Recommendations & Conclusions
14 items
2
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
The BBC has not assessed how the changes it has made to the scope of Across the UK will affect the overall shape of the programme and the benefits it is intended to deliver. Since the BBC’s announcement in March 2021, it has changed the composition of projects that make …
Government response. The BBC agrees, stating that ATUK programme benefits are updated monthly as part of programme reporting, with significant changes managed through a control process and all forecasts and actuals compared to a programme baseline.
HM Treasury
4
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
The BBC’s reporting of Across the UK does not provide Parliament nor the public with a complete picture of progress with the programme, and risks causing confusion. The BBC considered its internal governance of programmes to be tight and specific, but in its public communication of its progress with Across …
Government response. The BBC has already implemented the recommendation by making changes to its 2023-24 Annual Report and Accounts, including clearly labelling Across the UK Programme content and separating it from other activities, and adding new performance data.
HM Treasury
5
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
The BBC’s plans for evaluating Across the UK are incomplete and it does not have in place an overall approach for assessing impact. To assess Across the UK, the BBC planned to measure changes to audience perception as well as additional economic benefits such as jobs created. However, it lacked …
Government response. The BBC states it has adapted its benefits tracking into an integrated tracker and, since Phase 2 commenced in April 2023, has approved full measurement frameworks for audience and economic impact, sharing them with the NAO. It continues to gather …
HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
The BBC has not fully grasped the significance of the other bodies and communities it needs to work with effectively and which are crucial to the success of Across the UK. As part of Across the UK, the BBC has established partnerships with local authorities, combined authorities and local industry …
Government response. The BBC committed to engaging with staff by analysing staff survey results by location, engaging with divisional teams and regional leadership as part of a midpoint review, and conducting post-implementation reviews for relocations. It clarified that specific ATUK questions are …
HM Treasury
1
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the BBC on its implementation of its Across the UK programme.1
Government response. The BBC responded by stating its confidence that the Across the UK programme will exceed its financial and economic benefit targets, detailing existing success and benefits measures, and describing the positive impact on programming and regional economic growth.
HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
In June 2023, the BBC announced that its Concert Orchestra would not be moving outside London as it had originally planned. The relocation would have transferred £23 million of audio expenditure outside London. The BBC will need to find other audio expenditure to transfer if it is to meet its …
Government response. The gap in the program expenditure caused by the decision to not relocate the BBC Concert Orchestra has been closed as a result of additional activity included in the Radio & Music business case approved in May 2024.
HM Treasury
12
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
The BBC met many, but not all, of the specific targets that it set for phase one of Across the UK to the end of March 2023. By March 2023, the BBC had already commissioned 110 new and returning drama and comedy programmes reflecting communities outside London, against a target …
Government response. The response states that because of the £700 million financial benefit created by the programme, Licence Fee payers have seen significant changes to programming, and 60% of network television spend is already outside London.
HM Treasury
13
Recommendation
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
The BBC’s initial lack of planning resulted in unrealistic timelines for some areas of the programme, such as moving roles and local recruitment. It took three months for it to catch up and meet its target for transferring overall expenditure outside London, achieving its target by the end of June …
Government response. The BBC has accelerated delivery of the programme, including the realization of financial benefits, and met its Phase One financial benefit target by June 2023, just one quarter behind plan. Target implementation date is December 2025.
HM Treasury
14
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
The BBC recognised that it was behind schedule with its plans to transfer audio expenditure outside London. By March 2023, the BBC spent 41% of its expenditure on network audio production outside London, an increase of just 1 percentage point compared with 40% in March 2020. Having transferred 1 percentage …
Government response. The BBC states that its Radio and Music business plan was approved in May 2024 and is on track to deliver its contribution to the programme, including achieving 50% of network spend outside of London.
HM Treasury
18
Recommendation
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
We asked the BBC if it understood why there was public confusion about what Across the UK did, and did not, include. We observed that a member of the public might think that when something related to the decentralisation of activity brought benefits, the BBC claimed the benefits as part …
Government response. The BBC has made changes to the BBC Annual Report and Accounts for Financial Year 2023-24 to clearly label narrative and statistics that relate to the Across the UK Programme and separate these from other pan-UK activity, and has included …
HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
In October 2021, the BBC agreed a phased approach to evaluating Across the UK. According to this plan, the BBC would not develop its methodology for evaluating Across the UK until phase two of the programme (April 2023 to the end of March 2025) and would not start measuring impact …
Government response. The BBC has strengthened its management of programme benefits, introducing a refreshed approach to programme management including a new integrated benefits tracker and full measurement frameworks for audience and economic impact.
HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
We asked the BBC what precisely it would measure as part of its evaluation. It told us that it had developed frameworks for measuring two key criteria for the evaluation – the audiences framework and the economic framework. It explained that as part of the economic framework it had developed …
Government response. The BBC has strengthened its management of programme benefits, introducing a refreshed approach to programme management including a new integrated benefits tracker.
HM Treasury
24
Recommendation
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
We asked the BBC about the potential impact on Across the UK of issues within local government finance, given that several local authorities were reportedly close to declaring themselves bankrupt, or had already in effect done so, and may have to withdraw some local services. In light of current financial …
Government response. The Across the UK programme board is in regular dialogue with external partners to ensure the BBC is fully across any anticipated future issues related to delivery and the BBC continues to monitor the financial position of local partners.
HM Treasury
25
Recommendation
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Accepted
We asked the BBC what specific data its management had to tell it what its staff thought about Across the UK. It told us it did not have any specific data but said it had a comprehensive staff survey where it looked at how people felt in each location and …
Government response. The BBC will improve monitoring of staff views by analysing staff survey results by base/location, engaging with divisional teams and regional base leadership for feedback as part of the midpoint review, and conducting post-implementation reviews for divisional relocations. Target implementation …
HM Treasury