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20|04|07

Minutes of the Twelfth Meeting of the Ofcom Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People , Wednesday 24th January 2007

Present

Mike Whitlam (Chairman)

Gareth Davies

Fred Heddell

Jonathan Kaye

Suneel Shivdasani

Lydia Thomas

Ross Trotter

In attendance

Louise Banyard, Ofcom

Greg Bensberg , Ofcom

Robin Blake, Ofcom

Peter Bourton , Ofcom

Mark Bunting , Ofcom

Rob Jex , Ofcom

Ritu Manhas , Ofcom

David Mortimer, Digital UK

Claudio Pollack , Ofcom

Alan Pridmore , Ofcom

Louisa Shand, Ofcom

Bob Twitchin, Consumer Panel

Moira Ugoji, Ofcom

Rhodri Williams, Ofcom

Support

Jackie Brown, speech to text writer

Julia McGoveney, speech to text writer

Introduction

1. The meeting remembered Denis Carter who had passed away in December 2006, shortly after resigning from the Committee due to ill health. The Chairman paid tribute to Lord Carter for his considerable contribution to the work of the Committee and all agreed he would be sadly missed.

2. The Chairman thanked Lydia Thomas for chairing the Committee for the past two meetings. The Committee welcomed Rhodri Williams in his new position as coordinator of Ofcom’s advisory committees.

Apologies for Absence

3. Apologies were noted from Simon Cramp , Janet Askham, John Welsman and Caroline Ellis.

Minutes

4. Two factual corrections were agreed to the draft minutes of the meeting on 31 October 2006. These concerned paragraph 10.3, where it was agreed that the text should be amended from “problems with the broadcast of signed programmes” to “problems with the broadcast of subtitled programmes” and paragraph 10.4, where it was agreed that the text should be amended from “exempt from the requirement to provide signed programmes” to “exempt from the requirement to provide access services”. The Chairman agreed to sign a copy of the corrected Minutes.

Matters arising

Consumer Panel Meetings.

5. Lydia Thomas had met Consumer Panel Chair Colette Bowe recently to discuss issues of mutual interest about Digital Switchover. A further meeting would be arranged with Ms Bowe and Consumer Panel Deputy Chair Ruth Evans to discuss specific issues around the Digital Switchover Help Scheme. Lydia Thomas and Janet Askham would also be meeting Ms Bowe and Ms Evans during February to discuss emerging crossover issues from the ACOD/DUK research project.

European Commission Directives 2006/7 / Netgem i-Player.

6. It was noted that further discussions on both items would be scheduled for the April meeting.

Regulatory Challenges Posed By Next Generation Access Networks.

7. The Committee noted that it had been decided not to set up a Working Group to respond to the Ofcom discussion document as it was directed principally at industry. Ross Trotter said that he would continue to keep in touch with developments on the subject on behalf of the Committee.

Digital Dividend Review.

8. It was noted that a Working Group had been established to respond to Ofcom’s consultation. Suneel Shivdasani would chair the group whose members would be Janet Askham , Caroline Ellis and Fred Heddell. The Working Group would meet for the first time on 31 January (see also paragraph 36 et seq below).

Digital Switchover

9. A representative from Digital UK updated the Members on progress towards switchover. It was noted that it had been announced by Government that the cost of the Help Scheme was projected to be approximately £600m and that this would be ring-fenced within the TV Licence Fee settlement. It had also been confirmed that Digital UK would be responsible for the generic communication programme supporting the Digital Switchover Help Scheme and that £200m had been ring-fenced from the settlement for that. At the end of 2006 the Government had published three documents relating to the Help Scheme. It was noted that further details of how the scheme would be run and who would get help had also been provided on the DTI’s Digital Television website.

10. On 22 January the Government had issued a procurement tender which would lead to the appointment of a National Help Scheme Delivery Company by December 2007. It was agreed that the Chairman should meet DigitalUK ahead of the next Committee meeting for a further detailed update on developments in this area.

11. It was noted that work was underway regarding the development of a specification for digital TV receivers which would incorporate “best practice” for groups facing the most difficulty in switching, including older and disabled people. It was acknowledged that the challenge would be to get the manufacturers to commit to producing the agreed specification.

12. With regard to progress in Whitehaven, the first substantial community to switch over to purely digital TV in October 2007, the Committee noted that:

just over 90% of people were aware of digital switchover, in line with the figure for the rest of the Border Region;
more than 50% knew that the change would be happening during 2007, but only 20% that it would be happening in the final quarter of the year;
80% of people were happy/positive/ neutral to switchover;
take up of digital services in the area so far was 70%, all via satellite;
87% were aware of Freeview, 95% of Sky; 30% of Freesat;
with regard to what people would choose, 40% would prefer DTT, with 10% for Sky, 3% for Freesat and 6% for iDTV.

13. Members observed that it would be helpful to see a breakdown by age of the 10% of people still unaware of switchover. Their concern was that older people would be strongly represented in this group. DigitalUK promised to circulate this information with the next Tracker report.

14. It was noted that the leafleting campaign in Whitehaven had achieved a reasonable amount of success in creating awareness and the Whitehaven News had been very helpful through its placing of factual articles about switchover. DigitalUK was undertaking all of the communication around the Help Scheme, including hosting a targeted public meeting on 15 February. DigitalUK’s Liaison Manager was working with Copeland Borough Council to set up meetings with voluntary groups and others to hear about the plans and to encourage them to be critical of, and imaginative about, the campaign. They were also working with Age Concern to identify the key voluntary groups to work with to support people just outside eligibility for the Help Scheme. DigitalUK agreed to provide a further update on progress at the April Committee meeting.

15. Members noted that, at national level, Age Concern and Community Service Volunteers had been asked for proposals for how to tackle hard to reach consumers. Other organisations were also becoming more involved, notably UKOnline, and it was anticipated that other organisations, for example, the RNIB and RNID would play a greater role going forward. The Chairman recommended that DigitalUK should talk to FutureBuilders in this context, as they were likely to have funding available to help local voluntary organisations to acquire materials for training, IT support etc. They had a lot of expertise and a lot of business consultancy experts who were used to working with voluntary organisations.

16. It was explained that DigitalUK was working with the PR company Harrison Cowley on communications around the Help Scheme. They had compiled a list of organisations and media outlets to target for articles which would be circulated to the Committee for comments.

17. Members thanked DigitalUK for the update and agreed to keep in touch between meetings via the Chairman and the Consumer Expert Group. The Chairman agreed that he would ensure that specific requests for input were passed on to members.

ACOD Research Update

18. Lydia Thomas updated the Committee on progress on developments on the ACOD/DigitalUK research project on “DSO and the Needs of Under-Served Groups”. She explained that a team from i2 Media, led by Dr Jonathan Freeman had been taking the qualitative research forward. She thanked Janet Askham and Leila Agyeman for steering the Research Sub-Group through the complexities of the project design to ensure that the project would achieve ACOD’s objectives. It was noted that Ms Agyeman was managing the project with colleagues from DigitalUK. At the Research Sub-Group meeting on 18 January the approach to the work had been agreed, as had the approach to finalising the report and recommendations at the end of the project.

19. It was agreed that the slides that the Research Sub-Committee had considered at its meeting on 18 January should be circulated to members. These outlined the background to the research, identified the objectives and methodology to be adopted, gave an overview of the core themes to be covered in the discussion groups and an outline of the sample structure that had been adopted. One concern that the sub-group had expressed had been that more focus groups should be run outside London and the South East. To that end, interviews had been arranged in Dundee and Manchester and work was being undertaken to fill gaps in, for example, rural coverage. Lydia Thomas invited members to contact Janet Askham or Leila Agyeman if they wanted more details of how the design of the sample had been agreed.

20. It was noted that data collection from interviews and focus groups would continue until 9 February and that Lydia Thomas and Janet Askham would be attending a meeting to review the emerging outcomes with i2 Media shortly before the end of the data collection. The timetable envisaged analysis of the data being completed by 23 February with a view to a final draft report being prepared by 2 March. A workshop was being scheduled for mid March to discuss the summary of the findings and to achieve consensus between the commissioners of the shape of the final report ahead of publication in May.

21. It was noted that Sub-Committee had considered a proposal, supported in principle by DigitalUK, that an additional focus group should be run in Wandsworth using volunteers from Age Concern. The Sub-Committee recommended that the proposal should be rejected at this stage as it was felt that the potential additional cost of about £5k could not be borne by ACOD alone, as no additional funding had been offered by DigitalUK. Following a discussion, the Committee confirmed the Research Sub-Committee’s recommendation not to add a further focus group to the project.

22. Suneel Shivdasani alerted the Committee to an offer from Professor Allen Newell, at the Extending Horizons Conference organised by COST 219ter on 16 January, to undertake further work in this area.

23. Jonathan Kaye said that one issue he would like to see addressed by the research was whether there was such a thing as an “older and disabled market”. Lydia Thomas replied that this would be addressed either in the preface to the final report or else in the summary.

24. It was noted that the draft research report would be a major item on the agenda for the ACOD meeting on 18 April.

Media Literacy

25. The members were briefed on the key elements of Ofcom’s proposals for promoting communications capability, including media literacy, during 2007/8. Ofcom would undertaking a thorough review of work undertaken so far, to reconsider its duties in this area and to determine what its role and responsibilities should be in future. The members noted that:

the Content Board would provide the principal Ofcom Board-level focus for the project;
that the research programme included an update of the 18 month old Media Literacy Audit. The outcome of that research would be shared with the Committee at a future meeting. It was anticipated that, amongst other findings, it would demonstrate that social networking sites played a bigger part in people’s lives than had been anticipated or expected and that levels of media trust had declined since the initial survey;
Media Literacy would be a key theme of the 2007 campaign for Adult Learners’ Week (19-25 May) and that, while this might be the last year that Ofcom would provide funding support for the campaign, it was believed that it would have sufficient momentum and credence to continue beyond 2007;
Ofcom had agreed to be the prime partner in Silver Surfer Day 2007 (25 May) and that this covered many of Ofcom’s priority areas: the internet, DSO media literacy and older people;
Ofcom had begun discussions with Help The Aged about the possibility of hosting an event later in 2007 on older people and media literacy. It was proposed that ACOD members would be involved in planning the event which would take place in mid October or the beginning of November if support was forthcoming from key stakeholders;
Sky’s continuing participation in the Your News project, a proposed joint venture between Sky News, Ofcom, the Community Channel, Learning Disability Media, Mencap, Five and Media Trust Productions was uncertain, following a change in personnel. In the event that Sky was to withdraw formally from the project, Ofcom would reconsider its approach, which might include approaching the BBC to become a formal partner, or else considering with Learning Difficulties Media and Mencap how the materials they had developed for people with learning difficulties in this area might be taken forward with an alternative news provider. Comments were welcomed from members about a potential way forward.

26. In discussing the update, the Committee:

welcomed Ofcom’s renewed focus on media literacy and said that it would be keen to do all it could to assist Ofcom in developing its future strategy;
observed that the Silver Surfer Day campaign would need to go beyond merely demonstrating the information uses of the internet, as previous campaigns had done. The big issue for many older people was the use of virtual communications, such as webcams, which had been made a more realistic proposition following increased take up of broadband. It was explained that Digital Unite were well informed on the issues and would be working with Ofcom to make the event as relevant as possible;
observed that, at the Extending Horizons Conference on 16 January, there had been some critical comments about Ofcom justifying inactivity in certain areas by reference to voluntary exclusion. It was noted that Ofcom was undertaking research in this area and that its results would be important to the team to help understand what lay behind people’s decisions to exclude themselves in the context of media literacy. Gareth Davies recommended that Ofcom should contact the Chief Executive of Communitas in this context as they had worked on a project that had been useful in discovering issues underlying their exclusion of redundant steel workers.

27. It was agreed that members should be sent more information on Ofcom’s options for taking forward the Your News project in the event of Sky’s withdrawal. It was also agreed that an update on media literacy should be scheduled for the April Committee meeting.

Consumer Policy Update

28. Members of Ofcom’s Consumer Policy team took the members through the ten projects that together would constitute Ofcom’s Consumer Policy Programme for 2007/8.

29. In discussing the programme, the Committee:

acknowledged that, while its work would focus on the Access & Inclusion, Universal Service and Usability projects, Ofcom would welcome its input on all ten workstreams;
noted that the project reviewing the scope for improving the effectiveness of the consumer-focussed general conditions would not include General Condition 15, which was being reviewed immediately in the context of some disputes Ofcom was handling about the provision of Directory Enquiry information. It was agreed that Ofcom would brief the Chairman on the potential outcome of the work before the next Committee meeting;
welcomed particularly the Better Regulation project which, amongst its work packages, would be examining issues about how information should be presented so as not to exclude any groups of consumers. It was acknowledged that this recognised the point that the Committee had raised on a number of occasions about the needs of consumers and industry stakeholders being entirely different. The project was also trying to better understand the concept of “vulnerability” and the regulatory oversight needed;
noted that one of the issues that the Usability Project would be addressing was Ofcom’s work on Section 10 responsibilities regarding easily usable equipment and how this could be made more strategic. It would also work out how best Ofcom could best use its influence in this area, where its statutory powers were limited. It was noted that, at the April meeting, it was hoped that the team would be able to present the outcome of its audit of consumer needs relating to usability, for discussion;
noted that the Access and Inclusion project was a long-term piece of work looking beyond the current universal service obligations on PSTN networks towards the future broader range of services and networks where Ofcom might have less by way of formal powers. One of its specific objectives was to review what might be preventing Ofcom using its existing powers as effectively as it might and what the mechanisms might be to make more of those existing powers. It would also develop Ofcom’s response to the European Commission’s Green Paper on Universal Service. On this latter work, Jonathan Kaye, offered to work with Ofcom regarding liaison with key European Commission officials, using the network he had established during some recent work for a European Commission group looking at mobile telephony for the disabled. This was welcomed by Ofcom;

30. The Committee also raised a number of specific consumer-related issues. These included:

that the work on switching would need to adequately encompass switching by household members who were not responsible for paying the bills;
that it would be helpful to hear the outcome of a complaint that had come to ACOD’s attention from Northern Ireland where providers appeared to be charging for local telephone numbers at premium rates;
that companies charging to free people from broadband contracts was a major issue for vulnerable consumers. It was noted that while the introduction of a new General Condition 22, which would come into force on 14 February, would address some aspects of that, particularly by stopping companies charging for the MAC codes needed to change broadband provider, often the answer was not a regulatory one and involved breaches of contract. There was an important role for CISAS and Otelo in helping consumers understand their rights better and to be educated about who they should complain to in such cases;
that it would be helpful if Ofcom could clarify responsibility for the provision of information about the unbundling of local telephone exchanges which was, at present difficult to obtain.

The Consumer Policy team agreed to report back to the Committee on a number of the issues raised.

31. Members explained their continuing concern about the future of BT’s Text Direct service, particularly following a statement by BT at a meeting of TAG, that Text Direct 2 would be PSTN-based only. It was noted that was taking forward a number of issues on Text Direct, including whether it would continue to be compatible with VoIP services and the delay in the establishment of the Stakeholder Advisory Panel, and that a key meeting with BT was taking place on 26 January, after which Ofcom would report back to the Committee.

32. The team thanked Ofcom’s Consumer Policy team for a helpful discussion and invited them to provide updates on its work at each Committee meeting and to focus on how the Committee’s input could be maximised in future. It was agreed that it would be particularly helpful if the team could provide, for the Committee’s April meeting, a timetable which set out when the Committee’s input to the key projects would be required and the sort of assistance that the team was looking for from members.

Accessible Television Update

33. The members were advised that the Sign Language Working Group was nearing a conclusion in its work on the future of signing on TV. It was likely to recommend that Ofcom should invite selected broadcasters to contribute to the operation of a sign language zone on the Community Channel. Subject to further discussions with sign language users groups and broadcasters on whether there was consensus on the way forward, the aim would be to go out to public consultation on any proposals with a view to having any revised arrangements in place by 2008. It was agreed that it would be helpful for the Committee to discuss the recommendations further at its April meeting.

34. It was observed that access services were not keeping pace with developments in video on demand services. Members recognised that Ofcom’s formal powers in this respect were limited and asked whether the Committee should be lobbying Government to bring this and other new media concerns within the scope of a revised Communications Act. It was noted that implementation of some aspects of the Audio Visual Media Services Directive might lead to the need to amend the Act sometime in the next couple of years and that that could provide such an opportunity. It was agreed that it would be helpful at the April meeting to discuss the issue further.

35. The Committee noted that public service broadcasters were reluctant to support plans to run a television promotion campaign to promote audio description (AD) on the grounds that such a campaign should await the development of AD-enabled DTT receivers to allow a platform-neutral approach to be adopted. Ofcom was continuing to work with the broadcasters and had asked them to submit proposals for publicity by the end of January.

Digital Dividend Review

36. The members were briefed on Ofcom’s consultation on the Digital Dividend Review, which was examining the options for the release of the spectrum which would become available as a result of the digital switchover programme.

37. It was noted that Ofcom’s proposed approach was to impose as few constraints as possible on how the released spectrum could be used and to give potential users as much flexibility as possible to decide how best to use the spectrum. While Ofcom was principally advocating a market-led approach to the release of spectrum, the consultation, nevertheless, recognised that there would be a continuing need to secure public service objectives over and above any market benefit and that research had suggested that there were a number of particular areas where a market-led approach was not in the best interest of particular applications, for example, where a large number of small users currently used the spectrum, as in the use of wireless microphones, where Ofcom had made specific proposals in the consultation document. It was noted that Ofcom proposed to publish a statement in mid 2007 and there would then be a second round of consultation around the award process itself.

39. A full discussion on the proposals took place, during which the Committee:

questioned whether the principally market-led approach would benefit older and disabled people;
observed that, to obtain effective feedback from the lobby groups for older and disabled people ACOD would need to have sufficient information to enable it to engage with them;
noted, with regard to Channel 36, that Ofcom was optimistic that international agreement could be reached as to rights of future use that would go beyond the current reservation for airport radar;
asked whether the potential packages of interleaved spectrum nationwide that had been identified as being suitable for use by wireless microphones might also be suitable for hearing aid use and whether any research had been done on this. It was noted that research had not covered this but that the proposals should be flexible enough to accommodate such a use;
agreed that spectrum hoarding could be major problem arising from a market-led approach. It was noted that Ofcom had a project investigating how anti-competitive spectrum hoarding could be prevented;
noted that DTT providers would be able to bid for additional multiplex capacity in any future auction and that the proposals regarding interleaved spectrum did not compromise its potential use for national DTT;
agreed that Ofcom should consider whether some provision should be made to reserve spectrum for currently unforeseen social and public service uses. It was noted that the consultation had invited views for doing so as an “innovation reserve” against the possibility of major technological developments.

40. Members were invited to contribute to Suneel Shivdasani examples of potential uses for the released spectrum that could be included in the Committee’s consultation response by the deadline of 20 March.

Participation TV

41. The members were briefed on the background to Ofcom’s Issues Paper “Participation TV: how should it be regulated”, which had been published on 15 December 2006. They also discussed the relationship between Ofcom’s work and the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into Call TV Quiz Shows, as well as the review of TV quiz shows by the Independent Committee for the Supervision of Standards of Telephone Information Services (ICSTIS) and the Gambling Commission’s consultation on the implications of the Gambling Act 2005 in distinguishing between lotteries, prize competitions and free draws.

42. The Committee observed that, while its constituents received only a passing mention in Ofcom’s paper, it was, nevertheless, an area of concern which members would continue to monitor. The Committee agreed that it would withhold its detailed response on the issues, however, until Ofcom published its formal consultation document. It was noted that this was likely to be during April 2007. It was agreed that it would be helpful to members to see the outcome of the ICSTIS review, particularly as it was likely to recommend new regulations to increase consumer protection in this area. It was anticipated that this would be published at the end of January 2007 and it was agreed that copies of the review would be circulated to members.

Disability Equality Scheme

43. The members were briefed on Ofcom’s Disability Equality Scheme, which had been published on 30 November 2006 and updated on some of the work in hand on the individual elements of the Action Plan. These included:

work to better educate Ofcom colleagues about appropriate and acceptable language when talking to and about disabled people and a the purchase of a licence for e-learning diversity training for all colleagues, which had specific sections on disability equality;
Ofcom ensuring, during the recruitment exercise for the Advisory Committee for Wales at the end of 2006, that organisations representing disabled people had been fully involved, resulting in an increased the number of applications from disabled people. This approach would be replicated in the forthcoming round of recruitment to the Advisory Committee for Scotland ;
a project to embed disability equality into all of Ofcom’s impact assessments with a view to improving policy decisions in this respect;
Ofcom hosting an equal opportunities seminar with broadcasters in early January to discuss how it was proposed they would monitor and promote equality issues in their workforces. This had attracted a wide range of large and small broadcasters;
Ofcom seeking to raise its profile among disabled people by advertising its jobs in a wider range of disability publications;
amending the procurement tender selection criteria to include reference to disability and equality.

44. It was noted that progress on the Action Plan would be reviewed every six months, with a first full report due in December 2007 for incorporation in Ofcom’s Annual Report for 2007/8. It was agreed that a further discussion should be arranged for the July ACOD meeting, meeting, following Ofcom’s first 6 month review which was scheduled for June 2007.

45. In view of his concerns about access and accommodation issues at Riverside House, Jonathan Kaye was invited to submit to Ofcom a list of specific issues, which Ofcom promised to investigate. It was noted that a disability audit had been undertaken before Ofcom moved into Riverside House and that there were currently no plans for another one.

Ofcom Annual Plan 2007/8

46. The Committee was reminded of Ofcom’s policy priorities for 2007/8 and the policy framework for the next three years, as set out in the Ofcom consultation document which was published on 12 December 2006. The members welcomed particularly the focus on delivering public outcomes and the inclusion of the new priority on promoting access and inclusion.

47. The Committee was encouraged to respond formally to the consultation, which closed on 20 February 2007 and agreed to do so by reinforcing the points Lydia Thomas had made in her presentation to the Boards/ Panel/ Committees away day on 18 October 2006.

48. The Committee agreed to use part of its strategy day on 18 July 2007 to develop its own corresponding three year strategy and work programme. The Committee invited representatives of Ofcom’s Strategy and Organisational Planning & Development teams to attend a session at the training day and the dinner that would follow the meeting. It was agreed that, ahead of the training day, members would be invited to contribute their thoughts on the Committee’s priorities, building on a piece of work on key issues that had prepared ahead of the 2005 Boards/ Panel/ Committees away day. That document would be re-circulated in advance.

Any other business

ACOD Recruitment.

49. It was noted that 140 applications had been received for the three vacancies on the Committee. The Chairman thanked Committee Members for their help in encouraging applications. Interviews with a short-listed group of candidates would be held on 25 and 30 January. In that context, the Committee noted that this was Gareth Davies’ final meeting as an ACOD Member. The Chairman thanked Mr Davies for his contribution to the work of the Committee over the past three years. Mr Davies, in turn, thanked the Committee for their support.

ACOD Support/ Monthly Bulletin.

50. The Committee agreed that it would be helpful if the Monthly Bulletin to Members could be continued. The Chairman agreed to discuss this and other Committee support issues with Graham Howell.

Ofcom Conference: Communications and Convergence Challenges for 21 st Century Digital Economies: 29 November to 1 December 2006.

51. Bob Twitchin reported to the Committee on the Ofcom Conference, and, in particular, on the session on the challenges of making ICT accessible, which had been addressed by Kevin Carey of HumanITy.

Ofcom Content Board Liaison.

52. The Chairman agreed to discuss with the Content Board Chairman who might fulfil the role of liaising between the two Committees that Kevin Carey had formerly undertaken.

53. There being no other business the meeting ended at 4.07pm.