Recommendations & Conclusions
11 items
3
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
The BBC remains very confident that it will deliver Across the UK as expected – we are concerned this is misplaced, given it is behind schedule in key areas. The BBC’s initial lack of planning resulted in unrealistic timelines for some areas of the programme, such as moving roles and …
Government response. The BBC's Radio and Music business plan was approved in May 2024, and it is confident it's on track to complete audio team relocations by April 2025. However, the apprentice program is under review due to savings plans, and future …
HM Treasury
7
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
We repeatedly asked the BBC to clarify how its activities will deliver the objectives of Across the UK. In response, the BBC gave us multiple examples of the programmes it has moved outside London and the local partnerships it had set up, and emphasised its target of transferring £700 million …
Government response. The BBC will review delivery of the Across the UK programme to ensure the programme is still forecast to deliver its intended benefits. The BBC forecasts comfortably meeting the financial benefit of the ATUK programme and their goal is to …
HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
Since announcing Across the UK in March 2021, the BBC had de-scoped some activities from the programme, including moving some activities to other initiatives. For example, the BBC originally planned to create a new network of more than 100 digital community reporters across the UK, but later in 2021 decided …
Government response. The government acknowledges that the BBC had made changes to the programme following its original public announcement in March 2021, clarifying that the ATUK program business plan was set after the decision to remove Local and Nation’s journalism commitments from …
HM Treasury
10
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
The BBC told us that the third phase of the programme, which will run from April 2025 to the end of March 2028, would focus on maximising the impact of the strategy and, where necessary, make changes to its commissions to ensure that it was getting the maximum return and …
Government response. The government notes the BBC's claims of significant changes to programming, with 60% of network television spend outside London and a projected 50% of radio and music spend invested outside the capital by the end of the current Charter.
HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
The BBC told us that Across the UK only included work to move activities outside the M25 and that it had separate strategies for its related initiatives in local services. We therefore asked the BBC about the potential impact of other change programmes, particularly in audio, that could affect the …
Government response. The response notes that BBC Local and Nations initiatives have been delivered by BBC Nations since October 2021, which is when the decision was made to remove Local and Nation’s journalism commitments from the ATUK program scope.
HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
The BBC was also behind on its targets for apprentice recruitment, namely to double the number of in-house apprentices by the end of 2025, supporting 1,000 in any given year, with 80% of its apprentices outside London. By March 2023, the BBC had recruited 617 in-house apprentices, against a target …
Government response. The BBC has supported over 1,300 apprentices, but the apprentice program has been impacted by significant savings plans, so they are reviewing the ability to deliver their full apprentice target in 2025.
HM Treasury
16
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
We asked the BBC about its diversity and inclusion targets for apprentices, and whether it shared our concerns that these were not being met. The BBC explained that it had set overall diversity and inclusion targets for the whole of the BBC. This was for 50% of staff to be …
Government response. The apprentice programme has been impacted by significant savings plans across the BBC, including reductions to staff headcount and the BBC’s ability to deliver its full apprentice target in 2025 is currently being reviewed and it may be necessary to …
HM Treasury
17
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
In response to our inquiry on Across the UK, we received written evidence relating to local news and the impact of the BBC’s changes to its local services. Although the BBC told us that its local strategy was being delivered as a separate strategy to Across the UK, we noted …
Government response. The government acknowledges that the BBC had made changes to the programme following its original public announcement in March 2021, clarifying that the ATUK program business plan was set after the decision to remove Local and Nation’s journalism commitments from …
HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
In November 2023, the NAO found that the BBC did not yet have a fully developed evaluation plan to assess its progress with implementing Across the UK and to capture the intended benefits. The NAO reported that at this stage of the programme it would have expected the BBC to …
Government response. The BBC has strengthened its management of programme benefits, including introducing a refreshed approach to programme management and has adapted its benefits tracking to produce a new integrated benefits tracker which provides a holistic view of benefits tracking for the …
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
We asked the BBC how it was future-proofing Across the UK and how it would ensure that it was not simply replicating the problems of London elsewhere in the future in its regional hubs. These hubs refer to the locations in which the BBC set up Across the UK activities …
Government response. The government notes that the BBC has also relocated editorial decision-making, more than doubling the number of network television commissioners based outside London from 15 to 41 and that the BBC is forecasting to comfortably meet the financial benefit of …
HM Treasury
23
Conclusion
Twenty-Sixth Report - The BBC’s impleme…
Acknowledged
We asked the BBC if it was always a driver or sometimes the follower in a local creative economy. Giving the example of its move to Salford, the BBC described itself as an “effective first domino”, saying that the local supply chain grew by 70% when it invested in Salford. …
Government response. The government notes the forecasted regional economic benefits of the shift in editorial spend, including PwC's conclusion that BBC ATUK spend is forecast to lead to 4,750 new creative businesses and 45,000 additional jobs outside London and that BBC has …
HM Treasury