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05|03|04

Ofcom appoints members of Advisory Committee for Scotland

Ofcom today announced the members of its Advisory Committee for Scotland.

Tony Stoller, Ofcom Director of External Relations said:

"The committee has the experience and expertise to advise effectively across the range of Ofcom's responsibilities, in order to ensure that the interests of citizen-consumers in Scotland are protected. The committee, which represents a good cross-section of the Scottish public, will allow Scotland to have its say on a range of broadcasting, telecoms and wireless communications matters as well as having the opportunity to influence regulatory policies."

As set out in section 20 of the Communications Act 2003, the Committee has been established to provide advice to Ofcom (and other committees established by Ofcom) about the interests and opinions of people living in Scotland on all communications matters. The Committee will meet for the first time in Glasgow on 25 March.

The Committee, which will meet quarterly in various parts of Scotland, will report directly to the Ofcom Board and will publish its own annual report. The Ofcom Content Board and Consumer Panel Members for Scotland, and the Chair of the Gaelic Media Service (Matthew MacIver, Fiona Ballantyne and Neil Fraser respectively) will also attend meetings of the Committee. The Committee will initially be chaired by Ofcom's Director, Scotland once appointed.

Similar committees are being established for Wales, Northern Ireland and England.

The members of the Advisory Committee for Scotland are as follows:

Peter Black, 57, from Edinburgh has senior experience across communications businesses with a focus on telecommunications, broadband, data communications, media and information systems. He was previously on the UK Management Board of NTL where he was responsible for all technology related operations. Formerly, Peter was a founding Director of Scottish Telecom (now Thus).

James Hunter, 55, is chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise. A freelance historian and author, he has written a number of books on Highlands and Islands themes. James was born and brought up in Duror, North Argyll. He has been a journalist and broadcaster and was the first director of the Scottish Crofters Union (now the Scottish Crofting Foundation) which he helped to set up.

Fiona McLeod, 46, lives in Westerton and is a Partnership Officer with East Dunbartonshire Council for Voluntary Services. Fiona is a skilled communicator and manager with extensive experience of team working, policy development and service delivery. She has worked as a librarian, a former MSP for the West of Scotland (1999-2003) and as a volunteer in local community groups.

Andrew Muir, 39, is an independent telecoms consultant based in the North West Highlands. From his base in the village of Achiltibuie, Andrew is the regional manager for Scotland for Mason Communications and works on a number of telecommunication projects in both the private and public sectors. His experience covers broadband technical reviews and strategies, international benchmarking, market reviews, project and procurement management. Andrew is also a director of the Local Enterprise Company (Ross and Cromarty Enterprise) and a member of Foundation of the UHI Millennium Institute.

Thomas Prag, 57, currently works as a media and PR consultant and is chairman of Media Support Solutions. Thomas has lived and worked in the Highlands since 1978 and for the past three years was the member for Scotland on the Radio Authority and chairman of their Access Radio pilot scheme. Thomas was involved in setting up BBC Radio Highland in Inverness in 1976 and then became founding managing director and latterly chairman of Moray Firth Radio. He is currently chairman of the UHI Millennium Institute Development Trust.

Selma Rahman, 59, co-ordinates Equal Futures, a programme of national conferences and local initiatives which encourages links across Scotland's multi ethnic youth. Educated in both Edinburgh and Pakistan, Selma was assistant general manager for Theatre Workshop Edinburgh, opened and ran Meridian, Glasgow, Scotland's first information resource centre for black minority ethnic women and was Director of Fife Racial Equality Council. Selma has served on the Race Equality Action Forum and Scottish Social Inclusion Network and was a member of the Scottish Executive's Community Planning Task Force.

Philip Schlesinger, 55, is Professor of Film and Media Studies at the University of Stirling, where he is director of Stirling Media Research Institute. Philip, who lives in Glasgow, has been a member of the board of Scottish Screen since 1997 and a Trustee of the Research Centre for Television and Interactivity since 1998. He has written on communications in Scotland and regularly comments in the media on current developments. His academic work has been widely published and translated.

Joyce Taylor, 56, has extensive experience in broadcasting, ranging from public service broadcasting to multichannel television and the cable industry. Until two years ago, Joyce was managing director of Discovery Networks Europe where she managed the portfolio of Discovery Channels. Joyce was Chair of the DTI's Foresight Panel on Information, Communications and Media from 2000-2001. Originally from Glasgow but now based in Fife, Joyce is a non-executive director of Mersey Television and is also director of Dundee Women's Aid.

Ofcom will be advertising for further applications in the coming months and will again encourage applications from those parts of Scotland not yet reflected in the committee's membership.

Notes for editors

Ofcom is the independent regulator for the UK communications industries, with responsibilities across television, radio, telecommunications and wireless communications services.

Our duties include:

• The promotion of choice, quality and value in electronic communications services, where appropriate by encouraging competition between the providers of those services
• Ensuring the most efficient use of the radiocommunications spectrum - the airwaves used for the transmission of all non-military wireless communications services
• Ensuring a wide range of electronic communications services, including broadband, are available across the UK
• Ensuring a wide range of TV and radio programmes of high quality and wide appeal
• Maintaining plurality in the media by ensuring a sufficiently broad range of ownership The protection of audiences against offensive or harmful material, unfairness or the infringement of privacy on TV and radio

For further details please visit www.ofcom.org.uk.

Contact

Kirstin Elsby, Ofcom Scotland
kirstin.elsby@ofcom.org.uk
(+44) (0)141 226 4436

Ofcom Media Office
mediaoffice@ofcom.org.uk
(+44) (0)20 7981 3033

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