Clause 3 - General duties of OFCOM
Communications Bill
12:00 pm
Mr Richard Allan (Sheffield, Hallam, Liberal Democrat)
We share many of the concerns of the hon. Member for Ryedale (Mr. Greenway) about access for disabled people. Amendment No. 154 tries to cover some of the same ground as new clause 5, which deals with access devices. It is important to address that matter because the Ofcom process is based on the assumption that the market will provide. In telecommunications and broadcasting, the market will often provide, but we are concerned that the market might not provide effectively for people with disabilities and specific access needs unless there is a stronger duty on Ofcom to ensure that they are able to talk to manufacturers and providers of services in a way that encourages them to offer such provision.
There are good examples of how the market is currently delivering. Microsoft has spent a lot of time and trouble building accessibility programmes into Windows software; that has become increasingly mainstream. However, as the hon. Gentleman said, access has still not been provided in many respects, specifically with regard to the physical layout of devices and the features that are available on hardware, as opposed to software in which there have been great strides forward. Amendment No. 154 seeks to tackle the issue by saying that Ofcom must intervene; it must have powers to take steps to encourage accessibility when the market is not delivering.
Amendment No. 155 is slightly broader in scope, although it, too, refers to access. It is clear that it means access for disabled people, but in the amendment we are suggesting that access should be a major driver for Ofcom in a general sense, in addition to the other drivers outlined in clause 3. We are suggesting that there should be a specific reference to access, so we are thinking not only about disability, but about issues such as quality of access to telecoms services and universality of access. The inclusion of the word ''access'' strengthens Ofcom's ability to act in such areas.
Amendments Nos. 158 and 159 deal with public understanding and media literacy especially in respect of disability. Ofcom could play a major role. When one visits other countries, one frequently discovers that they have higher levels of subtitling. That offers a good indication of where nations have got to with media literacy, and many countries have more subtitling on mainstream television than the UK has historically had.
The Minister stated that the Government intend to encourage more subtitling and to improve other forms of accessibility that have a significant impact on the quality of individuals' lives. We are seeking to put that in the Bill, or at least to initiate a debate about the way in which Ofcom will be able to do that and the extent to which it will have real teeth to encourage that process.
Subtitling is an old media example of accessibility; there are also new media examples. As radio is increasingly delivered in digital format, it can become less accessible in some ways, because more visual input might be required to access a radio service. Ironically, radio, which has traditionally been fine for people with sight impairments, can be made more difficult when it is combined with digital technology, because, in effect, one has to see what is on the screen to use the radio set. There is a range of complexities that technology will not resolve unless thought is put into its development. We would like Ofcom to have a role in ensuring that the thought is there and is conveyed to the manufacturers of equipment and the suppliers of services.