Advisory Committee for England
The Advisory Committee for England advises Ofcom about the interests and opinions, in relation to communications and postal matters, of persons living in England.
The Committee usually meets five times a year. The Committee’s minutes are provided to the Ofcom Board.
The remit of the Advisory Committee is to:
- seek to identify issues affecting the communications and postal sectors in England, both collectively as a Committee and individually for Members, with particular reference to the sectors where they have particular knowledge or expertise
- to provide advice to Ofcom about general and specific issues concerning the communications and postal sectors arising within England
- to provide advice and comment as required on matters brought to the Committee by Ofcom
- to offer comment as appropriate on consultations undertaken by Ofcom
- where requested by the Content Board, to provide specific advice to that Board on matters relating to television, radio and other content on services regulated by Ofcom
- when so requested by the Ofcom Board, to provide advice to the Communications Consumer Panel on matters affecting consumers in England in the communications sector.
- to produce an annual report reflecting issues within the communications and postal sectors in England
23 September 2021
9 December 2021
3 March 2022
9 June 2022
6 October 2022
1 December 2022
2020
Minutes of the 72nd meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 11 June 2020 (PDF, 175.8 KB)
Minutes of the 71st meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 12 March 2020 (PDF, 194.5 KB)
2019
Minutes of the 70th meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 2 December 2019 (PDF, 207.8 KB)
Minutes of the 68th meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 4 July 2019 (PDF, 139.3 KB)
Minutes of the 67th meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 5 March 2019 (PDF, 151.5 KB)
2018
Minutes of the 66th meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 20 November 2018 (PDF, 111.0 KB)
Minutes of the 64th meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 12 June 2018 (PDF, 407.5 KB)
Minutes of the 63rd meeting of the Advisory Committee for England – 25 April 2018 (PDF, 142.6 KB)
Older minutes can be accessed via the National Archives.
Paula Carter (Chair)
Paula Carter has more than 30 years’ experience in the broadcasting sector, most recently as Director of Planning and Board Secretary at Channel 4. Previously she held senior policy and management roles at the BBC and ITV. Paula is a Committee member of the Wine Society and holds Non-Executive Director roles with the Port of London Authority and the productivity movement “Be the Business”. She is a magistrate on the South East London Bench, and was appointed to the Board of the represents Surrey as an Rugby Football Union in August 2020.
Paula joined the ACE on 1 June 2019. Her appointment runs until 31 May 2022.
Emma Davison
Emma Davison has 20 years’ experience within the customer service industry, spanning sectors including retail, financial services and business process outsourcing.
Through her membership of industry bodies, including the Call Centre Association, Emma has played an active role in promoting and sharing best practice from across different industries, to help improve the quality of service consumers receive on a day-to-day basis.
Emma joined the ACE on 1 February 2017. Her appointment runs until 31 January 2023.
Mark Smith
Mark Smith has been at the forefront of the mobile communications revolution since the early 1990s, playing an integral role in the foundation and establishment of the GSMA, the mobile industry’s principle global association, over more than two decades. This included the acquisition and growth of the mobile sector’s flagship global event, the Mobile World Congress. As Communications and later Marketing Director, he led communications globally to support the roll-out of digital mobile networks across the world as well as their evolutionary roadmap from 2G to 5G services. He created some of the first ground-breaking international platforms for the discovery of innovative start-ups and the recognition of best-in-class technology achievement and excellence.
Mark currently has his own consultancy, MSA Ltd which is focused on the intersection and convergence of media, entertainment and technology. He sits on the Content Steering Committee for the International Broadcasting Conference (IBC), is a Strategic Marketing Advisor to IBC, TM Forum and a number of technology companies, and is also a Non-Executive Board Member and Trustee of the Henley Festival, a music and arts festival that attracts an annual audience of 30,000.
Mark joined the ACE on 1 February 2018. His appointment runs until 31 January 2024.
Alan Nunn
Alan Nunn is a Consulting Director at CGI, a Canadian IT and business consulting services firm operating in the UK and globally He has over 30 years of experience in UK Telecoms, having worked in various roles at BT and as CTO at Newport Networks. He has experience in developing business strategy and creating roadmaps for technology solutions to meet complex business challenges. His roles have included architecting and implementing changes to BT’s core voice platforms, design and development of new products and services and strategic planning. Alan co-authored “UK Telecoms For Dummies”, a pocket guide to the UK Telecoms sector, as part of CGI For Dummies Series. He is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and of the Institute of Telecommunications Professionals (ITP) and is a Chartered Engineer. He chairs the 5G Ecosystem working group for Tech UK.
Alan joined the Board on 1 February 2018 and his appointment runs until 31 January 2024.
Aaqil Ahmed
Aaqil Ahmed is a media consultant and former Head of Religion and Ethics at both the BBC and Channel 4. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Advertising Standards Authority and a council member of the Higher Education Funding council for Wales. Aaqil is co-founder and Board member of Princes Trust youth mentoring organisation Mosaic, and sits on the Rugby League Diversity group. Aaqil is also a Professor of Media at the University of Bolton and teaches at a number of universities in the UK.
Aaqil joined the ACE on 1 June 2019. His appointment runs until 31 May 2022.
Matthew Littleford
Matthew is currently taking a career break and is in his first year of a PhD at Birkbeck. He’s just completed an MA at King’s College London. Prior to King’s, Matthew was the Joint Managing Director of betty, one of the UK’s leading TV production companies; the Editorial Director for Digital at BBC Worldwide; the Controller of UKTV, where he was in charge of the editorial, creative and brand leadership; and Controller of Entertainment for ITV's digital channels. In addition to his PhD, he is currently the Chair of The Reading Agency, a national reading charity that works towards a world where everyone is reading their way to a better life; and a trustee for Frantic Assembly and Plaines Plough, two of the country's leading theatre companies.
Matthew joined the ACE on 1 June 2019. His appointment runs until 31 May 2022.
As well as the appointed Members of the Advisory Committee, the Content Board Member, and the Communications Consumer Panel Member for the respective Nations are invited to attend Advisory Committee Meetings.
In England this is:
- Richard Spencer – Communications Consumer Panel
- Monisha Shah – Content Board
Ofcom
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2A Southwark Bridge Road
London
SE1 9HA
T: 020 7981 3000