Accessibility Statement for https://www.foi.scot
The Scottish Information Commissioner is committed to making his website accessible in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No.2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
This accessibility statement applies to the Scottish Information Commissioner's website which is https://www.foi.scot.
This website is run by the Scottish Information Commissioner. We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, this means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts using browser or device settings
- zoom up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of the website using a keyboard or speech recognition software
- listen to most of this website using a screen reader
We also ensure website content text is kept simple to understand by using plain English.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
Compliance status
This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA or 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliance and the exemptions listed below.
Non-accessible content
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible: the content listed below was identified in an external audit (4 January 2024, reported to us on 17 January 2024) as non-accessible for the following reasons:
- WCAG 2.1 Site logo: needs a text label or aria-label attribute for screen reader users. This is covered under WCAG 2.1, specifically Success Criterion 1.1.1 (Non-text Content)
- WCAG 2.1 Decisions page: lacks descriptive text for the search button. This is covered under WCAG 2.1, specifically Success Criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
- WCAG 2.1 Public Authority A-Z page: the search button requires an aria-label attribute and the ‘Visit website’ CTAs needs target=”_blank” attribute to open in new tabs for improved navigation, especially for screen reader users. covered under WCAG 2.1, specifically Success Criterion 4.1.2 (Name, Role, Value).
- WCAG 2.1/2.2 The 'Visit website' CTAs in the A-Z Public Authorities section should have the target="_blank" attribute to open in new tabs for improved navigation, especially for screen reader users. - covered under WCAG 2.1. However, in WCAG 2.2, there's a new success criterion addressing this issue. It aligns with Success Criterion 2.4.11 (Focus Visible) in WCAG 2.2.
All of the issues listed above are in the process of being corrected by our website service provider. These will be addressed by April 2024.
Disproportionate burden
We are not currently claiming that any accessibility problems would be a disproportionate burden to fix.
Not within the scope of the regulations
Some of our older PDFs, published before 23 September 2018, do not meet accessibility standards.
For example, they may be structured in a way that means then are not accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.2 success criterion 4.1.2 (name, role value). The accessibility regulations do not require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.
We do not plan to fix these until these documents are subject to our regular reviews. This does not impact users’ ability to access our services and all of these documents are available in different formats on request.
All the Commissioner’s Decision Notices are published in HTML format, but carry a PDF version as an alternative format. There are over 3800 Decisions dating from the present back as far as 2005. This accounts for the majority of our estimated 3510 PDF files online. A number of the remainder are already WCAG 2.1 compliant as we continue to refresh and update our web content as part of our normal working practices producing new and updated documents.
All new PDFs or Word documents we publish moving forward will aim to meet accessibility standards.
What we are doing to improve accessibility
We have an open and consistent dialogue with our website supplier and we are committed to improving accessibility to our website. One way we do this is by conducting regular reviews of our accessibility statement – the next one will take place in the next financial year and no later than January 2025.
We conduct regular reviews of the documentation on our website, part of that review will ensure that all future versions of PDFs on our website will be assessed for accessibility before publication.
We are currently aiming to put Accessibility training in place for our staff within the next financial year 2024-25.
Preparation of this accessibility statement
This statement was updated on 26 January and 15 February 2024 following evaluation of the website to which it applies.
On 27 September 2023 and 31 January 2024 this website was tested by the UK Government Digital Service (GDS). All issues raised by that assessment have now been fixed.
In addition to the UK Government Digital Service tests above, we asked a third-party provider to test this website (on 4 January 2024) to ensure we continue to make any further improvements we can to our website, before 28 February 2024.
Ongoing internal reviews are conducted on content at regular intervals for both the content published to this website and its design, for instance through our ongoing Key Document Processes and Records Management Plan.
Feedback and contact information
We are always looking to improve the accessibility, both of our website and of the information we publish, and we want to assist you in using our resources.
If you have any problems trying using our website, contact the Scottish Information Commissioner’s staff as follows;
We can provide assistance with any of the following:
- if you have difficulty accessing anything
- if you need information in a different format
- if you find any problems not listed on this page or think we're not meeting accessibility requirements
There are also full contact details, including our postal address, at Contact Us
Enforcement procedure
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 (the ‘accessibility regulations’).
If you’re not happy with how we respond to your complaint, contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS). Refer to Home Page | Equality and Human Rights Commission (equalityhumanrights.com)
Download a PDF version of this statement here
Published 15 February 2024
