Accessibility

This statement applies to content published on the www.nnr.scot domain.

This website is run by NatureScot. It is designed to be used by as many people as possible. For example, 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.
For example:

  • some pages and document attachments are not clearly written
  • some pages have poor colour contrast
  • some heading elements are not consistent
  • some images do not have good alternative text
  • some buttons are not correctly identified
  • some error messages are not clearly associated with form controls
  • some of our online forms are difficult to navigate using just a keyboard
  • keyboard only users cannot skip to the main content 

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format contact us and tell us:

  • the web address (URL) of the content
  • your name and email address
  • the format you need, for example, HTML or accessible PDF

Reporting accessibility problems with this website

If you have any difficulties accessing any areas of this website or have any queries or suggestions. Please send us your comments using our Feedback form

Enforcement procedure

If you contact us with a complaint and you’re not happy with our response contact the Equality Advisory and Support Service (EASS).

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’).

Technical information about this website’s accessibility

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

This website is partially compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 2.1 AA standard.

Non-accessible content

The content that is not accessible is outlined below with details of:

  • where it fails the success criteria
  • planned dates for when issues will be fixed 

Decorative images should have an empty alt attribute. This fails under: 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A)

Content has heading markup, but is not a heading. This fails under: 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A)

Information conveyed through the presentation is not replicated programmatically. This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)

Buttons used for anchors. This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A) and 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A)

Information is being conveyed using colour alone. This fails under: 1.4.1 Use of Colour (Level A)

Dynamic changes or status updates are not being conveyed to assistive technologies. This fails under: 1.3.3 Sensory Characteristics (Level A) and 4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA)

Colour contrast of text is insufficient for users with low vision. This fails under: 1.4.3 Contrast (Minimum)

Colour contrast across borders of interactive elements is insufficient for users with low vision. This fails under: 1.4.11 Non-text Contrast (Level AA)

Text cannot be resized without loss of content. This fails under: 1.4.4 Resize text (Level AA)

Content is not keyboard accessible. This fails under: 2.1.1 Keyboard (Level A)

There is no indication of focus for keyboard users. This fails under: 2.4.7 Focus Visible (Level AA)

Movement on the page cannot be paused, stopped or hidden. This fails under: 2.2.2 Pause, Stop, Hide (Level A)

A page title is not unique. This fails under: 2.4.2 Page Titled (Level A)

Focus order is incorrect or illogical. This fails under: 2.4.3 Focus Order (Level A)

Link text is not descriptive of the destination page. This fails under: 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A)

Link text does not inform users of a change of context. This fails under: 2.4.4 Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A) and 3.2.5 Change on Request (Level AAA)

Telephone number provided in a text format. This fails under: 1.3.1 Info and Relationships (Level A)

Alternative methods of finding content are not provided. This fails under: 2.4.5 Multiple Ways (Level AA)

Expanding controls need appropriate name, role and value. This fails under: 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A)

Components are missing appropriate name, role or value. This fails under: 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A)

Users have to scroll across two dimensions to access content. This fails under: 1.4.10 Reflow (Level AA)

 

We plan to fix the majority of these issues by the end of February 2021. When we publish new content, we will make sure our use of images meets accessibility standards.

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

The following content does not need to comply with the accessibility requirements:

  • Third-party content out with our control or not developed by NatureScot
    • Interactive maps and Story Maps
    • YouTube videos
  • PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018
  • PDFS containing map images
  • live audio and video
  • pre-recorded audio and video published before 23 September 2020

Improvements Road map for PDFs and other documents

Many documents are not accessible in a number of ways including missing text alternatives and missing document structure.

There are approximately 600 PDF documents published after September 2018. Every effort will be made to convert these to an accessible HTML format. Priority will be given to those that require immediate attention and high traffic volume.

The accessibility regulations don’t require us to fix PDFs or other documents published before 23 September 2018 if they’re not essential to providing our services.

Other NatureScot Services

Each service has its own accessibility page, with details of how accessible the service is, how to report problems and how to request information in an alternative format. You can access these pages from the footer inside the service.

How we tested this website

This website was tested for compliance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 level A and level AA, using the services of an independent Accessibility advisory.

We used the Website Accessibility Conformance Evaluation Methodology (WCAG-EM) approach to decide on a sample of pages to test. This included the Home page and other representative pages including, standard content pages with embedded media such as images, videos, iframes, maps, image galleries, forms, listing pages, news pages, FAQ pages and gateway pages. 

What we’re doing to improve accessibility

We plan to identify and fix issues according to the timescales shown for each area above.

This statement was prepared on 3 November 2020. It was last updated on 04 February 2021.