Recommendations & Conclusions
17 items
2
Recommendation
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC has a high-level plan in place for its £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment into digital, but it is unclear whether this will cover its new ambition to transition to an internet-only future in the 2030s. Following its January 2022 licence fee settlement with government, the BBC …
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The BBC has a high-level plan in place for its £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment into digital, but it is unclear whether this will cover its new ambition to transition to an internet-only future in the 2030s. Following its January 2022 licence fee settlement with government, the BBC estimated that it would have a funding gap of £285 million a year by 2027–28. It says that has now increased to nearly £400 million due to inflation, in addition to its funding being cut by 30% in real terms over the past 10 years. The BBC has an overarching target for its digital services to be within at least the top three for UK market share. As part of its digital first plan, announced in May 2022, it committed to an additional £50 million for digital product development from 2025. However, the BBC has not fully determined the details of its £500 million digital investment plan and reports that it is refining the detail required through its current budgeting process. Its plan is heavily dependent on it being able to achieve further savings for reinvestment, but it did not say what it will do if these saving targets become unachievable. Recommendation 2: The BBC should write to the Committee, within two months and once its budget is finalised for the financial year, with reassurance that it has developed the necessary detail in support of its digital investment plan. It should set out: • if its £500 million annual investment by 2025 is sufficient to achieve its plans; • how it will achieve all the required savings; and 6 BBC Digital • what will happen to its digital plans if it is unable to achieve its savings target.
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report, which includes this recommendation addressed to the BBC.
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HM Treasury
3
Recommendation
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC faces a significant challenge in a very competitive market to recruit and retain staff with the right digital skills. The BBC had a 23% staff turnover rate in its digital product group as of June 2022. Shortages of digital skills are an economy-wide challenge that is not unique …
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The BBC faces a significant challenge in a very competitive market to recruit and retain staff with the right digital skills. The BBC had a 23% staff turnover rate in its digital product group as of June 2022. Shortages of digital skills are an economy-wide challenge that is not unique to the BBC, and we have regularly heard of similar challenges across government itself, for example with our recent inquiry into the defence digital strategy. The BBC reports that these challenges became more complex during 2022 because of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic leading to wage increases as well as more staff working remotely, with people in a local area becoming part of a wider, sometimes international, recruitment market. However, the BBC says that attrition rates are now reducing and its ability to recruit and retain staff is improving. The BBC does not pay digital staff as much as many of its rivals. It acknowledges that it has increased the ranges for some of its digital jobs by more than the standard pay rise that it gave to most of its employees last year. While salaries are important, the BBC also seeks to make the most of its inherent attractiveness as an employer giving the opportunity to work on a very wide range of products compared to others and also supporting a public service purpose. Recommendation 3: The BBC should develop a plan for how it will maintain its recent progress in recruiting and retaining specialist digital staff including succession planning specific to the key digital skills that it needs for the future.
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the report and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations, implicitly passing responsibility to the BBC for this recommendation.
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HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC’s approach to how it will develop personalised services for audiences is not yet well developed. The BBC wants to personalise its products and services such that audiences can access content that is of interest to them, while also fulfilling its public service obligations. The BBC sees this as …
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The BBC’s approach to how it will develop personalised services for audiences is not yet well developed. The BBC wants to personalise its products and services such that audiences can access content that is of interest to them, while also fulfilling its public service obligations. The BBC sees this as a new and interesting challenge and says that, unlike its commercial rivals, it aims to strike a careful balance through human curation of content as well as the use of algorithms. It recognises that its public service obligations should be at the heart of its personalisation strategy. The BBC has spoken about personalisation ambitions over the past nine years and worked to personalise individual products such as the iPlayer. But there is as yet no comprehensive personalisation strategy in place to show what this would look like in practice. Recommendation 4: The BBC should move more quickly on the development of a personalisation strategy that serves its public sector purposes while fulfilling its ambitions for a more tailored experience for its audiences. It should write to the Committee on its progress by December 2023.
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendation to develop a personalization strategy and report on its progress.
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HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
At our evidence session in January 2023, the Director-General reiterated to us the need for urgency and how, by any forecast of the future, the vast majority of media consumption will be via the internet.8 However, he also told us that, in his December speech, he had been deliberately provocative, …
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At our evidence session in January 2023, the Director-General reiterated to us the need for urgency and how, by any forecast of the future, the vast majority of media consumption will be via the internet.8 However, he also told us that, in his December speech, he had been deliberately provocative, and that his speech had also been somewhat misreported. He stressed that “I didn’t say we are going fully digital by the 2030s”.9 He also stressed the BBC’s strategic desire to maintain universality and that the BBC was not actively setting a date for a switchover. He said that the BBC understood how many people relied on DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) and it would be “an act of self-harm to cut people off from the BBC.”10
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Government response AI summary
The government notes the report's publication and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the report's recommendations.
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HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC also acknowledged the four recommendations in the NAO report, one of which was to build on its December 2022 announcement and plan scenarios for how it could move between broadcast and internet services in the future. It said that those recommendations were extremely helpful, appropriately challenging, and that …
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The BBC also acknowledged the four recommendations in the NAO report, one of which was to build on its December 2022 announcement and plan scenarios for how it could move between broadcast and internet services in the future. It said that those recommendations were extremely helpful, appropriately challenging, and that it had been working hard on them.13
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
We raised the question of education for people, typically older people, who are not familiar or confident with adopting what may be new technology to them. The BBC stressed its universality obligation to ensure that content is accessible. It also said it was critical that there was focus and prioritisation …
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We raised the question of education for people, typically older people, who are not familiar or confident with adopting what may be new technology to them. The BBC stressed its universality obligation to ensure that content is accessible. It also said it was critical that there was focus and prioritisation of its limited resources to ensure it continued to serve all its audiences, young and old.14 The BBC told us it had a huge role to play in education, 6 C&AG’s Report, paras 3, 1.2 7 C&AG’s Report, para 1.19 8 Q 23 9 Qq 24, 25 10 Qq 36, 45 11 C&AG’s Report, para 1.18 12 Q 68 13 Q 91; C&AG’s Report, para 20 14 Q 44 10 BBC Digital commenting that people tend to trust the BBC, and that it would have a lot of services for getting older populations to engage. It said that education would have to be part of the transition through the 2030s “and for as long as it takes”.15
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
Good quality access to online services will rely of course on the roll-out of broadband, overseen by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. We noted that the BBC’s universal service commitments could not be met with current broadband provision.16 The BBC highlighted that with a perfect broadband service, …
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Good quality access to online services will rely of course on the roll-out of broadband, overseen by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. We noted that the BBC’s universal service commitments could not be met with current broadband provision.16 The BBC highlighted that with a perfect broadband service, audiences could get much better functionality than with traditional broadcast TV.17 But broadband roll-out is of course a much wider issue than just concerning the BBC and the BBC is not responsible for any of the build out. The BBC also said that affordability of broadband, that is the cost to households of purchasing contracts, was an issue.18 Shortly after our session with the BBC we took evidence from the Department on a range of matters, including progress with gigabit broadband roll-out. It acknowledged that the roll-out is critical to the BBC’s plans for an internet-only future, that discussions were already in train and it will expect to have further discussions on it as part of the charter renewal. We will continue to keep a close eye on progress, in particular for providing people living in harder to reach areas with decent broadband coverage.19 Funding the digital strategy
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
Following its January 2022 licence fee settlement with government, the BBC estimated that it would have a funding gap of £285 million a year by 2027–28, and that it needs to deliver £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment to achieve its digital- first ambitions. This funding gap was calculated …
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Following its January 2022 licence fee settlement with government, the BBC estimated that it would have a funding gap of £285 million a year by 2027–28, and that it needs to deliver £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment to achieve its digital- first ambitions. This funding gap was calculated on the basis of the licence fee being held flat in 2022–23 and 2023–24 with no links to inflation, followed by four years linked to inflation.20 The BBC told us that with inflation the funding gap had now risen from £285 million to nearly £400 million, on top of its funding having reduced in real-terms by 30% over the last 10 years.21
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
13
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC’s spending on its product development has also declined, from £109 million in 2018–19 to £98 million in 2021–22 (in 2021–22 prices). However, due to the renewed focus on the growth of its digital products, the BBC has budgeted £116 million to spend within its product group in 2022–23 …
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The BBC’s spending on its product development has also declined, from £109 million in 2018–19 to £98 million in 2021–22 (in 2021–22 prices). However, due to the renewed focus on the growth of its digital products, the BBC has budgeted £116 million to spend within its product group in 2022–23 (in 2021–22 prices). This includes an extra £10 million announced as part of its digital-first plans through to 2025. After this, the BBC expects to invest up to an additional £50 million a year into transforming its use of data, personalisation and user experience.22
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC’s spending on digital product development is far lower than many other media organisations, many of which are digital-only, though direct spending comparisons are problematic. Additionally, the BBC has a range of universal service obligations that other media firms do not, and provides a range of services that its …
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The BBC’s spending on digital product development is far lower than many other media organisations, many of which are digital-only, though direct spending comparisons are problematic. Additionally, the BBC has a range of universal service obligations that other media firms do not, and provides a range of services that its digital-only competitors 15 Q 45 16 Q 29 17 Q 24 18 Qq 29, 30 19 Public Accounts Committee, Oral evidence: DCMS Recall: Broadband, Gambling and Unboxed, HC 1052. Monday 23 January 2023 20 C&AG’s Report, para 2.2 21 Qq 6, 51 22 Q 37; C&AG’s Report, para 2.4 BBC Digital 11 do not, such as local radio and educational programming. Nevertheless, the BBC is seeking to attract the same audiences as other media providers and has significantly lower funding for developing its digital products. The BBC estimates that its technology product development spending is equivalent to 2.8% of its revenue, whereas its competitors typically spend around 8%–11%. In 2021, for example, Netflix spent £1.7 billion on technology and development. The BBC has therefore not been able to develop its product portfolio with the same pace and sophistication as that of rival media organisations.23
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC told us that last year had been really difficult for attracting people. It cited the particular consequences of the covid pandemic for the technology market, with international organisations starting to offer remote working contracts, giving potential employees, for example in the Salford area, more options, with salaries rising …
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The BBC told us that last year had been really difficult for attracting people. It cited the particular consequences of the covid pandemic for the technology market, with international organisations starting to offer remote working contracts, giving potential employees, for example in the Salford area, more options, with salaries rising fast, and recruitment happening at a faster pace. The BBC said it was in a much better position this year compared to last, with attrition trending down and recruitment having sped up and grown. Nevertheless, it acknowledged it was a real fight to get enough of the right people with the right skills.37
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC considered there may be an increasing sense developing of people wanting to ‘reconnect with purpose’ and of that being a material consideration for people when choosing who they wished to work for; implying that the BBC could benefit from that sort of preference.38 The BBC stressed how it …
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The BBC considered there may be an increasing sense developing of people wanting to ‘reconnect with purpose’ and of that being a material consideration for people when choosing who they wished to work for; implying that the BBC could benefit from that sort of preference.38 The BBC stressed how it can offer something unique for people in terms of what they could do with their career, the range of products, and the appeal of working for an organisation with the BBC’s public service mission and purpose.39 It noted how the BBC does not have a competitor producing the same breadth and type of content.40 It also said it needed to make sure that the BBC is not seen as a bureaucratic place to come and work.41 However, and in the context of discussing how stretched the overall budget for digital investment will be, the BBC also acknowledged that “We are going to need to attract brilliant people at a massive discount to the market.”42 33 C&AG’s Report, para 2.11 34 Q 87 35 Letter dated 25 January 2023 from Tim Davie, BBC Director General, to PAC Chair; C&AG’s Report, para 6 36 C&AG’s Report, para 2.11 37 Qq 84, 98 38 Q 98 39 Qq 84, 85 40 Q 58 41 Q 98 42 Q 37 BBC Digital 13 Personalised services
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
Over the past nine years, the BBC has signalled that it sees offering a more personalised experience as important to its future plans and key to this is sign-in, whereby users register for and use a BBC account to access digital services. In September 2021, it produced a sign-in strategy, …
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Over the past nine years, the BBC has signalled that it sees offering a more personalised experience as important to its future plans and key to this is sign-in, whereby users register for and use a BBC account to access digital services. In September 2021, it produced a sign-in strategy, with a target for 72% of digital product views to come from signed-in users by 2023. It also has an overall goal of having 20.2 million weekly average signed-in users by 2022, growing to 23.5 million users by 2023. BBC Online’s signed-in accounts increased from 14.6 million on average per week in 2019–20 to 18.1 million in 2021–22. This continued to grow and reached 19.6 million signed-in accounts in June 2022.43
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Government response AI summary
The government notes the report's publication and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the report's recommendations.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
24
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
Through sign-in, the BBC can collect personal information about its users to understand their preferences. When used alongside recommendation algorithms, this should provide a user experience tailored to their individual preferences. The BBC does not believe that it is possible to compete digitally without knowing users’ viewing habits. However, while …
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Through sign-in, the BBC can collect personal information about its users to understand their preferences. When used alongside recommendation algorithms, this should provide a user experience tailored to their individual preferences. The BBC does not believe that it is possible to compete digitally without knowing users’ viewing habits. However, while the BBC has started to develop plans for how it could personalise some of its individual digital products and services such as iPlayer, it has yet to show that it has begun work on pulling together a comprehensive strategy for personalisation across the organisation.44
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
25
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC told us that it tried to make the sign-up process as simple as possible, while at the same time giving the user control, and was very conscious of accessibility and different digital familiarity levels.45 The BBC described to us how it was vital to help users find what …
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The BBC told us that it tried to make the sign-up process as simple as possible, while at the same time giving the user control, and was very conscious of accessibility and different digital familiarity levels.45 The BBC described to us how it was vital to help users find what they were looking for as easily as possible, and that it used data to match users to content and so tried to provide the best kind of shortcut connection.46 It said there was a mix of how it made recommendations to users; with human-selected and curated stories and also algorithmically recommended content.47
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Government response AI summary
The government acknowledges the report's publication and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
29
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC welcomed the recommendations made by the NAO which included on managing potential data risk and said it was taking action on oversight and policy. It outlined some actions taken in recent years to improve its approach, stressed that these things were key parts of the organisation, and that …
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The BBC welcomed the recommendations made by the NAO which included on managing potential data risk and said it was taking action on oversight and policy. It outlined some actions taken in recent years to improve its approach, stressed that these things were key parts of the organisation, and that development of governance in this respect was crucial to make sure the BBC did not breach its data regulations.52 While it would inevitably be collecting more data in future, the BBC felt the framework it had in place meant it was in a good position to mitigate any risk.53 However, in reviewing BBC planning documents on using customer data the NAO found no references to its approach to the management and mitigation of reputational and other potential risks that could arise as it increases its use of such data.54
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
30
Conclusion
Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital
Deferred
The BBC told us it has had no data breaches that it has had to report to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) this financial year. It has reported 27 data breaches since April 2020 and told us that the ICO had not taken any enforcement action against the BBC in …
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The BBC told us it has had no data breaches that it has had to report to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) this financial year. It has reported 27 data breaches since April 2020 and told us that the ICO had not taken any enforcement action against the BBC in relation to any of those cases. The BBC assured us that it monitors and manages all data incidents very carefully and that it raises incidents when it needs to.55 49 C&AG’s Report, para 17 50 Qq 72, 74 51 Q 91 52 Q 91 53 Q 92 54 C&AG’s Report, para 17 55 Qq 93–95; Letter dated 13 January from Leigh Tavaziva, BBC Group Chief Operating Officer, to PAC Chair BBC Digital 15
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Government response AI summary
The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.
Read full response →
HM Treasury