Recommendation 16

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