Cameron 'Would Cut Ofcom's Powers'

Conservative leader David Cameron has said that he would remove media regulator Ofcom's policy-making powers if the party were to win at the next General Election.
In a speech to the Reform think tank, Mr Cameron laid out his plans to reduce the number of quangos, should he become Prime Minister.
The plans include scrapping Ofcom and the Qualifications, Curriculum and Development Agency (QCDA), in order to cut costs.
The Conservative leader said: "The problem today is that too many state actions, services and decisions are carried out by people who cannot be voted out by the public, by organisations that feel no pressure to answer for what happens in a way that is completely unaccountable."
He said that some powers would be handed back to Ministers, with some
quangos being reformed and slimmed down, while others - including Ofcom - would cease to exist in their current form.
The policy-making functions of Ofcom - such as deciding the future of local news and Channel 4 - would be handed back to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast, Mr Cameron said: "Give Ofcom, or give a new body, the technical function of handing out the licences and regulating lightly the content that is on the screens. But it shouldn't be making policy, it shouldn't have its own communications department."
Mr Cameron explained that the Shadow Cabinet are reviewing every independent public body that exists in their department to see if they "perform a technical, fairness or transparency function".
And he stressed his desire to see "a massive shift in power from bureaucracy to democracy, unaccountability, elites to people, quangos to you."
Labour established Ofcom under the 2003 Communications Act. It took over responsibility for regulating the broadcast and telecoms industries on December 29, replacing the Independent Television Commission, Radio Authority, Oftel, Radio Communications Agency and Broadcasting Standards Commission.
(KMcA/BMcC)