Category:
Scotland; 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" 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 (i.e. 2007 to 2016) - an increase of around 35% on 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 - 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 commitments to:
Strengthen core services and create new local services within Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland on television, radio and online and extend
the opportunities for national cultural expression, especially in mainstream
programme forms.
Create highly local digital television news services in up to 60 areas
across the UK, available throughout the day and on demand - making TV
news as local as radio and meeting the growing demand for more local
news and information.
Offer all BBC local radio services on digital platforms, and develop
the BBC Where I Live websites to enhance their distinctiveness and so
that they become truly local.
Reinforce the BBC's commitment to the UK's indigenous languages, including
Welsh, Gaelic and Irish, working with partners such as the Gaelic Media
Service, and helping future generations to learn them by providing learning
resources across all media platforms.
Continue to invest in coverage of the Scottish Parliament and the UK's
other devolved institutions.
Stimulate the creativity of audiences, by creating more opportunities
for them to tell their own stories on the BBC's different platforms.
Increase the BBC's spending on network programme making outside London,
by building on the increased profile and volume of production from Scotland,
Wales and Northern Ireland; by developing the BBC's three main regional
production centres in England, especially Manchester; and by increasing
the contribution of 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 Scotland, Ken MacQuarrie, Controller of BBC Scotland, 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, wherever they live.
"It fits perfectly with our stated ambition of
creating regional news and information services in all media for the
regions of Scotland.
"It also gives us a platform on which to build BBC Scotland's
great success in the past three years in delivering an increasing volume
of high quality network programmes to the whole of the UK.
"These are challenges we will address with confidence,
with energy and with 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
£750m.
An increase of 35% - equivalent to just over £250m -
will take this figure above £1bn.
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%.
Moving one-fifth of all BBC network programme commissions out of London
is equivalent to around £400m at today's prices.
