Accessibility statement

• our policy
• accessibility features on this website
• accessibility features in your browser
• standards compliance
• questions of feedback

Our policy

We recognises the importance of providing a website that is accessible to all user groups, including the disabled.

• We have implemented the following accessibility features on this website to make it easier to use for people with disabilities.
• You may also need to review the accessibility features in your browser.
• Standards compliance outline how we measure our site's accessibility.
• Please let us know if you have any questions or feedback regarding the accessibility of this site, or if you experience any difficulty using it.

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Accessibility features on this website

The following features improve navigation for screen reader users, keyboard navigation and users of text-only browsers.

Navigation shortcuts

At the start of every page is a short menu that allows you to jump directly to the most important parts of the page, including main content and navigation. Each of these also has an access key associated with it.

Sighted users who use the keyboard to navigate will see these links appear on screen when using the Tab key to navigate through the page.

Access keys

Access keys are keyboard shortcuts that replace the need to use the mouse for navigation in browsers that support them. In Internet Explorer on Windows, you can press ALT + an access key; on Macintosh, you can press Control + an access key. Then press Enter to activate the link.

The following access keys are available throughout the website:

1

Jump to Home page

s

Jump to main Content

n

Jump to Navigation menu

0

Jump to Accessibility Statement (this page)

m

Jump to Site Map

These access keys have been chosen to follow the UK government e-envoy's guidelines where applicable, in order to support the adoption of a useful standard. Wherever possible, they also avoid conflicting with commonly-used screen reader keyboard shortcuts.

Structured, semantic markup: Headings and navigation menus

• HTML heading tags are used to convey document structure. H1 tags are used for main titles, H2 tags for subtitles, and so on. For example, on this page, JAWS users can skip to the next section within the accessibility statement by pressing ALT+INSERT+2.
• Navigation menus are marked up as HTML lists. This ensures that the number of links in the list is read out at the start and it can be skipped easily.

Images

All content images used in this site include descriptive alt attributes. Purely decorative graphics include empty alt attributes.

Colours

We have checked the site's font and background colour combinations against the different colour blindness conditions and ensured that all information is still clear.

If you wish to override the site's colours, you can import your own style sheet.

Font sizes

You may change the font size of this document to your preference through your browser:

• In Internet Explorer, select View, then Text Size, and then your preferred size.
• In Netscape select View, then Text Zoom, and then your preferred percentage size.

If you wish to override the site's font settings, you can import your own style sheet.

Style sheets

This site uses cascading style sheets for visual layout. If your browser or browsing device does not support stylesheets at all, the use of structured semantic markup ensures that the content of each page is still readable and clearly structured.

You may import your own stylesheet into this website:

• In Internet Explorer select Tools, then Internet Options, and then Accessibility. Next click on any or all of 3 checkboxes to ignore colours, font styles or font sizes. In the same window you can change your style sheet by clicking the checkbox that says, 'format document using my style sheet' then simply browse to your style sheet and click OK.
• In Netscape select Edit, then Preferences and then Appearance. You will then be given the choice to specify your own colours and fonts.

Tables

Tables are not used for layout.

Forms

All forms follow a logical Tab sequence.

Labels are associated with fields using HTML label tags.

Scripting

The site is fully accessible if scripting is unavailable.

Links

Linking text have been written to make sense out of context.

Accessibility features in your browser

• Internet Explorer
  Choose Help: Contents: Accessibility
• Netscape Navigator
  • Keyboard shortcuts:
    http://help.netscape.com/netscape7/shortcuts.html http://www.mozilla.org/projects/ui/accessibility
  • See also how to specify your own colours and fonts in Netscape

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Standards compliance

• Our pages conform at a minimum to Level A compliance as specified by the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and endorsed by the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB). The majority of Level AA and AAA requirements are also met.
  
• All pages validate as XHTML 1 Transitional and use structured semantic markup. The CSS also validates.
  
• We strive to obey the spirit of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 1995 with respect to the provision of services online, as required by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC).
  http://www.disability.gov.uk/dda
  http://www.drc-gb.org
• While we use Bobby to test for accessibility, it is just one aspect of our testing procedure. As a computer programme, the Bobby test is not as reliable as expert evaluation. Pages are also tested in the following screen readers: Jaws for Windows and IBM Homepage Reader.
  

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Questions or feedback

If you have any questions or feedback regarding the accessibility of this site, or if you experience any difficulty using it, please use this form to contact us.

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