Ofcom Gets New Powers

Breaking News.

PA (Press Association) reports a leaked list of 177 quangos to be axed, merged or mutilated. They say

Quote:postal regulator Postcomm having its functions brought under communications regulator Ofcom

Full story at Guardian - 177 Quangos Story

So no more sending naughty letters.

i guess that proves that ofcom have been spared from the axe, yet others that serve more purpose than ofcom are being scrapped.

Well thats killed the dream then. David Cameron you are a fucking lying deceitful bastard. You may aswell just change your government name back to Labour.

If Ofcom is being merged, it will mean that their workload will double.
Staffing levels will be reduced.

It will make their policing of the Babeshows less effective.....

(24-09-2010 08:12 )Charlemagne Wrote:  If Ofcom is being merged, it will mean that their workload will double.
Staffing levels will be reduced.

It will make their policing of the Babeshows less effective.....

Lets hope for something like that

(24-09-2010 07:01 )Scottishbloke Wrote:  Well thats killed the dream then. David Cameron you are a fucking lying deceitful bastard. You may aswell just change your government name back to Labour.

Whether Cameron goes through with his policy of taking away some of Ofcom's powers remains to be seen.

The list of Quango's that have been considered by the Cabinet Office for reform or to be considered total 742. The Taxpayers Alliance claims there are up to 1162 quango's in the UK costing around £60bn so still some more work to do.

It is quite a broadbrush approach to reform but does not come as a suprise. Prime Minister Cameron did say that they would seek to take away policy making powers from Ofcom and have them as pure regulators.

The proposed merger with Postcom is sensible but currently they fall under different departments. Ofcom being under the wings of Jeremy Hunt Culture Secretary, Dep't of Culture Media and Sport and Postcom under the wing of The Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable of the Dep't of Business, Inovation and Skill's.

If the merger did go ahead i would prefer the new body, whatever they are called be governed by Vince Cable with a much more liberal approach to enforcement and relaxed broadcasting code.

The leaked document

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pd...angos3.pdf

shows the proposal on page 2 stating 'Merge with Postcom and subject to substantial reform'.

It is not suprising that this news has yet to make it onto the website for the DCMS although they have started to address some of the quango's subject to reform.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/news/news_stories/7280.aspx

The leaked document lay's down some timescale's for reform and the regulatory path forward with inclusion of those bodies effected into the proposed Public Bodies Bill. This will be given it's first reading on the 18th Oct 2010 acheiving royal assent by summer 2011, BUT, it is felt this is not the appropriate route for regulatory bodies and seperate legislation may be required.

Regulators
Many bodies performing a regulatory function are NDPBs and have beenincluded in the scope of this work, and reforms have been proposed to these bodies where this is appropriate.
Whilst there had been discussions as to whether the Public Bodies Bill could be used to impose sunset clauses on regulators, i am keen to ensure that the scope of the Bill remains focused on public bodies. I therefore propose that this Bill is not the most appropriate vehicle, but that we consider alternative approaches. This could include a separate legislative vehicle, but in the meantime ! suggest that we take a consistent approach to the ongoing governance and review of ail bodies, making use of a strengthened governance framework (discussed in more detail below) and considering how we could use the Public Administration Select Committee to support these arrangements, This would of course include those regulators that are public bodies.

NDPB - Non Department Public Body.
Sunset Clauses - Time limitation on the life of a public body.

As i have said before reform will take time with the olympics taking preference with the DCMS, although if Vince get's his hands on the new regulatory body timescales may be substantially reduced.
Whatever the proposal Ofcom will fight any removal of power or responsibilities so expect more enforcement of the channels.


All you need to know and the latest information about quango's.

http://www.parliament.uk/documents/commo...-05609.pdf

Thanks to GPP for the extracts. Here are a few press cuttings, repoduced without comment, all from today (24/9, day after the leak) except the last one. Mostly speculation, but interesting all the same:

Daily Mail
Another quango in the firing line is Ofcom, which oversees TV and other media. Chief executive Ed Richards, who was forced to cut his £430,000 pay after public uproar, is a former adviser to Tony Blair and one of a number Ofcom officials with close links to Labour. Ofcom may escape abolition, but could lose several of its functions.
*******************
Daily Telegraph data table:
Ofcom, Single Communications Regulator
NMD (Non-Ministerial Department)
Merged or Consolidated
810 staff
*******************
V3 (formerly vnunet):
Leaked documents point to radical Ofcom reform Regulator could be merged with Postcomm in quango bloodbath Ofcom could be subjected to "substantial reform" as part of a series of mergers, cuts and overhauls to public sector quangos outlined by the coalition government.
Leaked documents (PDF) obtained by the BBC show that the government is seeking to overhaul the role of the media watchdog, as well as merging it with postal services regulator Postcomm.
The decision to combine the two organisations has been on the cards for almost two years, after a review backed by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in 2008 and this month.
"The responsibility for the regulation of the postal sector should be transferred to the communications regulator," said Richard Hooper, chairman of the Postal Services Sector Review Panel, in a report on the Royal Mail's future (PDF).
A spokesman for Ofcom claimed that the regulator is well aware of the possibilities of such a merger, and will work with the relevant authorities to oversee the change as and when it occurs.
"The government has made it clear that it plans to merge Postcomm into Ofcom, and we continue to work with the government and the relevant parties on this matter," he said.
The spokesman added that he is unable to comment on the "substantial reform" aspect of the leaked documents, as he is unaware of what this may entail.
Nevertheless, any changes that could be implemented would have a major impact on areas relating to telecoms and mobile technologies, where Ofcom plays a major role in setting rules and regulations.
In recent months Ofcom has given mobile operators permission to increase power limit levels for the coverage of 3G spectrum, commissioned studies on the mobile broadband market and warned errant telecoms companies over their behaviour.
*******************
Public Service:
David Cameron has recently argued that too many quangos are actually producing policy (he points to Ofcom as a prime example) rather than executing policies set by politicians or democratically accountable bureaucrats. His view is that the proper roles of quangos are just three:
• Technical matters where the issue goes beyond the political horizon – such as the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate
• Issues about the actual distribution of taxpayers' money where political slant is not relevant (or may even be undesirable) – he gives the example of academic Research Councils
• Cases where the use of an independent body serves to create transparency concerning facts that might otherwise be distorted by politicians – he gives the example of the Office for National Statistics.
*******************
Conservatives:
David Cameron, Open University 6 July 2009 (a whole year ago):
Six weeks ago at the Open University I set out our response to the crisis of trust in politics…
OFCOM is the regulator for the communications industry, and it's clear that it has an important technical function. It monitors the plurality of media provision for consumers. It licenses the spectrum in the UK. And it sets the charges and the price caps for BT's control of so much of the industry's infrastructure. OFCOM also has an enforcement function - ruling on breaches of the broadcasting code for instance. These matters relate to the operations of private companies in a commercial market and it is therefore right that they are free from political influence.
But Jeremy Hunt has concluded that OFCOM currently has many other responsibilities that are matters of public policy, in areas that should be part of a national debate, for example the future of regional news or Channel 4. These should not be determined by an unaccountable bureaucracy, but by minsters accountable to Parliament.
So with a Conservative Government, OFCOM as we know it will cease to exist. Its remit will be restricted to its narrow technical and enforcement roles. It will no longer play a role in making policy. And the policy-making functions it has today will be transferred back fully to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

Hmmm, but will the government (an essentially Conservative government, with a non-effective Liberal element) department then prove to be more or less draconian than 'naff-ofsted', is the question?
Certainly, it should die; my position has been for a while that ALL quangos need to go and something more democratic (ie - publicly-elected) be put in place instead - there is a great deal of cronyism associated with these bodies it seems, and I don't yet believe that the new alternative is going to prove any less biased in its actions or any more liberal in its outlook.
But I wait to be proven wrong (as I invariably am! *fingers crossed*)
Great post, though.

Missing key events. Talking bollocks. Making stuff up.
~~~SAVE THE KRILL!~~~

Can't make up my own mind whether this is good news or bad. Essentially there isnt enough to go on, and there wont be for a few weeks as no civil servant with half a brain would release controversial plans during the party conference season unless thet were secretly against them and wanted to strengthen opposition. But here are a few thoughts.

Even on the terms David Cameron set out in June for Quangos, Ofcom would still exist in some shape or form. There needs to be a regulator that dishes out phone licences and TV licences. Advertising rules, silent calls and BT monopoly of the broadband infrastructure needs to be regulated.

Will Ofcom continue to micro-regulate adult TV? OK, which is more likely: In the middle of the worst financial crisis since the Second World War, will the purse masters want tens of millions of public money spent on needless regulation of TV in general, or would be tempted to cut it to the bone? Remember, they will be cutting the Army, Immigration and the Police, and those are things they like.

Did Cameron lie? (ScottishBlokes comment). Suspect he said he would cut Ofcom, not abolish it.

Double the workload now they're absorbing PostCom (Charlemagne): Expect PostComms role to be severely cut - it will be much easier to get a postal service operators licence, annual reporting will be simplified and PostComm will only hear complaints as a last report. Even so, the number of staff carried over will be cut even more, particularly at the top. The combined Ofcom and Postcom will have fewer senior managers than the two separate orgs had before. That has to mean less policy making and less supervision of anything controversial or difficult. So that suggests avoiding the reef and shark strewn waters of borderline flashes and sticking with clearcut cases of postal incompetence and breeches of advertising minutage. Also fewer monitoring operations.

The joint board will be smaller and be paid less.

The Chief Exec and Board will be spread thinner too. A business minded Board appointed to make sure that letters get delivered in under 3 days wont want to waste their time hearing appeals or in Content Committee / Sanctions Committee hearings deciding how serious a 2 second pussy flash is. Particularly if the entire sector attracts less than 1 complaint a day.

Thats my guess anyway (but Im usually wrong). No news for several weeks. Reduced powers across the board. Bigger workload. Smaller board, paid less. Focus of interest more on commercial matters.

As for what I think should replace it? How long do have?