We are committed to providing a website that is
accessible to the widest possible audience regardless of
disability, capability or technology.
Our web content has been designed to be used with a range of
different access technologies. The content can be viewed on a
range of different screen sizes and the size of text can be changed
to suit different people.
Accessibility guidelines
All pages of this website conform to level AA of the Web Content
Accessibility Guidelines 2.0. These guidelines are the
internationally recognized benchmark for building accessible
websites.
Following these guidelines also makes web content more user
friendly for all people.
Web standards and technologies
This website has been built to conform to W3C standards for HTML
and CSS. These technologies are relied upon throughout the site.
The site should display correctly in all popular web browsers, and
degrades gracefully in older browsers.
In addition, this website uses JavaScript and PDFs. These
technologies are not relied upon and the website works perfectly
well without them. Where they have been used, they meet the same
high levels of accessibility as the rest of the site.
Changing Settings
Using your web browser, you can change the size of text on this
web content and make other helpful changes:
Making text bigger or zooming your screen
It's easy to resize your text to make it easier to read. Follow
the instructions below for your type of computer and web
browser:
- PC with Firefox, Internet Explorer or Chrome: Hold down the
CTRL key and press + (plus) to increase and CTRL - (minus) to
decrease
- Mac with Firefox, Safari or Chrome: Hold down the CMD key and
press + (plus) to increase and hold down the CMD key and press -
(minus) to decrease
Alternatively, if you are using a modern set up and have a mouse
with a wheel you can also alter the size of the text by holding
down CTRL (PC) or CMD (Mac) on your keyboard while scrolling up and
down with the mouse wheel.
If you don't know what web browser program you are using you can
find out here: www.whatsmybrowser.org
For more information about web browsers check out this What is a Web Browser acticle.
If you want information on how to change your text size you can
find out here: www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/guides/text_larger
Using the Tab key to navigate the site without a
mouse
You can use the Tab key on your keyboard to move between links
and form fields on each page. A single press of Tab highlights the
next link, Shift+Tab highlights the previous link. When you use the
Tab key to move between links on the website, you'll be taken
through them in a logical order. Every effort has been made to
ensure that link names are distinct and not repeated on pages.
Contrast
We have worked to make sure that there is sufficient contrast
between text and background colours on the website. If you notice
any colour combinations that cause you problems, please contact us.
For more information on how to change your text and background
colours: www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/guides/change_colours
Make your computer speak text aloud
Most computers have an in-built text to speech function that can
be switched on. The following guides should make this work on most
computers:
www.bbc.co.uk/accessibility/guides/speak_text
There are also third-party screen-readers and text-to-speech
software applications available.
Contact information
We are continually working to maintain the accessibility of this
website. If you experience any problem accessing the site
then please contact us.
Please note: for advice on what information to include when you
contact us, we recommending you read 'Contacting Organizations
about Inaccessible Websites' http://www.w3.org/WAI/users/inaccessible