This snapshot, taken on 22/07/2004, shows web content selected for preservation by The National Archives. External links, forms and search boxes may not work in archived websites.
This page contains information and guidance to help visitors when using this site.
We are continually working to improve the accessibility and usability of our content but if you are experiencing any difficulties downloading files or accessing a particular page please contact the HM Treasury web team for assistance.
Site audience and purpose
Navigation
Searching
Accessibility
Viewing pages
File formats
Printing
Saving pages
Saving documents
Ordering hard copies
Abbreviations and acronyms
Problem reporting
Useful Links
back to top
Site audience and purpose
The Treasury website contains more than 3,000 documents, from press releases, to consultation documents to budget reports and spending reviews. This site is intended to cover the information needs of different potential audiences - the general public, journalists, academics, economists, businesses, schoolchildren, students, teachers and so on. It is structured to present simple information first, with an indication of more detail further into the site.
back to top
Navigation
The site has three key areas of navigation. Across the top of the page is the utility navigation leading to the Site Map , Help section, Contact Us , About HMT and a Text Only Version. The left hand primary navigation contains links to the 'Documents' and 'Topics' areas of the website. To find detailed information and policy documents published by the Treasury on a range of categories reflecting the breadth of our work, see the Documents area of the site. For a broad overview of Government policy on a range of topics of general interest and answers to frequently asked questions, see the Topics area of the site. This navigation also contains links to Newsroom and Speeches, Consultations, Careers and the Economic Data and Tools area which are regularly updated with the latest news, publications and statistics. The third navigation, under the utility bar, contains links to the Budget, Pre Budget, Spending Review and Euro sections.
Searching
You can search the site by using the Search button at the top right hand corner. Please enter the word or words to look for in the box, then start the search by pressing 'Go'. You can then search specific sections by choosing from the drop down menu on the Search Results page.
Accessibility
This web site follows the W3C's Web Content Accessibility Guidelines.
Viewing pages
This website is designed to display best with your monitor set at screen resolution 800 x 600 pixels, but will generally display without difficulty at 640 x 480 pixels.
Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are used to set the colour and size of the text within each page.
Unvisited links are and in red
Visited links are in dark grey
To override these settings and alter the format of the text colour and size
in MS Explorer by selecting Tools - Internet Options - Accessibility
For more information visit the Microsoft Help and Support sitein Netscape by selecting Edit - Preferences - Appearance - Fonts
For more information visit Netscape Browser Central
Browser upgrades
HM Treasury endeavours to make its website compatible with all browsers. However, if you are using an older browser (a level 3.0 browser for instance), you may see inconsistencies in the presentation of pages.
It may help you to download a newer version of a browser to improve your general Internet experience.
The following are available to download for free:
Netscape
Microsoft Internet Explorer
back to top
File Formats
HTML
HTML is the basic file format used on the Internet, this page is in HTML format. It is our policy to make as much information as possible in this format. Some times, for technical reasons, some data may be made available in the following alternative formats.
.DOC
.DOC is the file type for documents created using Microsoft WORD. This is a widely used word processing package. Microsoft Word (.doc) documents can be opened by many but not all programs. If you are unable to open a document it could be that you do not have the appropriate software in which case you may download a viewer from the Microsoft site for free if you are a PC user.
.XLS
.XLS is the file type for documents created using Microsoft EXCEL. This is a widely used spreadsheet package. Microsoft Excel (.exl) documents can be opened by many but not all programs. If you are unable to open a document it could be that you do not have the appropriate software in which case you may download a viewer from the Microsoft site for free if you are a PC user.
.CSV
.CSV stands for Comma Separated Values and is the spreadsheet equivalent of .txt for word processors. You can cut and paste a CSV file into the spreadsheet of your choice, or download to your PC.
.TXT
.txt files are an alternative text file to Word. They can be opened by a much wider number of text editors on PCs and Macintoshes. A disadvantage of these files is that they take longer to download for multi-page documents.
.PDF Adobe Acrobat Reader
If your screen reader software (for example an audio-enabled web browser) is not compatible with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader, Adobe provide a free online tool which converts the content of PDF files to a format which can be understood by most screen reader applications. For more information, and full details of how to use this tool, visit the Adobe online tools page. Viewers with visual difficulties may find it useful to investigate other services provided by Adobe to improve the accessibility of Adobe Acrobat documents. The Adobe accessibility page on their site gives further explanation.
Printing pages
Every page also has a 'printer friendly' version - look for the icon in the left-hand navigation. A new window will open which removes the navigation elements. If you have trouble printing pages from within Acrobat Reader then visit Adobe's Acrobat Technical Guides
back to top
Saving pages
Any page can be saved from this site to your local drive. Select File then Save from the menu option.
Saving documents
Some of our documents are in Portable Document Format (PDF) or MS Word/Excel format. Depending on your browser setup, clicking on the link may open the document in the browser window. With large files, a delay can give the impression that the document is not downloading.
If you prefer to save the document directly to your hard drive: PC users - right-click on the link, and then select the save option.
Apple Mac users - point to the link and hold down the mouse button, and then select the save option.
Hard copies of Treasury publications
Hard copy publications produced by the Treasury can, subject to availability, be ordered from the Public Enquiry Unit: public.enquiries@hm-treasury.gov.uk
Abbreviations and acronyms
Glossary of HM Treasury abbreviations and acronyms
Problem reporting
If you have any problems using this web site - broken links, difficulty finding documents, requests to link to us etc - please email the web team. The web team will try to reply to all such queries within 48 hours though it may take longer at busy times.