Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
BBC acknowledges public confusion regarding the scope of "Across the UK" and its external communication.
Recommendation
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 of Across the UK, but when, for example, radio shows were being cancelled, the BBC appeared not to want to associate this with Across the UK as it was a bad news story. The BBC said it could understand the risk, and that these were valid concerns, but told us that it thought that it had made the right calls in these areas. The BBC acknowledged that there was a difference between how it communicated about Across the UK externally and its internal management, which it considered to be tight and specific with Across the UK managed separately from other change programmes. It explained that it considered its management and governance of programmes to be clear so that it could demonstrate the change in benefits or scope of individual programmes, but that when it communicated broadly, using tools such as its Annual Report, it aimed to set out its “overall ambitions and how we are meeting the wider public purposes”. It recognised, however, that its approach might cause confusion regarding what projects are included in Across the UK and which are not.30 28 Qq 29, 39, 40; BBC0001 Written evidence submitted by National World plc, 19 February 2024; BBC0002 Written evidence submitted by News Media Association, 19 February 2024 29 Qq 38–39, 60; C&AG’s report, para 2.4 30 Qq 38–41, 60 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK 15 3 Challenges for the future Evaluating benefits and impact
Government Response Summary
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 additional performance data.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The BBC agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 The BBC has reflected on the comments of the former Committee and have made further changes in approach to the BBC Annual Report and Accounts for Financial Year 2023- 24. 4.3 First, the BBC has aimed to clearly label narrative and statistics that relate to the Across the UK Programme and separate these from other pan-UK activity. This is evidenced on pages 32 and 33 of the latest BBC Annual Report and Accounts (ARA). Second, the BBC has included additional performance data in the 23/24 ARA for the first time - detailing the reach and estimated contribution to consumption of BBC Nations and regions content in the different nations of the UK. 4.4 As part of this recommendation, the Committee commented on the BBC’s ‘cuts to local radio’. To clarify, although BBC Local plans in England to reprioritise some local investment from radio to online formed part of the original ATUK announcement in March 2021, these were removed from the programme business case and baseline which was approved in October 2021.