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16|08|07

Minutes of the Thirteenth Meeting of the Ofcom Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People, 18th April 2007

Present

Mike Whitlam (Chairman)

Janet Askham

Simon Cramp

Caroline Ellis

Jonathan Kaye

Laura Muir

Bob Peckford

Suneel Shivdasani

David Sindall

Ross Trotter

John Welsman

Nicholas Young

In attendance

Leila Agyeman, Ofcom

Robin Blake, Ofcom

Alex Blowers, Ofcom

Peter Bourton , Ofcom

Bradley Brady, Ofcom

Graham Howell, Ofcom

Rob Jex , Ofcom

Kevin McLaughlin, Consumer Panel

David Mortimer, Digital UK

Claudio Pollack , Ofcom

Alan Pridmore , Ofcom

Nida Salemohamed, Ofcom

Rhodri Williams, Ofcom

Support

Julie Rosspriest, P.A. to Simon Cramp

Julie Whitaker, speech to text writer

Introduction

1. The Chairman welcomed the four new Committee members. He explained that he had written to the two outgoing members, Gareth Davies and Fred Heddell, to thank them for their contribution to the Committee. David Currie had also written to thank them on behalf of Ofcom.

2. The Chairman reported that Lydia Thomas had resigned from the Committee as she had taken up a post at the BBC. It was agreed that she should be invited to the Strategy Day dinner on the evening of 18th July to allow the Committee to formally say goodbye to her.

Minutes

3. The minutes of the meeting on 18 th January 2007 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

Matters arising

Consumer Panel.

4. The Chairman reported that he had met Colette Bowe and Ruth Evans to discuss issues of mutual interest, and particularly how the Panel’s future workplan was evolving.

Ofcom Digital Dividend Review (DDR).

5. The Committee agreed that the Secretary should circulate again, to all Members, the Committee’s response to Ofcom’s recent consultation on the DDR.

Ofcom’s Disability Equality Scheme.

6. The Committee noted that a further discussion would be scheduled for the July 2007 meeting, following Ofcom’s first 6 monthly review of its Disability Equality Scheme.

Ofcom’s Annual Plan 2007/8.

7. The Committee noted that the Chairman had decided not to submit a formal response to Ofcom’s Annual Plan consultation as the key points had been raised at the Board and Committee awayday.

ACOD Strategy Day: 18 th July 2007

8. The Chairman invited members to submit to him or the Committee Secretary, any ideas about issues that it would be helpful for the Committee to cover in future, and that were not part of Ofcom’s core work, as far ahead of the Strategy Day on 18 th July as possible, to allow time for Ofcom to respond to any ideas.

Content Board

9. The Chairman reported that he had mentioned re-establishing links with the Content Board on disability issues with the Board’s Chairman ( Philip Graf) and that he would be following this up by e-mail. It was agreed that it should be established whether the Committee had written to Kevin Carey formally to thank him for his contribution to the Committee’s work and, if not, to do so.

ACOD Support

10. It was noted that a new Committee Secretary had been appointed and that he and the Chairman would be discussing what that role would entail.

Digital Switchover

11. A representative from Digital UK (DUK) updated the Members on progress towards switchover. The discussion focused particularly on DUK’s proposal for engaging voluntary sector support to assist it in engaging hard to reach groups, particularly those excluded from the Help Scheme. The Committee noted that DUK had advertised in early April in The Times and Guardian, seeking to appoint an organisation to work in the first four DSO regions. The successful organisation would be appointed in mid to late July with a view to their starting work in October 2007, 12 months ahead of the start of switchover in the first area in the Border Region. It was also noted that, as switchover was set to begin in Whitehaven on 16 October, a separate plan had had to be drawn up. DUK was working with Age Concern in that area – as the result of recommendations by other local voluntary organisations and charities.

12. The Committee noted that the successful organisation would supplement the work already being undertaken DUK’s network of managers and teams in the regions who had already done a lot of preparatory work with Local Authorities and to reach charities and the voluntary sector generally.

13. The Chairman invited Committee members to send any further thoughts to the Committee Secretary to feed into DUK’s work between Committee meetings. It was agreed that the dialogue between the Committee and DUK was of mutual benefit and should continue.

ACOD/DUK Qualitative Research

14. The members discussed the draft Executive Summary of the ACOD/DUK research project on “DSO and the Needs of Under-Served Groups”. It was noted that it was difficult to draw substantive conclusions about the report as a whole from the Executive Summary. It was explained that, as it was qualitative research, albeit with a small but statistically valid sample, it did not allow for categorical conclusions to be drawn. It had been designed to elicit a better understanding of people’s real experiences of digital switchover and was effectively a series of case studies. A number of comments about the Executive Summary were noted, including that it needed to make much clearer the background to, and purpose of, the research, to explain fully what ACOD and Digital UK had wanted it to achieve and its target audience.

15. The Committee agreed that Janet Askham, Simon Cramp, Laura Muir and Mike Whitlam should, on its behalf, take the work forward to its conclusion and publication, with colleagues in Ofcom’s Research Team and Media Office.

16. The Committee also discussed the proposed communications plan around the publication of the report. It was noted that Digital UK regarded Ofcom as the lead partner in communicating its outcome and it was currently proposed that a press release should be issued to accompany its publication. It had also been proposed that articles about the outcome of the research should be placed in a number of appropriate journals specialist journals. The Chairman invited Committee Members to identify journals it felt might be appropriate and to communicate these to Ofcom’s Media Office via the Committee Secretary. He also invited members to use their personal specialist networks of contacts to promote the final report and to consider how the value of the published report could be maximised.

Media Literacy

17. The Committee were asked to comment on a draft media literacy course, principally covering television and film, aimed at people with learning disabilities, that had originally been prepared by the Committee on Learning Disability Media, but which had now been passed to MenCap.

18. Members welcomed the initiative as a very valuable resource for a potentially much wider group to use and observed that in due course, it would be helpful if it could be widely accessible, particularly in a virtual learning environment, for example, via a version for the Blackboard Learning System. Specific comments on the draft included:

that the document should be prefaced by a clear explanation of the learning objectives and outcomes expected from the course;
that it should be reviewed to ensure that it did not unnecessarily raise the target groups’ expectations of their potential to achieve the course’s objectives;
that as the proposed target audience was very diverse, some form of grading for the exercises included in it would be helpful;
that the content sometimes assumed an amount of baseline knowledge that the target audience might not necessarily have;
that the examples used should be reviewed to ensure that they did not reinforce stereotypes;
that it would be helpful if an easy read version could be produced that self advocacy groups could use.

19. The Committee noted that Ofcom would also be seeking feedback from other experts in the field on the value of the course before piloting it with the target audience ahead of a final decision about whether to proceed with it during summer 2007. It was agreed that the Committee should review a further iteration of the course later in the year.

20. The Committee noted that the Ofcom Media Literacy Team would be returning to a future meeting to discuss Ofcom’s future priorities for media literacy.

Usability Audit

21. The members were asked to comment on the key findings and recommendations from Ofcom's audit of usability issues across communications. It was noted that the purpose of the audit was to develop a strategic framework within which Ofcom could fulfil its duty to encourage usability under Section 10 of the Communications Act. Ofcom also proposed to establish a usability database to coordinate and focus future work on ease of use issues. Members were invited to contact Ofcom if they wanted to see a copy of the full report.

22. In discussing the paper, the Committee:

expressed concern that Ofcom wanted to differentiate between usability and accessibility through the work, but noted Ofcom’s view that a better focus on ease of use issues would almost inevitably benefit accessibility initiatives;
observed that the research audit had highlighted that usability was not a niche issue just for older and disabled people and that this might help demonstrate to the industry the potential size of the market for easily usable and accessible equipment;
agreed that Ofcom should explore how best to mobilise consumers on usability issues;
suggested that Ofcom should set up a separate website on usability issues as this would help to raise the profile of the issue and could be used to signal possible future developments, for example the development of an industry code of practice;
agreed that it would be helpful if, as part of its work, Ofcom could coordinate discussions with domestic electronic communications equipment on these issues;
suggested that one way Ofcom could signal its intention that the work was to have a higher profile in future might be to procure the most accessible and usable equipment for its staff, and to look to create alliances across the public sector to ensure that all were taking the same approach;
noted that a key challenge would be the lack of international manufacturing standards in this area and that this, ultimately, might only be overcome by European legislation.

23. It was agreed that the Committee should, in due course, review Ofcom’s draft strategic action plan, probably at its July Committee meeting. It was also agreed that the Committee should discuss its future potential involvement in the work at its July Strategy planning day.

Accessible Television Update

24. The Committee was asked to comment on the Sign/Community Channel Working Group’s recommendations to Ofcom on alternatives to the current provision of access to signing on television. The Committee focused particularly on the option proposed that an independent Trust should be established to which (subject to approval by Ofcom), channels currently required to provide access services would be invited to fund, as an alternative to their current signing arrangements. It was noted that it had been proposed that the Trust would operate a fund to pay for the production and acquisition of signed programmes and that The Community Channel would contract with the Trust to provide airtime for signed programmes to be broadcast in a number of slots during each week, at least one of which would be during the times when the channel was available on Freeview.

25. In welcoming the proposal, the Committee expressed some concern that, in the short-term, the switching of all signing to the Community Channel would create a risk, ahead of Digital Switchover, that analogue-only users would have no access to signed programming. The Committee noted that the plan was that any new arrangements would be in place by 2008, but the timetable was tight and would depend on the outcome of Ofcom’s public consultation on a range of options.

European Directives: update

26. The Committee discussed recent developments on the Audio Visual Media Services (AVMS) Directive and the European Communications Framework Review with members of Ofcom’s International Team.

27. During the discussion about the AVMS Directive, the Committee noted that the European Parliament had been particularly concerned that the Directive should emphasise the importance of access to media as a condition of participation in society and had proposed amendments to it accordingly. In light of the Parliament’s views, the latest draft of the Directive included specific references, in an Article and two Recitals, to the need to improve accessibility of audio visual services and that it was likely that the final version of the Directive would contain some provisions in this area. It was further noted that, once the final Directive was agreed, the UK would be obliged to implement its provisions and that this was likely to be via secondary legislation under the European Communities Act. The International Team agreed to circulate more information on the AVMS Directive and process to the Committee after the meeting.

28. During the discussion about the European Communications Framework Review, the Committee noted that, while the Review had been delayed until September 2007 at the earliest, the European Commission had announced that it would be undertaking a separate review of universal service provisions, which might, or might not, include high speed broadband provision. The Committee agreed to establish a sub-group, comprising Ross Trotter, Nick Young and David Sindall to work with Ofcom’s International Team on the Framework Review. It was noted that this input would be most helpful ahead of Ofcom’s discussions with Government on the key issues. The International Team agreed to provide, via the Committee Secretary, a timetable and an outline framework for the sub-group’s discussions.

Consumer Policy Update

29. The Committee reviewed a proposal from Ofcom’s Consumer Policy Team regarding the Committee’s future engagement with the most relevant projects in the 2007/8 Consumer Policy Programme. Following a discussion, the Committee agreed to consider this in more detail at its Strategy Day on 18 th July before finally concluding its work programme in this area for the remainder of 2007/8.

30. It was noted that, at the Committee’s July meeting, the consumer policy focus would be on a presentation from BT on its future plans for its Text Direct Service. The Committee agreed that it would not be appropriate to invite any other external stakeholders to that presentation.

31. During a discussion of the Consumer Policy Programme, the Committee:

observed that it would be important to build Disability Equality Impact Assessments into the Programme;
suggested that the team should consider whether the usability worksteam might be retitled as “usability and accessibility” to draw attention to the close relationship between the two areas;
noted that Ofcom’s review of consumer General Conditions would examine the effectiveness of operators’ Codes of Practice for mobile provision for disabled and older people;
noted that Ofcom was undertaking a project to identify the lessons learnt from Ofcom’s moves towards co- and self-regulation which would make recommendations, in due course, about improvements that might be needed and any other areas of policy where self- or co-regulation might be appropriate;
noted that Ofcom was working closely with ICSTIS on PRS and Quiz TV issues and that future announcements would be closely oordinated;
asked the Consumer Policy Team to investigate concerns some Members had about examples of ISPs charging consumers for services that were not then provided.

32. The Consumer Policy Team reported back to the Committee on the consumer-related issues Members had raised at the January meeting. It was noted that the complaint that had come to ACOD’s attention from Northern Ireland had probably been related to Ofcom’s investigation of Telephone Billing Services Ltd. The Consumer Policy Team agreed to discuss further with the Members concerned:

how switching (of communications providers) undertaken by members who were not responsible for paying that households’ bills would be dealt with in the work on switching;
issues around the availability of information for consumers about the unbundling of local telephone exchanges in the context of ISPs and the provision of iPTV services.

Any other business

Consumer Forum on Communications

33. Kevin McLaughlin outlined the membership of the Forum and explained that it met quarterly. At its March meeting it had focused on Ofcom’s Digital Dividend Review. He added that the Consumer Panel was reviewing the role of the Forum and was considering expanding its membership, possibly to include an ACOD representative. It was agreed that ACOD would identify whether anyone should attend future meetings during its July Strategy Day. Otherwise, ACOD would welcome regular feedback from the Forum meetings from Mr McLaughlin or Bob Twitchin.

Advisory Committee Chairs’ Meeting/ Priorities for 2007/8

35. The Chairman reported to the Committee on the first meeting of the Advisory Committee Chairmen on 4 th and 5 th April. He explained that the meeting had focused on Ofcom’s policy priorities for 2007/8 and added that these would be the focus of the Committee’s Strategy Day on 18 th July. The Chairmen would meet on a regular basis going forward to discuss areas of mutual interest.

Deputy Chairman

36. The Chairman reminded Members to let him know if they would like to be considered for the role of Deputy Chairman of the Committee, following Lydia Thomas’ departure.

Housekeeping

38. It was agreed that the Secretary should circulate to the Committee an updated list of contact addresses, telephone numbers and e-mail addresses.

39. It was agreed that future agendas should include a standing item to review how each meeting had gone.

40. It was noted that the Committee would meet next on 18th and 19th July and that the final meeting of 2007 would take place on Wednesday 17th October.

41. There being no other business, the meeting ended at 4.10pm.