Question

To ask the Senior Deputy Speaker whether the House of Lords Administration will publish marshalled lists of amendments to bills and related documents in braille format to ensure that documents are accessible to the public and members and staff of both Houses.

The Public Bill Office has not previously explored providing amendment documents in braille and there are currently no provisions in the House of Lords for braille documents for bills or amendments.

The House of Lords Communications Office have previously produced non-legislative braille documents for members of the House on request, most recently in 2019. They have not had any requests for braille documents since 2019.

The amendment documents from the Public Bill Office are produced at pace with regular addition of new content, meaning that accessible electronic documents may offer the most reliable way for users to keep up with the pace of production. The Public Bill Office, in collaboration with the Parliamentary Digital Service, has prioritised work to improve the accessibilty of the Bills Webpages. Specific actions have been focused on improving accessibilty for those who use screen readers and other assistive technologies.

The House of Lords Administration will continue to review the accessibilty of its documents more generally and will keep the provision of braille documents under review.