SUBTITLING

Early day motion 698, tabled 10 February 2003 by Roger Berry (Labour). Signed by 126 members.

That this House is concerned to see new RNID research revealing that despite hearing loss being predominantly age-related, the number of people in the United Kingdom who use subtitles does not increase with age, confirming that many of the people who would most benefit from subtitles do not know either that they exist or how to access them; notes that this is further evident by the fact that the number of people who admitted to not knowing how to access subtitles was significantly higher amongst people above the age of 65; notes therefore that despite welcome increases in subtitling output proposed in the Communications Bill, far too many people are still missing out on television needlessly because they are not aware of subtitles; notes also that it is in broadcasters' interest to promote subtitles to attract large numbers of viewers to their channels; and calls on the Government to encourage broadcasters to improve their promotion of subtitling and on broadcasters voluntarily to commit to promoting the existence of subtitles with information on how to use them.

Signatures by party: Labour 52, Conservative 31, Liberal Democrat 25, Labour/Co-operative 5, Scottish National Party 5, Plaid Cymru 3, UUP 3, DUP 1, Independent Conservative 1.