Accessibility statement for the Defra Consultation Hub

This accessibility statement applies to the Consultation Hub service on the consult.defra.gov.uk subdomain.

This website is run by Defra.

We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:

• use browser settings or plugins to change colours, contrast levels and fonts
• use browser settings or other software to zoom in up to 400% without the text spilling off the screen
• navigate the website using just a keyboard
• navigate most of the website using speech recognition software
• listen to most of the website using a screen reader (including the most recent versions of JAWS, NVDA and VoiceOver)

AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.

How accessible this website is

We believe that most users will be able to use the website without problems.

We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:

• The main problem that you might find is that some related consultation documents - mainly PDFs - are not fully accessible and may not work as expected when using assistive technology. If you cannot use a document, contact us and we will send you an accessible alternative.
• If you need larger text size or to zoom in will find that when resizing text to 200% that some content is clipped, making it difficult to read.
• If you use voice control, you may encounter difficulty due to hidden text, meant to improve the experience for screen-reader users, obscuring the name of interactive controls. Some controls also have no visible name, such as the search button present throughout the site, which may make controlling the website using voice control software more difficult.
• If you use a screen reader, you will find that when sorting elements in the activities page, due to the way that content has been authored it is difficult to identify which sorting method is currently active. In addition, you may find it tricky to work out what to do if there is an error on a survey form.
• It might be tricky to work out from web link text what the link refers to.
• Page titles do not include the correct name used by Defra for the system and do not update to reflect search results.

Some of the problems listed above are not listed in the technical section below because they are do not fail a WCAG success criterion,

Feedback and contact information

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille email consultation.coordinator@defra.gov.uk.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you in 5 working days.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements:

Email: consultation.coordinator@defra.gov.uk

 

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).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

Defra is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance status

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.2 AA standard, due to the non-compliances listed below.

Non-accessible content

The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

WCAG 2.2 Non-conformities in Citizen Space front-end

1.1.1 Non-text alternatives

The canvas element on maps should have a clear label for assistive technology.

For published responses, form fields need a clear label for assistive technology when no answer is given.

Certain hub cards have redundant visually hidden text which duplicates the activity title.

1.3.1: Info and Relationships

The PDF that is supplied to a respondent on completing an activity does not follow techniques laid out in WCAG, e.g. there are no heading tags and no document title.

There is an oddity dependent on assistive technology type which means matrix questions can be announced confusingly in certain situations. Additionally, radio button matrix components are not correctly grouped in the markup.

If publishing responses is enabled, there are a couple of non-conformities: the pagination navigation on published responses could be improved; ranking questions shown on a published response are not marked up as lists, which may make it difficult for some users to know how many items there were to rank; and some of the heading levels on published responses are not at the most appropriate level.

Pagination links (next/previous page) on the activity finder and the published responses page should be marked up as a list.

The progress indicator on linear surveys is incorrectly marked up as a heading.

1.3.2: Meaningful Sequence

When an error occurs on an activity, the focus can sometimes be inconsistent for assistive technology.

1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

Activity fact banks have insufficient contrast when focused.

1.4.4 Resize Text

Certain homepage/collection cards can have the text obscured if text in the browser is zoomed or if extra spacing is added to text.

On sites that use Citizen Space’s Geospatial tool, when a mapping page is zoomed, a mapping question on an activity can obscure some of the content within the map.

1.4.10 Reflow

When viewed at a small viewport, the filters panel on Geospatial pages and Published Responses page requires two-dimensional scrolling in order to access all the content.

1.4.11: Non-text Contrast

The progress indicator present on survey pages has a low colour contrast ratio against the background of the page (1.6:1 ratio).

Some input elements on survey pages, the search box on the Published Responses page, and on the help/feedback page have insufficient contrast when they are focused.

1.4.12: Text Spacing

Text can be obscured when zoomed on the Published Responses page. (This only applies to activities which have both related files and related links).

2.5.3 Label in Name

Visible label does not match screen-reader only label. The use of screen reader-only text can be found within the Menu button that appears at mobile viewports. Visually, the button reads: ‘Menu’. However, there is hidden text that is accessible to screen readers so the item will be read as: ‘Toggle navigation Menu’.

This poses a problem for voice control users who only see ‘Menu’. Testing using Voice Control on an iOS device, saying: ‘Tap menu’ does not open the menu as this is not the element’s name. As such, a voice control user would be unable to easily open the menu without using the grid functionality.

4.1.2 Name, Role, Value

The sorting links on the Find Activities page should be select dropdown menus.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We are working with our software supplier to make sure that accessibility problems with the software system are fixed as soon as possible.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 20 June 2022. It was last reviewed on 20 June 2022.

The underlying software used for this site is provided by Delib and was tested for them by Tetralogical in May 2021. This site was tested by the Defra Accessibility Team on 12 January 2022.

Tetralogical audit - test method and sample chosen:

A representative sample of pages from the Citizen Space system was selected to be audited after Tetralogical carried out an initial analysis of the platform. The sample represented key page types, content types, and popular features, so that the accessibility assessment captured a broad range of issues.

The methodology used a blend of analytical tools, manual testing, and usability verification with assistive technologies. Pages were evaluated against the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 level AA.

Conformance testing was carried out using:

• Browsers: Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
• Tools: Developer tools in Edge, Chrome, Firefox and Safari.
• Inspectors: Accessibility Insights, and XCode Accessibility Inspector.
• Checkers: Axe Core, Axe for Android, Siteimprove, Tenon, ARC Toolkit, Android Accessibility Scanner, and the TPGi Colour Contrast Analyser.

Assistive technology verification was carried out using:

• Screen readers: JAWS, NVDA, Narrator, VoiceOver and TalkBack.
• Screen magnifiers: ZoomText, and platform level magnification services.
• Voice: Dragon, and platform level voice services.
• Other: Keyboard.

Defra audit - sample chosen:

The test was carried out by the Defra Accessibility Team. We chose a sample of 8 web pages and 3 PDF documents to test as examples of the main document types used throughout the service. We also did a quick review of 5 consultation pages and any related surveys, to look for issues that might arise when consultations are written by Defra staff.