Accessibility statement
This accessibility statement relates to all web content of the Scottish Parliament TV website found at https://www.scottishparliament.tv.
Parliament TV is run by the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body (SPCB). We are committed to ensuring digital accessibility for people with disabilities. We are continually improving the user experience for everyone, and applying the relevant accessibility standards.
We want as many people as possible to be able to use this website. For example, that means you should be able to:
- change colours, contrast levels and fonts
- zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen
- navigate most of 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)
We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.
AbilityNet has advice on making your device easier to use if you have a disability.
How accessible this website is
We know some parts of this website are not fully accessible:
- Element Description: Lack of alternative text to describe images and lack of appropriate labels or titles for documents and forms.
- Presentation of visual elements: Lack of visible links due to the removal of underling and difficulty to see the focus outline due to borders. Inability to resize text.
- Audio and Video: Lack of captions on live broadcasts, media alternatives or audio description.
- Navigation: Some keyboard shortcuts are not supported and some content is not easily accessible.
- Language: Some parts of the website contain text that is too lengthy and contains jargon or acronyms, which are not understandable to the general audience or screen readers.
We are working towards providing captions for on-demand video by the end of October 2020, and addressing the other accessibility issues by the end of the year.
What to do if you cannot access parts of this website
Get content in other formats
We will do our best to provide you with the content you need in a format that is suitable for you. Please get in touch.
- Email us at [email protected]
- Describe the format you need, for example audio CD, braille, BSL or large print.
- Provide your name and email address.
We’ll aim to reply within 2 working days.
Reporting accessibility problems with this website
We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that are not listed on this page or think we’re not meeting accessibility requirements, please contact us by doing the following:
- Contact [email protected].
- Add the web address (URL) of the page the content’s on or choose the whole site.
- Let us know your issue.
- Provide your name and email address if you want a response, or leave this blank if you want to remain anonymous.
If you request a response, we'll aim to reply within 2 working days.
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
SPCB is committed to making its website accessible, in accordance with the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.
Conformance status
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) defines requirements for designers and developers to improve accessibility for people with disabilities. It defines three levels of conformance: Level A, Level AA, and Level AAA. Parliament TV is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 level AA, due to the non-compliances listed below.
Partially conformant means that some parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard.
Non-accessible content
The content listed below is non-accessible for the following reasons.
Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations
Some issues flagged in regards to accessibility are connected to the element description. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criteria 1.1.1, 1.3.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.6, 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 when alternative text, label and titles have been omitted.
We hope to have a fix for this issue by the end of 2020.
Some text is difficult to see due to the use of colour. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria 1.4.1, 1.4.4 and 2.4.7.
We hope to have a fix for this issue by the end of 2020.
Parts of the website are not accessible by using keyboard shortcuts and some features are not easily accessible. This fails WCAG 2.1 AA success criteria 2.1.1, 2.1.2, 2.1.4 and 2.4.3
We hope to have a fix for this issue by the end of 2020.
There are also issues connected to the use of audio and video. These fail WCAG 2.1 AA Success Criteria 1.2.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3, 1.2.4 and 1.2.5, where there are no captions, audio description or media alternatives.
We are aiming to provide captions for on-demand video by the end of October 2020.
Language issues are in regards to text not being understandable or being able to be read by a screen reader, failing WCAG 2.1 AA success criterion 3.1.2.
Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations
Some articles may have uploaded files in PDF format. Older PDFs documents may not meet accessibility standards. For example, they may not be structured to be accessible to a screen reader. This does not meet WCAG 2.1 success criterion 4.1.2.
However, it passed on manual and automated tests, presenting a good level of accessibility with bookmarks, tab support, and reading order.
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.
Any new PDFs we publish will meet accessibility standards.
How we tested this website
This website was last tested in March 2020. The test was carried out by accessibility Passion4Social CIC (third-party), not involved in the design and development process.
We used this approach to test:
- Automated tests: We used 6 software tools to identify accessibility and navigation issues across the entire website;
- The web pages with most issues were added to the manual testing;
- Using Google Analytics, we selected the pages most accessed by the users since January 2020 and added to manual testing;
- Manual tests: performed by three people with disabilities (blindness, global learning disabilities, and motor disabilities) and one professional web developer that run 3 simulation tools for dyslexia, low or partial vision, colour blindness, trembling movements, and keyboard navigation;
We tested the following pages:
- Home Page: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/
- Meetings Page: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meetings
- Debating Chamber Page: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/channel/the-debating-chamber
- Watch the ministerial statement from 8th January 2020: https://www.scottishparliament.tv/meeting/ministerial-statement-short-term-lets-january-8-2020
As all pages are based on the same platform and template, they have not been tested individually but some samples have been selected from all of them.
Compatibility with browsers and assistive technology
Parliament TV is designed to be compatible with the following assistive technologies:
- JAWS
- NVDA
- VoiceOver
- Android
- BlackBerry
- Chrome
- Edge
- Internet Explorer (from version 10)
- Firefox
- Opera
- Safari
- iPhone/iPad
- Microsoft Edge
Technical specifications
Accessibility of Parliament TV relies on the following technologies to work with the particular combination of web browser and any assistive technologies or plugins installed on your computer:
- HTML
- WAI-ARIA
- CSS
- JavaScript
These technologies are relied upon for conformance with the accessibility standards used.
Check out the full evaluation report .
This statement was prepared on 27 August 2020 and updated on 10th September 2020.