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15|03|04

Ofcom appoints Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People

Ofcom today announced the appointment of Mike Whitlam as the Chairman of its Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People. The Advisory Committee is the body set up under the Communications Act 2003 to advise Ofcom on the interests and opinions of older people and people with disabilities with regard to broadcasting, telecommunications and spectrum matters.

Mr Whitlam will be responsible for chairing a committee of around ten part-time members. He is currently Chief Executive of an international programme called VISION 2020 the Right to Sight, which aims to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020.

He is a former Chief Executive of the RNID, where he was responsible for setting up the first UK deaf telephone service, Typetalk. He was also responsible for many programmes involving older and disabled people as Director General of the British Red Cross, and for children as Deputy Director of Save the Children. Mike was awarded the CBE in 2000 for services to the voluntary sector.

Mike Whitlam said: "Having worked in the voluntary sector for most of my career, in particular with people who are Blind and Deaf, I am delighted to have been appointed Chair of the Ofcom Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People. I hope that the Committee will help fulfil Ofcom's wish that the broadcast media and telecommunications services are accessible to people with disabilities and older people, as well as reflecting them positively as members of a diverse society."

Ofcom External Relations Director, Tony Stoller said: "Ofcom takes seriously its responsibility towards older people and people with disabilities. We are delighted that Mike will bring his experience and skills to the role of Chair of the Advisory Committee. We shall now move quickly to appoint the remaining members of the Committee so that it can begin to consider the important communications issues facing older and disabled people."

Ends.

NOTES FOR EDITORS AND CSEs

1. Ofcom is required under Section 21 of the Communications Act 2003 to establish a committee to provide advice "about the interests, in relations to communications matters of … the elderly and persons with disabilities".

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

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