Clarity of government information and communication

Written guidelines or toolkits are in place for the clarity of government communication

Review of government documentation to verify that written guidelines or toolkits are in place for the clarity of written government communications.

Written guidelines or toolkits are in place for the clarity and visual look and feel of government websites

Written guidelines or toolkits are in place for the clarity of visual look and feel of government websites. Points are awarded if either a central guidance is published or if there is guidance applicable for all line ministries.

Citizen’s satisfaction with the clarity of language used in government communications (%)

Analysis of survey responses from a representative sample of the population that has been in contact with central government administrative services in the past 36 months to the following question: “How easy or difficult was it for you to understand [SER]’s written communication, such as letters and e-mails received, or information from the website?” Answer options are: Very difficult, Somewhat difficult, Neither difficult nor easy, Somewhat easy, Very easy, Do not know, Prefer not to answer. Points are allocated based on the percentage of respondents who replied "Somewhat easy" or "Very easy" to the survey question (x): • x < 10% = 0 points • 10% ≤ x < 90% = linear function • x ≥ 90% = 5 points.

Businesses’ satisfaction with the clarity of language used in government communications (%)

Analysis of survey responses from a sample of businesses that have been in contact with central government administrative services in the past 36 months to the following question: “How easy or difficult would it have been for you and your colleagues to understand the public authorities’ written communication, such as letters and e-mails received, or information from the website, if you could not use the help of external experts (external accountant, lawyer, consultant)?” Answer options are: Very difficult, Somewhat difficult, Neither difficult nor easy, Somewhat easy, Very easy, Do not know, Prefer not to answer. Points are allocated based on the percentage of respondents who replied "Somewhat easy" or "Very easy" to the survey question (x): • x < 10% = 0 points • 10% ≤ x < 90% = linear function • x ≥ 90% = 5 points.

Compliance of government websites with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

Review of government websites. Government websites are tested for compliance with WCAG 2.0 AA, which is the equivalent of ISO 40500, using the resource http://wave.webaim.org. The testing requires processing of website URLs one by one. The websites analysed are those where the following services can be obtained: 1. Central eServices Portal 2. Tax Office 3. Social Security 4. National Health Institution 5. Department of Road and Transportation 6. National Statistical Office 7. Government website 8. Official Gazette 9. Ministry of Economy 10. Ministry of Education For each website, the number of errors (red colour) under WCAG 2.0 AA is recorded. The arithmetic mean (average) of all websites is calculated. If websites exist for more than one Constitutional language all are tested and the one with the highest number of errors is used for the calculation. Website versions for languages that are not Constitutional languages are not taken into account. Points are allocated based on the arithmetic mean of the number of errors (x): • x > 30 errors = 0 points • 10 ≤ x ≤ 30 errors = linear function • x < 10 errors = 8 points (8 points in total).