strategy.
Since the publication of the National Disability Strategy in July 2021, CDDO has published the outcome of its work to monitor UK public sector websites and mobile applications. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-2020-2021/accessibility-monitoring-of-public-sector-websites-and-mobile-apps-2020-2021
Outputs of this publication and other reviews of digital service performance across government have informed a new performance framework, created by CDDO, for service provision in Government.
This framework forms part of mission 1 of the Transforming for a Digital Future strategy, which commits the Government to move 50 of its Top 75 services (by volume) to ‘Great’ standard on the framework by 2025.
It explicitly requires compliance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (“accessibility regulations'') and sets thresholds for user experience, which are in line with global best practice.
Defra’s Digital, Data and Technology Services directorate includes an in-house accessibility team which provides guidance and assurance to digital delivery teams to ensure all new services meet the accessibility regulations. The team has deep technical knowledge of the international WCAG standard and front-end development, backed up with lived experience of using assistive technology. It provides consultation at all stages of project delivery with activities which include:
The accessibility team sits within a wider Product and Experience function which includes specialist user centred design and product management capability including user research, content, interaction and service design. It takes a best practice approach to digital service design and delivery aligned to the government digital Service Standard.
CDDO is working proactively with departments to ensure that public services meet the requirements set out in the framework, in order to move them to ‘Great’ standard.
Alongside this, Government Digital Service continues to monitor legal accessibility compliance across the public sector and CDDO monitors adherence to the Service Standard and Design Standard, all of which set out minimum requirements for user experience and accessibility and are formally monitored by CDDO through its Service Assessment process.
GOV.UK’s strategy aims to improve the overall user experience by making it quicker and easier for users to access information and services, in formats and channels of their choice.