Ofcom's duties mean that we have a significant role to play in ensuring that all citizens, irrespective of their age, income, location, education or disability can access and use digital communications services. We refer to our work in this area as Access and Inclusion. In some cases we have been given specific powers and duties and in others the Government has taken the lead and we have provided advice and support.
We are conducting a range of initiatives to improve services for disabled users. We are currently looking at the future of TV Access Services. We have also published an independent study on the potential benefits of improved relay services to facilitate access to telephone services for hearing impaired users. On Media Literacy we have launched guides for parents and carers on protecting children in a digital world and together with Mencap, Switch On! a resource for practitioners working with people with learning difficulties and disabilities.
Overall, stakeholders were highly supportive of our approach to Access and Inclusion in their responses to our consultation. Many provided valuable comments on specific areas of our work, which we have considered and discuss further in this statement.
This statement provides a progress update and summary of our next steps on Access and Inclusion. We will provide future updates through our annual Consumer Experience Reports and we invite stakeholders to contribute to setting priorities for our future Access and Inclusion work through our annual planning process. Our next Consumer Experience Report and Draft Annual Plan will both be published in December.