Change is being urged when it comes to TV and film captioning for the deaf or hearing impaired.

An inquiry carried out by Parliament's Government Administration Inquiry is suggestion captioning be a requirement for NZ On Air and Film Commission funding.

Committee Chair, Labour MP Ruth Dyson, said MPs on the committee agreed on an outcome; more captioning, but not the method of doing it.

“The National Party members thought it would just happen incrementally, but the Labour and Green members are of the view that after decades of being behind we really need to take action and put some legislative measures and requirements in place.”

The Inquiry recommends that access to captioning be improved across all platforms; TV, film, and online.

Dyson said the deaf are missing out on a huge amount that contributes to their quality of life when captioning isn't available.

“The children that came to the committee spoke in huge frustration at kid’s programmes that all their mates can watch, but they can’t because it’s not captioned.

They didn’t think that watching Parliament, which is captioned, was a valid alternative for them as children.”