| Press Complaints Commission
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MAKING A COMPLAINT - HOW DO YOU FIND OUT MORE?
Making a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission about a
newspaper or magazine could not be easier.
It is free, quick and
effective.
If anything here is not clear - or if you want further help -
then just pick up the phone to us. We are there to give you all the assistance
you need.
Our Helpline number is 0845 600 2757.
If you are ringing us
from Scotland, the number is 0131 220 6652.
From Wales, the number is 029
2039 5570.
If you are deaf or have problems hearing, you can use our
Textphone on 020 7831 0123.
If you are blind, or visually impaired, we
will provide you with information about our complaints procedure and a copy of
the Code on audio cassette.
Press
Complaints Commission
Halton House
20/23 Holborn
London EC1N 2JD
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| OFCOM
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The Broadcasting Standards Commission ceased to exist on
29 December 2003 and its duties were assumed by Ofcom, the Office of Communications.
Ofcom is the new communications sector regulator and will have wide-ranging
responsibilities when it assumes its powers at the end of 2003. Ofcom inherits
the duties of the five existing regulators it replaces: the Broadcasting
Standards Commission (BSC), the Independent Television Commission (ITC), Oftel,
the Radio Authority and the Radiocommunications Agency.
Ofcom
Riverside House
2a Southwark Bridge
Road
London
SE1 9HA
Switchboard: 020 7981 3000
Fax: 020 7981 3333
Textphone: 020 7981 3043 - Please note that
this number only works with special equipment used by people who are deaf or
hard of hearing.
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| For Further Information & Advice...
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| Future Plans
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The Institute for Public
Policy Research (an influential and government favoured think-tank) has
released a report on Gypsies and Travellers’ accommodation entitled Moving
Forward. The report states that there is an urgent need for the government to
address the shortage of authorised sites and to shift the issue away from
criminalisation of Gypsies and Travellers through the use of public order and
anti-social behaviour law towards provision, equality and the enforcement of
rights. Combined with new interest and support from the Commission for Racial
Equality, this report demonstrates that the difficulties facing Gypsies and
Travellers are being ‘mainstreamed’ into civil liberties debates. The government
has also indicated that the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill 2004 together
with a new circular 1/94 might require local authorities to identify specific
pieces of land for site development.
The rights of Gypsies and
Travellers are an important issue for a government that has claimed to have a
long tradition of championing minorities and the excluded. That reputation will
be tarnished if it fails to deliver a fair and effective mechanism to provide
more sites for Gypsies and Travellers at a time when it is trumpeting policy
initiatives such as ‘Decent Homes For All’ and ‘Cohesive and Sustainable
Communities’, which to date appear to have ignored the needs of the Gypsy and
Traveller communities.
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| Citizens Advice Bureaux
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The CAB service is the largest independent advice agency
network in England and Wales. Citizens Advice is the national body for the 450
Citizens Advice Bureaux in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Citizens Advice
Bureaux give free, impartial, confidential advice from over 3,200 outlets
including prisons, GPs’ surgeries, county courts, community centres and
hospitals. During 2004/5, the CAB service dealt with over 5.2 million problems,
including 1.5 million about welfare benefits and 1.2 million about debt.
The Citizens Advice service strategic plan for 2004-2008 has a
commitment to become a first point of access for advice for people experiencing
any type of discrimination working in partnership with others. Citizens Advice
is therefore delighted to provide evidence to this important Commission. The
Commission's terms of reference are extremely wide, but provide an opportunity
to grapple with issues of discrimination holistically. The Commission is charged
with:
investigating the social, economic, cultural and other factors that
limit or deny people the opportunity to make the best of their abilities
providing an understanding of the long term and underlying causes of
disadvantage that need to be addressed by public policy
making practical
recommendations on key policy priorities for: the Government and public sector;
employers and trade unions; civic society and the voluntary sector
informing
both the modernisation of equality legislation, towards a Single Equality Act;
and the development of the new Commission for Equality and Human Rights.
The
CAB service is in an ideal position to make a positive contribution to debate,
policy development and remedies in tackling unfair discrimination. Many of our
clients have poor basic skills (especially numeracy and literacy), speak english
as a second language, live in poverty, suffer financial hardship and find
financial management difficult, experience some form of discrimination because
of race, religion, gender, sexuality, age, disability, suffer a disability or
health problems, have offended or be at risk of offending, and experience
difficulty in accessing services, agencies and bureaucracies.
Bureaux
advisers are well aware of the grinding effects of discrimination. Clients use
words and phrases like – ‘I felt angry and humiliated’, ‘became depressed’,
‘felt anxious and unsafe’, ‘I lost my self-confidence’, ‘never know who I can
trust’. It’s bad enough when we see our clients loose their job, home, or be
treated badly. However when it happens simply because of who they are – it is a
fundamental attack on an important part of their personal identity, and the
impact is greater and lasts longer. So when people are refused a job, abused on
the street, driven out of their home, given second class service, or judged by
others to be somehow not right, not normal and therefore not wanted, because of
the colour of their skin, their religion or sexual orientation, or because
they’re disabled, they are experiencing an injustice and an attack on their
identity.
We present our submission in two parts:
- Causes and factors behind the persistence of discrimination and
deprivation
- Recommendations on key policy priorities and the development of
the legislative framework for equality protection and promotion
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| Shelter: Housing Act
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The Act introduces new
rights for park home-owners, as well as for Gypsies and travellers. The
changes will guarantee safety from unfair eviction and harassment for park
home-owners, and will require local authorities to take the housing needs of
Gypsies and travellers into account in their planning.
The housing bill, which was first published in draft
in March 2003, became an Act in November 2004 and includes a number of important
new measures. These are outlined in this summary of the Housing Act
2004.
It includes:
- a new Housing Health and Safety Rating System to replace the
Housing Fitness Standard
- a mandatory licensing scheme for houses in multiple occupation
- selective licensing of private landlords in areas of low demand
- new powers for local authorities to lease long-term empty homes
compulsorily
- a requirement for residential property vendors to produce a Home
Information pack
- reforms to the Right to Buy scheme, to prevent its abuse and
exploitation
- new powers to extend the length of an introductory tenancy to 18
months
- a national Tenancy Deposit Scheme, to protect private tenants
deposits
- a new power to update the statutory definition of overcrowding
- new rights for Gypsies,
travellers, and park home-owners.
Part 6 of the Act introduces a number of
other miscellaneous provisions, which includes the right of tenancy succession
for unmarried partners, including same-sex couples. This provision, which was
originally included in the housing bill, was later added to the Civil
Partnerships Act 2004.
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| For Further Information ....
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