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24|07|08

Ofcom appoints members to Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People

Ofcom today announced the appointment of one new member to its Advisory Committee on Older and Disabled People and the re-appointment of a further member for a second and final term. The newly appointed member is Dr Maurice Mulvenna, while Simon Cramp has been re-appointed.

As set out in Section 21 of the Communications Act 2003, the Committee was established to provide advice to Ofcom about the interests and opinions of older people and disabled people on all communications matters.

The Committee, which meets quarterly, reports directly to the Ofcom Board and publishes its own annual report. Members of the Ofcom Content Board and the Consumer Panel also attend meetings of the Committee by invitation.

The members have been appointed/re-appointed for three years and began their terms on 1 July 2008.

Simon Cramp is a freelance consultant in advocacy and social justice issues for people with learning disabilities. He is a Board member of New Dimensions UK, a leading learning disability support provider. He is also a member of the Royal Society of Medicine’s forum for learning disability and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Simon is co-founder of Self-Direct, a social enterprise scheme looking at how self-directed support can play a part in social care.

Maurice Mulvenna  is a Senior Lecturer  in Computer Science in the School of Computing and Mathematics at the University of Ulster, with particular expertise on the application of information and communications technology in the policy areas of social inclusion, to support ageing, disabled and other groups in society. He is a member of the Monitoring Committee for Northern Ireland Competitiveness and Employment European Union Structural Funds Programme and has carried out the role of independent expert to the European Economic and Social Committee on Ambient Assisted Living Technologies.

There are seven other members of the Committee. More information can be found at www.ofcom.org.uk.

During the recent round of recruitment, Ofcom also re-appointed Professor Janet Askham, the Committee’s Deputy Chairman, for a further three-year term. Tragically, having accepted that re-appointment, Professor Askham died suddenly on 7 July 2008. A tribute to Professor Askham can be found here. Ofcom is now reviewing how best it should fill the resultant vacancy on the Committee.

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