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Home > About Ofcom > Accountability > Annual Reports and Plans > Ofcom Annual Report 2007 - 08 > Non Board Committees


Non Board Committees

The Consumer Panel

Section 16 of the Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to establish a Consumer Panel.

Independent of Ofcom and operating at arm’s length from it, the Panel exists to advise Ofcom on consumer interests in the markets it regulates. The Members of the Consumer Panel are:

Colette Bowe resigned from the Committee on 31 December 2007.

While Ofcom provides the Consumer Panel with operational support, the Panel holds its own budget and sets its own priorities on the basis of its statutory remit.

Ofcom and the Consumer Panel have jointly agreed a Memorandum of Understanding. This memorandum establishes the principles that both bodies agree to adopt in their relations and dealings with each other and affirms the independence of the Panel from Ofcom.

During 2007/8 the Consumer Panel shaped a broad range of Ofcom’s policy work on issues that affected consumers or citizens in the communications markets. The Panel also worked on wider communications issues, using research to engage with other stakeholders on digital switchover, children and the internet and an exploration of Britain’s technologically knowledgable consumers. A key priority area of work was to publish a report of the use within Ofcom of the Panel’s Consumer Interest Toolkit, and to work with the European Commission (EC) to secure the adoption of a streamlined version of the Toolkit in EC policy-making. The other major priority for the Panel was next generation access, on which the Panel has co-sponsored research with the Broadband Stakeholder Group and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on the economic and social value of next generation broadband.

The Consumer Panel published its 2007/8 Annual Report on its activities in June 2008. The Report and further details of the Panel’s work can be found online at www.ofcomconsumerpanel.org.uk.

The Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board

The Ofcom Spectrum Advisory Board (OSAB) was established in 2004 to provide independent advice to Ofcom on strategic spectrum management issues. OSAB meets five to six times a year. The Members of OSAB are:

Professor Martin Cave , Stephen Lowe, Professor Mike Short, Stephen Temple CBE and Dr Gary Tonge all retired from the Committee in May 2007.

Activities carried out by the Committee during the year included:

OSAB’s Annual Report, covering its activities during its fourth year was published on 21 May 2008 and can be found on the OSAB website at www.osab.org.uk

The Advisory Committee for Older and Disabled Persons

Section 21(1) of the Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to establish a Committee to advise Ofcom on issues in the communications sector that particularly impact on older and disabled people. The Committee meets at least four times a year and undertakes specific pieces of work in sub-groups. During the year the Members of the Committee were:

In its fourth year, the Committee has continued to advise Ofcom to ensure that older and disabled people are equal players and full participants across current and emerging convergent telecommunications and broadcasting technologies, new media platforms and digital and traditional broadcast media. It has provided specific advice to Ofcom on its consultations on Future Broadband, Participation TV, proposals for the Co-Regulation of Equal Opportunities and Ofcom's Annual Plan for 2008/9 and has continued to advise Ofcom across the range of its other responsibilities, including Ofcom's Consumer Policy and Media Literacy programmes, and Ofcom's input to the review of the EU Electronic Communications Framework Directives. ACOD will continue to monitor the effectiveness of Ofcom’s Disability Equality Scheme and, particularly, to ensure that age and disability considerations are factored into all of Ofcom’s regulatory and policy decisions.

The Advisory Committees for the Nations and Regions

Section 20 of the Communications Act 2003 requires Ofcom to establish Advisory Committees for the different Nations in the United Kingdom. The function of each Committee is to provide advice to Ofcom about the interests and opinions, in relation to communications matters, of people living in the part of the UK for which the Committee has been established. Committees were established for the English Regions, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales during the early part of 2004.

The membership of each Committee is as follows:

English Regions

Scotland

Susan Neal, Selma Rahman and Martin Robertson all retired from the Committee in February 2008.

Northern Ireland

Sinead Boyle, Brian Collins, Carol Burrows, Michael McKernan, Jane Morrice, Una Murphy and Professor Gerard Parr all retired from the Committee in September 2007. Dr David Elliott and Glyn Roberts retired from the Committee in February 2008. Libbey Kinney has not attended meetings since 10/12/07 while she is on secondment to the BBC Trust Unit in Northern Ireland.

Wales

The fees for members of Non-Board Committees are linked to the recommendations of the Senior Salaries Review Body for Senior Civil Service pay.



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