Recommendation 25

We asked the BBC what specific data its management had to tell it what its staff thought about Across the UK. It told us it did not have any specific data but said it had a comprehensive staff survey where it looked at how people felt in each location and provided “world-class data on staff engagement”. We asked why it did not collect specific data given the clear importance the BBC attached to Across the UK, the fact it was designed to change the culture of the BBC and its disruptive nature for some of its London-based staff. The BBC told us it had an appropriate system in place which it considered proportionate, and that it focused on “good leadership” rather than surveys.44 The BBC was also unable to tell us at what point it engaged with its staff and musicians regarding the proposed relocation of the Concert Orchestra and could not explain its decision-making process. In written evidence provided after the session, the BBC confirmed it engaged with the Concert Orchestra musicians, management and production in October 2021, some six months after the move was announced in March 2021.45 43 Qq 94–96 44 Qq 84–85 45 Qq 33–37; Letter dated 1 March 2024 from Tim Davie, Director General, BBC, to Dame Meg Hillier, Chair, Committee of Public Accounts, dated 1 March 2024, page 3 18 The BBC’s implementation of Across the UK