Accessibility statement for Public Health Scotland

This accessibility statement applies to the Public Health Scotland website (www.publichealthscotland.scot).

This website is run by Public Health Scotland. 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.

To help us make sure our information is as accessible as possible we've developed a policy that sets out our standards.

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

How to request content in an accessible format

If you need information in a different format, email phs.otherformats@phs.scot

the web address (URL) of the content
your name and email address
the format you need, for example, audio CD, braille, BSL or large print, accessible PDF

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 phs.webmaster@phs.scot.

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

Public Health Scotland is committed to making its website 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, 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

Publication summaries

Some publication summaries on this website may have accessibility issues and fail on the following WCAG 2.1 success criteria:

WCAG 1.1.1 (A): Charts may not have sufficient alternative text.
WCAG 1.1.1 (A): Graphics may not have sufficient alternative text.
WCAG 2.4.4 (A): The purpose of some links may not be obvious when using a screen reader.

Publications

Some publications on this website contain tables that fail to meet the following WCAG 2.1 success criteria:

WCAG 1.1.1 (A): Tables are not accessible, so the information is not available to people using a screen reader.

Some publications on this website contain charts that fail to meet the following WCAG 2.1 success criteria:

WCAG 1.4.1 (A): Use of colour to convey meaning.

Publications that are non-PHS branded may not be fully accessible. We aim to review and make these publications accessible by 31 March 2024. Accessible versions are available upon request.

R dashboards

The R dashboards currently published on this website have a range of accessibility issues and fail the following WCAG 2.1 success criteria:

WCAG 1.3.1 (A) – Desktop: Title of the graph is not communicated to screen reader users as it is an image of text.
WCAG 4.1.2 (A) – Automated finding, Desktop: Ensure buttons have discernible text.
WCAG 4.1.1 (A) – Automated finding, Desktop: Ensure every id attribute value used in ARIA and in labels is unique.
WCAG 2.4.1 (A) – Automated finding, Desktop: Ensure iframe and frame elements contain a non-empty title attribute.
WCAG 1.3.2 (A), 2.4.3 (A) – Desktop: First element announced within the modal window is the next button.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A) – Desktop: Navigation buttons with the tooltip modal window are announced as ‘button’.
WCAG 4.1.3 (AA) – Desktop: Dynamic content is not announced.
WCAG 2.4.7 (AA) – Desktop: No visible focus indicator.
WCAG 2.4.3 (A) – Desktop: Incorrect focus order.
WCAG 2.1.1 (A) – Desktop, iPad: Slider widget is inoperable with screen reader activated.
WCAG 1.1.1 (A), 1.4.5 (AA) – Desktop: The graph is not announced by screen reader.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A) – Desktop: Downloadable files are not announced by the screen reader.
WCAG 3.3.2 (A) – Desktop: No instructions provided for screen reader users on how to operate slider.
WCAG 1.4.5 (AA) – Desktop: Images of text with insufficient alt text.
WCAG 1.4.13 (AA), 2.1.1 (A), 3.2.1 (A) – Desktop: Dropdown menu is inoperable using standard keyboard gestures.
WCAG 2.4.4 (A), 2.4.6 (AA), 4.1.2 (A) – Desktop: Dropdown options are announced by the screen reader as blank.
WCAG 1.4.1 (A) – Desktop: Use of colour alone.
WCAG 1.4.10 (AA) - Desktop, iPad: Content overlapping at 400% browser zoom.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A) – Desktop: Mobile, iPad, Reference number is not coded as a link.
WCAG 1.3.2 (A), 1.4.5 (AA), 2.4.3 (A), 2.4.4 (A) – iPad: Elements within the graph are not announced by screen reader.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A) – iPad: Table cells not associated to table headings.
WCAG 4.1.1 (A) - Automated finding, Desktop: Ensure every id attribute value is unique.
WCAG 2.4.4 (A) – Desktop: Adjacent text could be used as link text.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 3.2.2 (A): The controls relating to the graph are not hidden to screen reader users.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 1.3.5 (AA), 2.4.6 (AA) – Desktop: Screen reader announces search field as ‘Search edit blank’.
WCAG 1.4.10 (AA), 1.4.4 (AA) – Desktop: Content overlaps and obscured when 200 per cent browser zoom is applied.
WCAG 2.4.3 (A) – iPad: Incorrect Focus Order on the iPad.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 4.1.2 (A) – iPad: Sort columns in ascending/descending order are not announced by screen reader.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A) – Desktop: Combo box does not announce the number of options in the list.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A) – Desktop: The accessibility of the table could be improved.
WCAG 3.1.1 (A) – Language of page may not be found.
WCAG 2.2.1 (A) Timing Adjustable – it may not be possible to adjust dashboard inactivity timeout (aiming to fix by 31 May 2023).

Tableau dashboards

The Tableau dashboards currently published on this website have a range of accessibility issues and fail the following WCAG 2.1 success criteria:

WCAG 1.4.5 (AA), 2.4.4 (A) - Android, Desktop: Aria-label attribute overrides alt text of image.
WCAG 1.4.3 (AA) - Automated finding, Desktop: Ensure the contrast between foreground and background colours meets WCAG 2 AA contrast ratio thresholds.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 3.2.2 (A) - Automated finding, Desktop: Ensure every form element has a label.
WCAG 1.4.13 (AA), 2.1.1 (A), 3.2.1 (A) – Desktop: Dropdown menu is inoperable using standard keyboard gestures.
WCAG 1.4.1 (A) – Desktop: Use of colour alone to convey content.
WCAG 1.4.10 (AA) - Desktop, iPad: Content overlapping at 400% browser zoom.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.1.1 (A) – Desktop: Content is not announced by screen reader.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 1.4.13 (AA), 2.1.1 (A), 4.1.3 (AA) – Desktop: Screen reader users do not have access to tooltip information.
WCAG 4.1.3 (AA) – Desktop: Dynamic content not announced by screen reader.
WCAG 1.4.12 (AA) – Desktop: Text spacing cannot be applied to the interactive application on the Tableau dashboard.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A), 3.2.4 (AA) – iPad: All elements are announced as ‘Data visualization image’- tooltips/ interactive map’.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.1.1 (A) – iPad: Bodies of text are not announced and elements are inoperable with VoiceOver activated.
WCAG 2.4.2 (A) - Desktop, Mobile: Insufficient page title.
WCAG 1.3.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A) – iPad: Label on Cookie button is not being read out correctly by VoiceOver.
WCAG 1.4.10 (AA), 1.4.4 (AA) – Desktop: Content overlaps and obscured when 200 per cent browser zoom is applied.
WCAG 1.1.1 (A), 2.4.4 (A), 2.5.3 (A) – iPad: Icons do not have text to help users identify their purpose.

Preparation of this accessibility statement

This statement was prepared on 1 April 2020. It was last reviewed on 28 March 2023.

This website was last tested on 22 September 2022. Tests were carried out by our Digital Team.

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines V2.1 level A and level AA to test how accessible publichealthscotland.scot is.

We tested our site templates, our web content and our downloadable content.