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 …
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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 local recruitment. The BBC repeatedly expressed confidence that it will deliver its Across the UK objectives. It says it has performed well in some areas, such as moving 58% of TV expenditure outside London, against its 60% target. It reported that it had caught up with previously 6 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK missed transfer expenditure targets and claimed that it will meet its overall target of transferring £700 million of its expenditure outside London by March 2028. However, in some key areas the BBC has made slow progress or missed its targets, and its explanations for how it would get back on track were not convincing. It aimed to spend 50% of its audio production budget outside London by March 2028, but had only achieved 41% of spending outside London so far, from 40% in March 2020, and it had a £23 million shortfall in transferred expenditure resulting from the cancelled relocation of the BBC Concert Orchestra outside London. By March 2023, the BBC placed 27 apprentices through its West Midlands Apprentice Hub, against a target of 50. It similarly had recruited 617 in-house apprentices against a target of 713, with 60% outside London against a target of 80%. Recommendation 3: The BBC should urgently finalise its plans for getting back on track where it is behind on implementation of Across the UK, including transferring audio spend outside London and its plans for apprentices.
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Government response AI summary
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 targets may need revision, though …
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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 …
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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 outside London.11 It told us that it knew that moving expenditure outside London would lead to economic growth and improved perception.12 The BBC had announced its £700 million commitment before finalising its Across the UK plan, budget and business case. The NAO report found that the BBC’s business case was underdeveloped, including that the BBC had not clearly stated the link between its outputs and desired change. The BBC recognised that its business case for Across the UK could 5 C&AG’s Report, Figure 1 6 Qq 17–18, 25–26; C&AG’s report, paras 1, Figure 1, paras 2.8–2.9, figure 8 7 Qq 25–26, 30 8 Qq 25–26, 29–30 9 Letter from Tim Davie, Director General, BBC, to Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, dated 1 March 2024 10 Qq 62–63 11 Qq 24–26, 29, 30, 45, 47, 62, 63 12 Qq 21, 45, 49 10 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK have benefitted from a broader look at the benefits of the programme and committed to improving its approach to business cases, incorporating best practice from HM Treasury’s guidance.13 The impact of changes to the scope of the programme
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Government response AI summary
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 drive to statistically significant reduction …
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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 …
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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 to move this into its local strategy instead. The BBC said it decided, between March and October 2021, to remove its activities in the devolved nations and local areas from Across the UK and deliver them independently. The NAO reported that the BBC considered the implementation of Across the UK to be an iterative process and that it needed to adapt its plans to meet its overall target. However, the BBC did not have an agreed process for requesting changes to Across the UK until October 2022 and decided not to review any changes made prior to this being adopted. The NAO found that this created a risk that the BBC had not properly understood the risks and impacts of these changes on its overall objectives.14
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Government response AI summary
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 the program scope and deliver …
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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 …
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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 value to audiences. We asked whether it was able to make changes to the programme at this later stage. The BBC explained that it had a responsive and flexible approach to its TV commissioning, making changes on an ongoing basis. The BBC described itself as “very footloose” regarding where it made TV content. It told us that this enabled it to be responsive to editorial and creative opportunities. We asked the BBC if it understood that it could be a big shift for a local partner to have agreed a deal for a network programme to be made in its local area, but then editorially have the 13 Qq 17–20; C&AG’s Report, paras 7, 1.12, figure 4 14 Q 39; C&AG’s Report, paras 2.2–2.3 15 Qq 27, 72–73 ; C&AG’s Report, paras 2.3, 2.5, 3.5 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK 11 programme moved somewhere else. The BBC explained that certain regions were priority regions for it and that its commitments were to provide production investment to those regions, but what the money was spent on might change over time.16
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Government response AI summary
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.
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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 …
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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 impact or delivery of Across the UK. The BBC acknowledged that its other change programmes could also affect the impact of Across the UK, but did not provide any further detail on what this looked like in practice or how it was managing this.17 We asked the BBC about the impact of its changes to local radio, including the decision to move quite a lot of content online, given that 80% of BBC local radio listeners are over 55 years old. The BBC explained that it had not cut money from local services, which had a flat budget, but reallocated funds from local radio to online services, so there had been cuts within the budget from one area to another. It said it had not closed any local radio stations but acknowledged it was making changes to programmes and presenters, with more sharing of weekday programmes. It told us that decisions to reallocate money from local radio “are not easy choices … they are incredibly difficult”.18 While the BBC acknowledged the challenge of changing the provision of local radio, it highlighted the need for it to respond to a changing media landscape, with only 15% of the population listening to local radio and mostly listening to news. It told us that even among those aged 65 to 74 years old, the largest consumption was news. The BBC committed to keep all local radio services and all breakfast shows, stating that local radio was “utterly precious” and that it was doing all it could to protect it.19 16 Qq 29, 63–66; C&AG’s Report Figure 3 17 Qq 28–29, 41 18 Qq 29, 31 19 Qq 31–32 12 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK 2 Progress so far Getting back on track
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Government response AI summary
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.
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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 …
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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 of 713, with 60% outside London against a target of 80%. As part of Across the UK, the BBC was trialling a new apprenticeship model in the West Midlands with its Apprentice Hub. Through the Apprentice Hub, apprentices were placed with local companies, which shared the costs with the BBC. By March 2023, the BBC had placed 27 apprentices through the Apprentice Hub, against a target of 50. We asked the BBC what barriers it had encountered with the Apprentice Hub, and how it was addressing these. The BBC explained that the hub was based on a demand-led model, and fewer companies than it had expected had been able to take on apprentices. While the BBC undertook to cover the recruitment and management costs of the scheme, and provide one day of paid employment every week, it was reliant on partner companies to provide, and fund, the remaining four days a week. It explained that economic conditions, including rising costs and headcount pressures, “were challenging for the small creative businesses that we wanted to work with” and that with hindsight that additional costs for these businesses to take on early-career apprentices “was probably too much”. The BBC told us that it was evaluating the scheme and reviewing how to improve its apprenticeship offer and whether it would continue with the current model.26
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Government response AI summary
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.
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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 …
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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 female, 20% to be from ethnic minority groups and 12% to idenitfy as disabled. It also has a target for 25% of staff to come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. It acknowledged that although the apprentice scheme was doing better against these targets than the BBC overall, it would like to see the scheme do better with regards to lower socio-economic diversity. In written evidence provided after the session, the BBC set out that within the apprenticeship scheme it had met or surpassed three of its diversity and inclusion targets for women (55%), people from ethnic minority backgrounds (24%) and people with a disability (16%). However, as of February 2024, 23% of apprentices were from a lower socio-economic background, against a target of 25%. We asked the BBC about the make-up, in terms of grades, of its reported 65% local hires for the jobs created through Across the UK. In written evidence provided after the session, the BBC told us that 0.9% of jobs recruited locally as part of Across the UK were for senior leaders. The BBC described the improvement in opportunities for senior national roles outside London as “a massive change”, but acknowledged that it would take time to increase the proportion of local hires.27 Reporting progress with the programme
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Government response AI summary
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 revise future apprentice numbers to …
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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 …
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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 that the network of 100 digital community reporters was originally announced as part of Across the UK before being moved into its local strategy. The written evidence 26 Q 81; C&AG’s report, paras 2.20–2.22, 3.6 27 Qq 75–76, 78–80; Letter from Tim Davie, Director General, BBC, to Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, dated 1 March 2024, pages 5–6 14 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK we received suggested that stakeholders expected that the evidence they had provided on local news would be relevant to our inquiry on Across the UK.28 Similarly, the BBC told us relocating its Birmingham premises from The Mailbox to Digbeth was a separate project to Across the UK, yet it referred to this relocation and claimed its benefits under Across the UK in its 2022–23 Annual Report and Accounts.29
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Government response AI summary
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 the program scope and deliver …
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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 …
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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 now have a benefits management strategy and plan in place. Despite this, the BBC lacked a clear timetable for evaluation and had only recently established a budget for its evaluation activity. The NAO report set out that without a robust evaluation framework, the BBC would not be able capture the impact of its work, nor change course if needed.32 We therefore asked how the BBC could be confident that Across the UK worked and was delivering the outputs it intended when the BBC did not have an evaluation framework set up from the beginning. The BBC told us that it had long-term experience of delivering activity related to Across the UK, and of measuring its impact.33
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Government response AI summary
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 program.
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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 …
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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 at a scale it considered sufficient to make an impact on the local creative 31 Q 47; C&AG’s Report, para 3.8, figure 3 32 C&AG’s report; paras 17, 3.8–3.9, 3.12 33 Q 45 34 Qq 45–48 35 Q 61; C&AG’s report; para 3.9 36 Letter dated 1 March 2024 from Tim Davie, Director General, BBC, to Dame Meg Hillier MP, Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, page 2 37 Q 55 16 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK economies, rather than being thinly spread across many areas. It focused activities on areas where it already had some presence, while increasing commissioning targets in TV and audio outside London to increase production across the UK in many locations. The BBC told us that it was considering the future-proofing of Across the UK. It said its hub approach would be a step forward in getting people into the industry by creating a thriving sector in the north-east and career opportunities at senior levels within the BBC in Glasgow, Cardiff, Birmingham or Salford.38 We questioned how thoroughly the BBC would measure the economic benefits, including the jobs it expected the programme to create, and ensure that these were truly local. The BBC said that it was going to measure the number of jobs created and it would have to take a detailed look at the local effects within each cluster. The BBC referenced a recent study about the impact of Doctor Who on the regional economy in South Wales, following its re-launch in 2005 in Cardiff (which was not part of Across the UK).39 However, the BBC would not commit to undertaking comparable evaluations for all its regional clusters to provide a standardised measure of success. However, it did expect to take a more detailed look at the impact of its activities in the West Mid
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Government response AI summary
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 the ATUK programme.
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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. …
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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. Nevertheless, it explained the importance of attracting other creative partners to the areas that it was working in. The BBC told us it needed to work with a range of partners and contributors including other broadcasters, regional Mayors, the wider production sector and freelancers, which the BBC referred to as being critical to the delivery of what it does. The BBC told us that an entire region often benefitted from having the momentum that a thriving creative sector brought. This momentum made the BBC itself much more effective as it built the critical mass needed in an area through other productions coming in, the creative energy and private investment.41
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Government response AI summary
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 commissioned a range of further …
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HM Treasury