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Accessibility statement


How Devon County Council websites are organised

The Devon County Council ‘website’ is made up of many separate websites and services, covering different areas of our work. Each website has its own accessibility statement, to ensure we can properly describe the accessibility for each site or service.

This accessibility statement covers the Democracy in Devon website at www.devon.gov.uk/democracy and does not cover the wider family of Devon County Council websites.

Introduction

This website is run by Devon County Council. 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 using browser settings
  • zoom in up to 300% without the text spilling off the screen using browser settings
  • 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

We’ve also made the website text as simple as possible to understand.

The My Computer My Way guide from AbilityNet is a step-by-step guide to help you make your device easier to use if you have a disability.

Translation

If you would like information on our website translated into another language, you may find one of the services listed below meets your needs. However, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of any external website or free website translators.

Under some circumstances, for example, if you cannot read the information easily in English, you can request information in a different language from us. This includes British Sign Language, easy read or a foreign language. Please contact our customer service centre for advice.

How accessible is this website?

This website has been developed to be as accessible as possible. However, we know some parts of this website aren’t fully accessible:

  • much of the information on the website about councillors, committees and meetings is provided by a third-party system which is not fully accessible
  • some content may be difficult to navigate using a screen reader
  • some older PDF documents aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software
  • captions on some videos are autogenerated by YouTube and may not be completely accurate

What to do if you can’t access parts of this website

If you need information on this website in a different format like accessible PDF, large print, easy read, audio recording or braille, please contact us using the contact details at the end of this statement.

We’ll consider your request and get back to you as soon as possible.

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

We’re always looking to improve the accessibility of this website. If you find any problems that aren’t listed on this page or think we’re not meeting the requirements of the accessibility regulations, contact us using the contact details at the end of this statement.

Enforcement procedure

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) is responsible for enforcing 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

Devon County Council is committed to making its website accessible, under the Public Sector Bodies (Websites and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018.

Compliance

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard, due to the non-compliances and exemptions listed below.

Non-accessible content

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

Non-compliance with the accessibility regulations

External links/third-party system

This website links to a third-party system which contains information about county councillors, committees and council meetings. This information is not fully accessible and work is being carried out on the system in order to improve its accessibility.

PDFs and other documents

Some documents published since September 2018 aren’t fully accessible to screen reader software. These will be reviewed as soon as possible. Any new PDFs or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Content that’s not within the scope of the accessibility regulations

PDFs and other documents

Some of our older PDFs and Word documents do not meet accessibility standards – for example, they may not be structured so they’re accessible to a screen reader.

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 or Word documents we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Videos

A few of our older videos lack captions and do not meet accessibility standards. The accessibility regulations do not require us to add captions to videos produced before 23 September 2020 if they’re not essential to providing our services. Any new videos we publish will meet accessibility standards.

Maps

We publish a number of maps which are not fully accessible. The accessibility regulations do not require us to make maps accessible, although we take steps to make them and the information they contain as accessible as possible.

External links

This website may link to third-party, external websites or services that are not fully accessible.

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We provide training to all content authors to ensure new content is accessible. We monitor this website weekly and we aim to address any issues promptly. We will be reviewing this site regularly and updating this statement accordingly.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 24 July 2020. It was last reviewed on 11 September 2020.

Every page of this website is scanned for WCAG 2.1 compliance issues using a third-party automated service on a weekly basis.

You can read the full accessibility test report.

Contact us

For any enquiries about the accessibility of this website, you can contact us by:

  • emailing digitalcomms@devon.gov.uk
  • calling 0345 155 1015 and asking for the ‘Digital Communications Team’
  • post at Digital Communications Team (G59), County Hall, Topsham Road, Exeter, Devon EX2 4QD

British Sign Language users can contact us using an online interpreter who will relay your conversation with an appropriate member of Devon County Council staff, and then sign back to you their response to your questions.


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