Recommendation 22

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