| Present:
Frank Phillips
(Convenor), Rob Borthwick, Louisa Crowson, Caroline Jacobs, Vivienne
Pozo, Tony Shipley, Steve Tyler, Nick Young, Betty Willett (Palantypist)
Rob Borthwick
briefly introduced the draft Code of Practice and separate introductory
leaflet. He identified two main elements: general guidance on meeting
the requirements of the DDA and specific guidance on meeting the
needs of customers with disabilities, focussing on three main segments.
He emphasised that the draft CoP was very much an operator draft
- there had been no consultation with other supply side service
providers and it was open to discussion whether equipment manufacturers
should also be involved. Issues yet to be resolved were transitional
provisions (ie when does each bit kick in) and the use of a common
logo or symbol to denote Code-compliant operators.
Amongst the
comments made by the group were:
- mobile operators
should be claiming more credit for having adopted geographically
averaged pricing
- the description
of the DDA is rightfully presented in straightforward language
- it is not intended as training for lawyers
- could the
CoP be formatted in a way which distinguishes between what is
obligatory and what represents best practice
- praise for
the clarity and simplicity of the drafting of the CoP
- need to include
some general material about customers with cognitive impairments,
but probably not as a distinct customer segment
- a key issue
with hand sets is how to make the varieties of text (on-screen
instructions, SMS) accessible by visually impaired customers
- customers
with disabilities should not incur additional costs as a result
of their disability
- DQ services
to take account of the needs of hearing-impaired customers.
Issues that
were left open were:
- the role
of manufacturers in the CoP
-
to what
extent should the CoP reflect the OFT’s May 2002 Core criteria
for consumer codes of practice: Guidance for those drawing up
codes of practice,in
particular in the areas of monitoring, enforcement and complaints
handling (or auditing as some preferred)
It was agreed
that the draft CoP should not be circulated more widely until members
of the Working Group had been able to submit written comments on
it; these comments were supplied by 6 September giving Rob Borthwick
and Nick Young a further period to reflect on them and amend the
draft where appropriate. It was hoped that the amended draft would
be available by the end of September at the latest. After comments
from stakeholders the final draft should be publishable by mid-November
followed by a reconvening of the initial Workshop in late-November
or December.
FP
note - I appreciate that the report of this meeting must be fairly
incomprehensible without sight of the draft CoP it discusses. However
I will publish a draft version on this website as soon as it becomes
available - hopefully before the end of September.
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