Member News
Labour MP Alun Michael outlines the issues being raised in his Westminster Hall debate on the digital switchover and audio description.
As an MP for over 20 years I have been lobbied on an incredible range of issues.
Some lobbying is about highly technical aspects of a bill, while many are big campaigns with broad public support.
Usually it takes a long time to achieve a small change, but every so often you come across an issue which offers a 'win-win' opportunity.
The public are behind it, there is a good team working on it, it is easy to explain, ministers are listening and above all it is right. The audio description campaign is just such an issue.
With audio description the TV listener is told what is going on in the visual elements of a television programme or film.
It is a lifeline for those whose eyesight is poor and who find it difficult to follow the action. Some 98 per cent of blind or visually impaired people watch television, and for many of those it is their main source of information and entertainment.
Digital switchover gives us a unique opportunity to roll out audio description on a massive scale. All digiboxes provided by the government as part of the digital help scheme will now have one-button access to audio description thanks to the extraordinary team at the RNIB who gave me the arguments to persuade culture secretary Andy Burnham that it was the right thing to do.
The campaign run by the RNIB has been faultless. They have put together an innovative and exciting campaign which has captured the imagination of everyone who has seen it.
As part of an invitation to a reception in the House of Commons they produced the 'Advent Times', a spoof of the Radio Times which instead of giving programme information told us all about the programmes that blind people could not enjoy with the rest of us because the vital action was not audio described.
At the event itself a corner of the Member's Dining room was turned into a living room where 'Aunt Megan' was ready to tell every MP about the virtues of audio description and challenging them to have a go themselves.
Andy Burnham did what I asked him to do – he changed the 'core receiver requirements' in good time to ensure that one-touch audio description will be on the set-top boxes given to vulnerable people in South Wales next year.
The next stage of the campaign is to get more programmes audio described. The RNIB has set a target that at least 20 per cent of programmes should be audio described. Sky has already met the challenge, and I have written to other broadcasters asking them to do the same.
I have every confidence that we will succeed.
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