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21|12|07

Minutes of the Fifteenth Meeting of the Ofcom Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People (ACOD) held on Wednesday 17th October 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

Introduction

1. The Chairman reminded Committee members that at the last meeting it had been suggested that the current meeting might extend over two days. It had been thought best to keep to the current format, and in order to properly respond to some the issues raised, three or four sub-groups would be set up during the course of the meeting.

Minutes of the Last meeting

2. The minutes of the meeting held on 19th July 2007 were agreed and signed by the Chairman.

Matters Arising

BT and Text Relay Issues

3. The Chairman confirmed that BT’s presentation had been re-arranged for the January ACOD meeting.

ACOD Strategy – 2008/09

4. The Chairman reported that ACOD’s strategy paper had been reviewed prior to the Ofcom Boards’ and Committees’ Strategy Day on 9 th October. It would be circulated to Members. In addition the Chairman had also met with the Chairmen of the four Nations and Regions. With regard to Ofcom’s proposed priorities for 2008/9, it had been strongly emphasised that Access and Inclusion and Media Literacy should be given more prominence. The Chairman said he was awaiting feedback from the Strategy Day.

Ofcom Document Formats

5. In answer to a question the Chairman said that Ofcom’s Communications Team had informed him that all formal documents and reports were available in whatever format was needed as required by the Disability Discrimination Act. This would be confirmed.

Usability Action Plan

6. The Chairman reported that the Action Plan had been deferred to the January 2008 meeting as it was still being formulated.

ACOD Members’ Contact List

7. It was confirmed that the contact list would be circulated electronically following the meeting.

Ofcom Disability Equality Scheme

8. The Chairman informed ACOD members that Ofcom’s first six monthly review of the Scheme had not taken place, and it was now anticipated that a full year’s review would be undertaken in November/December 2007. Provisional results would be discussed at the January meeting and reviewed on a six monthly basis thereafter.

Content Board Relations

9. The Chairman confirmed that he held regular discussions with Content Board Chairman Philip Graf and was keen to maintain relations with other Ofcom Advisory Committees, including the Consumer Panel.

Colette Bowe

10. The Committee noted that Colette Bowe had announced that she would be standing down as Chairman of the Ofcom Consumer Panel. In response to a request, the Chairman confirmed that a letter would be sent Ms Bowe to thank her for her contribution to the work of ACOD.

Digital Dividend Review

11. The Committee were updated on developments with regard to the Digital Dividend Review. It was noted that a number of issues had been raised by respondents to Ofcom’s consultation and that the key points were being considered. Further work was needed on Ofcom’s policy statement and consultation on detailed award design, and it was now anticipated that licenses would be awarded in summer 2009.

12. During a discussion of the Digital Dividend Review, Members raised several issues, which included:

the absence of an appeals process following the award of the licences;
concern about the relevance of the market research methodology adopted, in particular the face to face interviews;
concern about the overall approach, which seemed still to be too aligned with commercial interests and market-based;
whether the social value issues had been properly addressed.

1.3 It was agreed that Ofcom would provide more detailed written answers to the issues raised by Members which would be appended to the minutes.

Digital Switchover – Update and Consumer Advice

14. Nick Young declared an interest in this matter which was noted.

15. A representative from Digital UK (DUK) updated the Members on progress towards switchover. The Committee noted that the first analogue terrestrial channel (BBC Two) had been switched over to the digital medium in Whitehaven on the morning of the meeting, and that the other analogue channels would be switched over in four weeks’ time, on 14 th November). An analysis of the switchover process was already underway, and its outcome would be reported in due course.

16. The Committee expressed concern about the small size of the print used in the explanatory switchover leaflets, but it was noted that explanatory materials had also been produced in large print and other formats which were widely available. The level of consumers’ understanding of switchover materials was an area that would be explored during the analysis of the Whitehaven switchover.

17. ACOD members were updated on consumer protection issues likely to arise out of the digital switchover. Areas highlighted were: mis-selling; rogue traders; overpricing; and distraction burglary. To raise awareness of these DUK had added a new Consumer Advice Section to its website. Comments were invited from Members on its format and contents. It was noted that the next stage was be to develop DUK was working in conjunction with other organisations such as the Office of Fair Trading, Scambusters, Age Concern and other organisations to develop specific information for advisors i.e. those who wished to prosecute, and the text to this section would be circulated to the Committee when available. It was, however, proving difficult to get a better understanding of the type of cases that Trading Standard Officers were dealing with. The Committee expressed their concern that there was no central database held by the Office of Fair Trading, and suggested that television programmes such as “Rogue Traders” might be one means of raising awareness of the issues.

Digital Switchover – Digital Switchover in Copeland and the Voluntary Sector: A local View

18. Bob Peckford reported to the Committee on his visit to Copeland on 13 th September to identify how the voluntary sector was responding to issues for older and disabled people arising from digital switchover. It was noted particularly that only about a third of the people who had been identified as being potentially eligible for the Help Scheme had responded to letters sent to them. The two-thirds who had not responded at all needed to be examined in more depth.

19. During a discussion of the Digital Switchover the Committee:

pointed out that some people might confuse messages about digital switchover of television with publicity around DAB digital radio and might purchase new radio equipment unnecessarily. It should be advertised as prominently as possible that digital radio channels were available on Freeview;
expressed concerns regarding housebound people who might “panic” if letters such as those sent out by DUK were received. It was agreed that further work was needed to identify the requirements of this group of individuals;
suggested that other UK-wide organisations such as the RNID and RNIB could be approached to become actively involved with digital switchover awareness.

20. The Chairman asked Members to send any further comments regarding the digital switchover / consumer advice to the Committee Secretary.

Research: Recommended ACOD Strategy for 2008/9

21. The ACOD Research Sub-Committee, chaired by Janet Askham, had met on 3rd October 2007 to discuss which of the research topics proposed at the ACOD strategy day in July should be given priority in 2008/9. Members discussed the Sub-Committees list of possible topics and agreed that precedence should be given to an examination of manufacturers’, suppliers’ and retailers’ approaches to the markets for older and disabled people. The Committee asked the Sub-Committee to reconvene to undertake detailed scoping of the project for discussion at the next meeting.

22. During the discussion the question was raised as to whether mystery shopping focussing on disability had ever been carried out. It was agreed that this was an area of research which ACOD would want to encourage Ofcom to undertake on a regular basis.

Items for information (i) Media Literacy Update (ii) Accessible Television (iii) Future of Radio Consultation Responses

23. The Chairman asked Members to raise any questions they had, arising from the papers, with the Committee Secretary.

Consumer Experience

24. The Committee was briefed on the Ofcom qualitative research document “People with hearing impairments and communications services – An attitudinal study into people with a hearing impairment and their experience of communications services”, which due to be published on 20th November. This research study was part of the Ofcom’s annual Consumer Experience report. It was noted that Ofcom planned to carry out similar qualitative research with other groups in future, including people with visual, physical and cognitive impairments.

25. During the ensuing discussion of the draft research report, the Committee made a number of observations and comments, which included:

that the team should review their interpretation of the evidence regarding attitudes towards text phones, and particularly the statement that “some respondents felt that they (textphones) had been superseded by SMS, e-mail and type talk”;
whether survey respondents had raised any concerns about accessing emergency services in the context of VoIP. It was noted that this had not been mentioned by respondents;
that there seemed to be a general lack of awareness amongst call centre staff of how to communicate with people with hearing impairments. Work was needed to try and find a way of getting the message across to trade associations etc and make them aware of the issue;
that PC software had been developed which can be used to send text messages (“textmail”) to mobile ‘phones but that this had not been widely advertised to disabled people;
that it would be helpful if a mystery shopping exercise for disabled and elderly people could be included in the research remit in future.

26. The Committee asked whether anything more proactive could be done to publicise the research and suggested an event to which national voluntary organisations, broadcasters, telephone operators and retailers could be invited and that ACOD would be happy to participate. Ofcom’s Consumer Policy team said they would look into the practicalities of holding such an event.

Consumer Policy Work Programme 2007/8: Update

27. The Committee were updated on Ofcom’s Consumer Policy Work Programme for 2007/8. During the discussion, the Committee:

expressed concerns about how mobile telephone operators were obtaining access to personal information;
asked for regular updates on the Premium Rate Services Programme;
expressed concern about the poor quality of service to consumers from BT’s Customer Service Department;
noted that there was an inclusion aspect relating to vulnerable consumers’ potential attraction to “cash back” schemes as they might be attracted to such packages but without fully understanding the implications of doing so. It was noted that this aspect was being considered as part of the Migrations and Mis-selling project.

Framework Review: Update

28. The Committee were updated by Ofcom and by a representative from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform on the European Commission’s forthcoming review of the effectiveness of the regulatory framework for electronic communications. It was understood that this would include proposals to establish a new European regulatory agency as well as proposals relating to consumer protection and e-accessibility, including enhanced access provisions, enhanced transparency of information obligations, emphasis on access for disabled end-users, and strengthened enforcement powers for regulators.

29. During the discussion, the Committee:

noted that it was the European Commission’s intention to publish an “e-Inclusion” policy during 2008 outlining the steps it expected Member States to take in this area;
expressed concern about the European Commission’s proposals about access to emergency services, and particularly that there should be a clear definition of what was meant by “access” and clarity about the Commission’s intention to “facilitate access by users with disabilities to 112 emergency services”. The Committee’s view was that the objective should be that anyone wanting to contact emergency services should be able to do so by whatever communications mode they chose and that all calls should be handled in a functionally equivalent way.

30. The Committee agreed that the working group proposed at the ACOD meeting on 18 April 2007 comprising Ross Trotter, Nick Young and David Sindall, should work with Ofcom’s International Team on the Framework Review, and should report back to ACOD at a later date.

Next Generation Access Policy

31. The Committee agreed that a working group should be established, comprising Jonathan Kay (Chairman), Bob Peckford and Suneel Shivdasani, with input from Janet Askham and Laura Muir, on behalf of the Research sub-group, to respond to Ofcom’s consultation on Next Generation Access. It was noted that the closing date for the consultation was 5th December; before the next ACOD meeting.

Proposals for Co-regulation of Equal Opportunities

32. The Chairman informed Committee members that Ofcom’s Content Board had, at its meeting on 16 th October, approved the proposed consultation document, subject to the outcome of ACOD’s discussion of the issues.

33. Ofcom officials emphasised that the document under discussion was a consultation paper and not a statement of Ofcom’s policy, and provided further background information to those proposals.

34. Following a discussion, during which Members expressed their disappointment that their views had not been sought before the draft consultation had been circulated, the Committee agreed that a working group should be established to respond formally to the Ofcom consultation, which closed on 9 th January 2008 . It was agreed that the members would be: Simon Cramp (Chairman), Caroline Ellis , Janet Askham and Jonathan Kaye, with input from David Sindall.

Meeting Review

35. The Chairman apologised for the number of items on the agenda for this meeting but observed that this reflected the number of issues currently of relevance to the Committee.

Any other business

Participation TV

36. The Chairman expressed his thanks to Suneel Shivdasani for the work he and the sub-group had carried out on Participation TV.

ACOD Meetings in 2008

37. The Chairman informed members that the dates of ACOD meetings in 2008 would be:

Wednesday 16th January

Wednesday 23rd April

Wednesday and Thursday 16th and 17th July

Wednesday 15th October

The Committee Secretary would e-mail the dates to members following the meeting.

38. It was suggested that a fifth meeting be added to the cycle, which the Secretariat agreed to review.

39. There being no further business, the meeting closed at 4.15pm .