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04|07|05

Ofcom announces members of new broadcast training body

Ofcom today announces the appointment of six members of the BTSR (Broadcast Training and Skills Regulator) to serve alongside Ralph Tabberer, the chairman, who was appointed in May this year.

Under the Communications Act 2003, Ofcom is required to promote training and development across the broadcasting industry and to ensure that the arrangements made by broadcasters are effective. The BTSR has been established jointly by Ofcom, UK television and radio broadcasters, and Skillset to carry out this role.

The members of the BTSR are set out below. In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding on Training Co-regulation, three of the BTSR members are independent and three are from the broadcasting industry.

Ralph Tabberer – Chairman - is Chief Executive of the Teacher Training Agency. Before joining the TTA he held various senior management positions in education, most recently at the Department for Education and Skills and the National Foundation for Educational Research. He has served on various bodies including the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, the Arts Council’s Education Advisory Group and the Children’s Workforce Network.

Peter Block – Independent Member - is Managing Consultant in the Human Capital Management Group of the Business Consulting Services of IBM. Prior to that he held various senior positions at Pricewaterhouse Consulting including Principal Consultant in the Entertainment & Media Group. He is visiting Fellow in Media Management at the University of Hertfordshire Business School and a Governor of Oaklands College of Further Education.

Karen Carlton – Independent Member - is Commissioner for Public Appointments in Scotland and a judge for the National Training Awards. Previously she was Director of Investors in People Scotland and Retail Training Manager at John Menzies (GB) Limited. Karen has held roles as Director and Partner in several organisational development consultancies and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Marina Huey – Industry Member (Radio) - chairs the Radio Academy/Skillset Radio Skills & Development Forum and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. She has worked in a variety of training and development roles, currently as Development Executive for BBC Radio & Music and previously as Training Officer at the National Archives and Supervisor/Trainer at Intercontinental Hotels.

Niamh O’Connor – Industry Member (Cable & Satellite) – is Head of Human Resources at Flextech Television. She has held this post for two years and has been with Flextech for a total of seven years. She is a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and has worked in a variety of HR roles within the media.

Nigel Paine – Industry Member (Terrestrial TV) - heads the BBC’s training and development operation which caters not only for BBC staff but also for many from the broader industry and which includes such areas as craft and engineering skills as well as leadership and personal development. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and visiting professor at Napier University in Edinburgh.

Michele Romaine – Independent Member – is an independent media consultant specialising in digital production. Her previous career spanned broadcasting including the BBC (most recently as Director of Production Modernisation where she prepared the organisation for new technologies in programme making), ITN (as Editor and Producer), Independent Local Radio and BBC Radio. She is an advisor to the European NM2 project looking at making new types of content for broadband, and a member of the Concours/Professor Lynda Gratton Organisational Development strategy group.

The BTSR board members are part-time. Among its first tasks will be to evaluate the arrangements made for training and development in relation to identified skills gaps and training needs, and the objectives set by industry. If it finds that the arrangements are inadequate, either at broadcaster or sector level, it will recommend remedies to be put in place.

It will also be completing the work of the cross-industry group chaired by Grant Murray of Five in 2004 to agree a new formula for the collective funding of freelance training in television, and working closely with Skillset and the Commercial Radio Companies Association in commissioning new research into the training needs of the radio sector.

Ralph Tabberer, Chairman of the BTSR, said: “The members of BTSR bring a breadth of experience in training, business, education, public service and different parts of broadcasting, which will enable us to maintain cross-industry collaboration and to provide independent and informed oversight and advice across the broadcasting industry.”

ENDS.

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