Category:
Northern Ireland; BBC
Date: 29.06.2004
Printable version
The biggest
shift of investment out of London and into the Nations and Regions in
the BBC's history was announced today by the BBC's new Chairman Michael
Grade and Director-General Mark Thompson.
At its heart is a clear commitment to continue the
devolution of the BBC to the nations, regions and communities of the
UK.
As its title Building Public Value suggests, the document
sets out a vision for the BBC of the future founded on the creation
of "public value" and based on the principles of universality,
fairness and accountability.
It calls for "a BBC which reflects the whole UK
in its output and which significantly shifts its broadcasting, production
and other operations out of London and into the rest of the country."
There are three specific new commitments to the Nations
and Regions of the UK:
Firstly, the BBC pledges to increase its total expenditure in the Nations
and Regions to more than £1 billion during the next ten year Charter
period (ie 2007 to 2016) an increase of around 35% of the present
total
Secondly, the BBC pledges to increase the number of
its public service staff based outside London from the present figure
of 42% to at least 50% over the same ten year period
Thirdly, it pledges to devolve around a fifth of all
BBC network programme commissioning out of London a total of
around £400 million in today's terms in a radical shift
from the present situation, where virtually no network commissioning
happens outside London.
Central to these pledges is a strategy to increase the
localness of BBC services across the whole UK and the proportion of
network programmes made in different parts of the UK.
Included are outline plans to:
Develop and expand local services within Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland on television, radio and online to meet the
growing demands for more local news and information in each Nation
Create a highly local digital television news
service - making TV news as local as radio by offering up to 60 areas
across the UK new services of local news and information throughout
the day and on demand
Offer all BBC local radio services on digital
platforms, and developing the BBC Where I Live websites to enhance their
distinctiveness and so that they become truly local
Extend the network of BBC Open Centres and BBC
Buses where partnerships allow and audience need is greatest, to help
people learn basic computer skills and take part in our programmes.
Seeking to stimulate the creativity of audiences,
by creating more opportunities for them to contribute to local BBC projects
like Voices, Video Nation and Digital Storytelling
Reinforce the BBC's commitment to the UK's indigenous
languages, including Welsh, Gaelic and Irish, and help future generations
to learn them by providing learning resources across all media platforms
Increase the BBC's spending on network programme-making
outside London from its production centres in the three Nations, its
three main regional production centres in England, and from the independent
sector outside London
Explore the potential for moving professional
and support staff out of London as part of a continuing drive to reduce
BBC overheads.
The BBC's new Director-General, Mark Thompson, said
today: "The BBC is still far too London-based and this is simply
not acceptable for a modern public service broadcaster that draws its
income from all parts of the UK.
"The BBC should reflect the
whole UK. One of the best ways of ensuring that it does is to base it
across the whole UK, close to audiences and talent in all the nations
and regions.
"Over the period of the next Charter, there will
be a significant shift of money, commissioning power, production and
people out of London and into the rest of the UK.
"Licence payers everywhere
will benefit from a BBC that is far more active in the area where they
live and creates more programmes and services that are directly relevant
to their lives and interests."
Welcoming the promise of further investment by the BBC
in Northern Ireland, Anna Carragher, Controller of BBC Northern Ireland,
said: "This is a vision of a BBC determined to expand its local
services in all parts of the UK and increase the value it brings into
people's lives everywhere.
"It also gives us a platform to build on BBC Northern
Ireland's great success in delivering high quality network programmes
to the whole of the UK.
"These are challenges we will address with energy
and imagination."
Notes to Editors
The BBC's combined current expenditure on local and regional programming
across the UK, and on network production outside the M25, is approximately
£750 million. A 35% increase will take this figure above £1
billion.
42% of the BBC's public service staff - ie, excluding staff who work
for the BBC's commercial subsidiaries or the World Service - currently
work outside the M25. Based on these current staffing levels, a shift
of around 1,700 from London to the rest of the country will be required
to reach the new target of 50%.
