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20|12|07

Minutes of the Fourteenth Meeting of the Ofcom Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People: Thursday 19th July 2007

Present

Mike Whitlam (Chairman)

Janet Askham

Simon Cramp

Jonathan Kaye

Laura Muir

Bob Peckford

Suneel Shivdasani

Ross Trotter

John Welsman

Nicholas Young

In attendance

Robin Blake, Ofcom

Alex Blowers, Ofcom

Peter Bourton, Ofcom

Tony Close, Ofcom

Dorothy Gbagonah, Ofcom

Graham Howell, Ofcom

Rob Jex, Ofcom

Ritu Manhas, Ofcom

Kevin McLaughlin, Consumer Panel

Bob Twitchin, Consumer Panel

Support

Julie Rosspriest, P.A. to Simon Cramp

Julie Whitaker, speech to text writer

Apologies

David Sindall

Caroline Ellis

Apologies

1. Apologies were noted from David Sindall and Caroline Ellis.

Minutes of the Last Meeting

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

ACOD Annual Report 2006/7

3. The Chairman reported that he and Janet Askham had attended the Ofcom Board meeting on 16 May to present the Committee’s Annual Report for 2006/7. It was noted that the discussion with the Board had focused on three areas of the Committee’s work: the qualitative research with Digital UK; the involvement, in an advisory capacity on work with the Sign/Community Channel Working Group on alternatives to the current signing arrangements on television; and the Committee’s response to Ofcom’s consultation on the Digital Dividend Review. The Ofcom Board had thanked the Committee for the valuable contribution it had made to Ofcom’s work during the year.

Matters Arising

BT and Text Direct 2

4. Members expressed their disappointment and dissatisfaction that BT had pulled out of the presentation on text direct issues with so little notice before the meeting and asked that this should be conveyed to Michael Day, BT’s TextDirect Product Manager and to Sally Davies, Business Champion for BT/Chief Portfolio Officer. The Committee Secretary agreed to discuss with Bob Twitchin how best to take up the offer from Ms Davies to help resolve some of the outstanding issues in this area.

Ofcom’s Disability Equality Scheme.

5. The Committee noted that Ofcom’s first review of its Disability Equality Scheme had been postponed and that a further discussion would be scheduled for the October 2007 ACOD meeting, pending completion of that review.

Deputy Chairman

6. The Chairman reported that Janet Askham had agreed to become Deputy Chairman of the Committee.

Digital Switchover

7. Late apologies were received from the representative of Digital UK (DUK). In his absence the Committee discussed the information materials that DUK had developed for the forthcoming switchover in Whitehaven and gave their initial views on potential design improvements for future digital switchover campaigns. The Chairman invited Members to send any further views on the materials, and any other comments on digital switchover issues more generally to the Committee Secretary for onward transmission to DUK.

Accessible Television

8. The Committee were updated on developments on accessible television.

Signing

9. The Committee noted that issues had arisen regarding the Sign/Community Channel Working Group’s recommendations to Ofcom on alternatives to the current provision of access to signing on television, since the Committee welcomed the proposals at its April meeting. It was noted particularly that concerns about governance and funding arrangements were likely to delay any implementation of the new arrangements until mid 2008.

Audio Description

10. The Committee welcomed the consensus that had been reached in meetings with broadcasters to establish the level and range of industry support for an on and off screen Audio Description campaign and that it was proposed that the onscreen campaign would begin in February 2008.

Participation TV/Quiz TV/Premium Rate Services Update

11. The Committee was updated on the latest developments in participation TV and Quiz TV, including the relationship between Ofcom’s work and the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee’s inquiry into Call TV Quiz Shows; the review of quizzes on TV 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.

12. Members noted that the inquiry into the use of Premium Rate Services in television programming, led by Ofcom’s Content Board Member Richard Ayre had been published on 18th July and had recommended that broadcasters should be held directly accountable for their use of PRS.

13. It was noted that Ofcom’s consultation on the future regulation of Participation Television would be published shortly. The Committee agreed to establish a sub-group, chaired by Suneel Shivdasani and with Jonathan Kaye and Simon Cramp as members, to respond formally to that consultation.

Media Literacy

14. The Committee discussed Ofcom’s review of its priorities for the promotion of media literacy for the next three years. It was noted that Ofcom proposed to publish a statement on its priorities in autumn 2007. The Chairman looked forward to the Committee engaging fully with Ofcom in this area. It was agreed that the Committee would pull out from the broad strategy the issues that particularly affected elderly and disabled people and would engage with the team on these as a priority. The Committee noted that final decisions by Government on future funding for media literacy would not be made until autumn 2007. The Committee urged Ofcom to consider providing additional funding itself in this area in future.

15. Members noted that Ofcom had received additional expert evaluation of the draft media literacy resource for people with learning disabilities and their carers, that it had discussed at its April meeting, and that all of the comments were being incorporated in a revised draft that was likely to be circulated to the Committee in September.

16. The Committee noted, with regard to the project to deliver accessible television news, that Sky and ITV had both expressed a continued interest in the project. It was noted that the Rix Centre at the Open University might provide an alternative means of assistance for the project if help from the broadcasters was ultimately withdrawn and Simon Cramp agreed to forward his contacts there to the Ofcom team.

European Directives: update

17. The Committee was updated on developments since the April meeting. It was noted particularly that the European Commission had decided to delay its consultation on the European Communications Framework Review until the autumn and that, therefore, it would be more appropriate for the Committee to discuss the key issues concerning general entitlement to services and users’ rights at the next meeting. It was explained that the European Commission proposed to issue a separate consultation on the Universal Service and Users’ Rights Directive which would be published after the main Framework Review consultation and that this was expected in mid 2008. It was noted that Ofcom had decided it would respond comprehensively on all elements of the reviews.

18. ACOD noted that the Audio Visual Media Services Directive had now been agreed, subject to formal agreement in the European Parliament in September. Members observed that the references in the draft Directive regarding improving accessibility of audio visual services was not strong, but noted that, as there had never been a provision of this kind before, it was a significant step forward. Members noted that the Directive would come into force in 2009.

19. It was agreed that the Committee should have a substantive discussion about the implications of the Framework Review at its October meeting, when it would also consider how best it could influence Ofcom, the UK Government and the Commission on relevant issues.

Any other business

Childrens’ Panel Workshop

20. Bob Twitchin reported that this had taken place on 9th July. It was looking at the extent to which children and young people should be involved in the development of Ofcom’s strategy. The outcome would be a report which the Consumer Panel would present to Ofcom.

Consumer Panel Review

21. The Chairman reported that he had been interviewed as part of this review. It was noted that the final report would be submitted to the Consumer Panel and Ofcom Board over the summer, ahead of decisions in the autumn about the Panel’s future direction.

London 2012 Olympic Logo

22. Nick Young asked whether Ofcom had had any formal complaints about images of the animated logo being broadcast and, if so, how Ofcom was going to respond. It was agreed that Ofcom would send Mr Young a note on this.

ACOD Strategy 2008/9

23. The Chairman recapped the discussion that the Committee had had on 18th July about its strategy for 2008/9. The Committee concluded that, having reviewed its previous strategy paper at the meeting on the 18 th, the list of priorities contained therein had not changed significantly, with a couple of exceptions. It was agreed that the Chairman and Committee Secretary should review the strategy paper ahead of the Ofcom Boards and Committees Strategy Day on 9 th October, with a view to circulating it to Committee Members ahead of that meeting.

Review of the Meeting

24. The Chairman observed that the potential business already scheduled for the October meeting suggested that the time allocated for the meeting might need to be extended. Members said that, if that proved to be the case, they would prefer two shorter days rather than a single longer day. It was agreed that the time allocated for Matters Arising should be extended at the next meeting.

Any Other Business

Digital Switchover/ Copeland Project

25. The Committee agreed that a visit to Copeland would be helpful to identify how the voluntary sector was responding to issues for older and disabled people ahead of the forthcoming digital television switchover. The Committee Secretary agreed to ask Digital UK for contacts to enable Bob Peckford to undertake such a visit ahead of the Committee’s next meeting in October.

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