Broadcasting Committee

Evidence from Public Affairs Cymru

Public Affairs Cymru has been invited to submit evidence to the Broadcasting Committee of the National Assembly and I write on behalf of the PAC Executive Committee to thank you for this opportunity and to inform you we will definitely be submitting written evidence.

Public Affairs Cymru (PAC) was established in October 2006 to enable networking, organise events and to promote good practice among the many organisations that are involved in public affairs or political lobbying in Wales. PAC members are communication professionals who have regular dealings with government in its widest sense. Our dealings with government are not restricted to lobbying, but embrace all aspects of public affairs. We currently have 120 members and are becoming increasingly proactive in our dealings with the National Assembly in order to act as a voice for our growing membership on matters of broad interest and concern.

PAC is very interested in the way that the business of the National Assembly is covered by the broadcast media. This clearly falls within the Committee's remit of examining: "The future of public service broadcasting in Wales in the English and Welsh languages." Last Summer we held a briefing session with Mr John Walter Jones from S4/C regarding its consultation on the future of its digital services. In a few weeks, on 22nd April, we will be hosting a further event (supported by Cyswllt, the representative organisation for Welsh speaking communications professionals) to receive a presentation from OFCOM on their current Public Service Broadcasting Review.

Building on these presentations, PAC is planning to consult its broader membership before submitting our written evidence in order to capture the views and perspectives of our growing member base, many of whom have particular expertise in broadcasting. This demonstrates how seriously we take this opportunity to provide evidence. Indeed, it will be the first time PAC will have submitted evidence to an Assembly enquiry (though of course most of our member organisations will have done so on a number of occasions, either directly or through advising others).

We would therefore specifically welcome an opportunity to provide Oral evidence to the Committee during its deliberations. If the Committee is amenable to this, we would be very happy to attend a Committee hearing, preferably at some point from late May onward.

Thank you again for this opportunity

Daran Hill
Chair, Public Affairs Cymru

T: 029 20652586

M: 0779 662 4955