ConsulTing
wiTh you/delivering
for you/

Part One:
Annual Report andAccounts 2008/09

The BBC Trust’s
review and assessment

GETTING

Chairman’s foreword / Performance AgAinst
strategic objectives / financial performance /supporting and challenging the executive /BBC services at a glance / the trust’s role /16/
Performance

2008/09 plan / Audience councils / purposes /service performance / stewardship of the licence fee /upholding licence fee payers’ interests /42/
	Looking ahead

The trust’s plans for 2009/10 /46 /	Governance

BBC Trustees / delivering value for money /The BBC and the wider economy / securing editorial
standards / serving ALL audiences /58 /	Inside the trust

INSIDE THE Trust / contacts /Overview/

02/
	OVERVIEW

01

OVERVIE

04 / chairman’s foreword/
06 / PERFORMANCE AGAINST STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES/
08 / financial performance/
10 / Supporting and challenging the Executive/
12 / BBC services AT A GLANCE/
14 / the trust’s role/Overview/

W/
03

OVERVIEW/
ChAiRmAn’s fORewORd/

BB

Overview/04

welcome to the trust’s Annual Report. it is published at a time when
we have been engaged in a wide ranging debate about the future ofcommunications in our country, spurred by the government’s digital
britain review. Our role in this debate has been to ensure the voices oflicence payers have been heard. And that goes to the heart of our job
as trustees – to be the voice of licence fee payers and to get the bestout of the bbC on their behalf. After all, they own and pay for it.
i believe there are certain things almost everyone wants from thebbC – that it constantly produces exciting content and pushes theboundaries; is impartial and isn’t influenced by either political orcommercial voices; that it squeezes the most value possible out of
every pound from the licence fee payer; and that it maintains thehighest possible standards. And this last means that the bbC should
aspire to be better than others, that it should set the standard.

GoverninG the BBC for liCenCe fee payers

how do we make sure the bbC achieves these aims? the trust has
considerable power to wield on behalf of licence fee payers to shapethe bbC over the longer term to serve the public better – and weare not afraid to act quickly and decisively in their interests. Our roleis both to challenge and support the director-general and his staff
in delivering for licence fee payers. in practice this means being clear
with managers and programme makers about what the public wants
and, when there’s a problem, challenging them to come back witha solution which, once examined and agreed, we then follow up
to make sure it has had the desired effect.

the BBC’s year

so how have we done this year? Our starting point is what audiences
think. One of the questions we ask regularly is: ‘would you miss thebbC if it wasn’t there?’ And i’m delighted that the value the public
places on the bbC is rising – this year 85% said that they would,
compared with 70% two years ago. indeed performance against
all our objectives – reach, quality, value for money, trust, deliveryof our public purposes and efficiency – is moving in the right direction,
thanks to the efforts of the bbC’s talented staff. but there is further
to go in making sure the bbC is properly shaped for the future andin responding to concerns the public raises with us.

tightening editorial controls in light of ross/Brand

the bbC scored a spectacular own-goal this year, with the Ross/
brand case. what this showed was that the public feels a strong senseof frustration when the bbC fails to measure up to expectations,particularly when failure is self-inflicted.

there was undoubtedly failure by the performers, but the biggest
failure was in editorial control, which allowed the show to air. thetrust acted immediately, putting its sometimes uncomfortable findings
into the public domain. within a week of the strong public reaction
we had got to the bottom of the problem. we were very clear withthe director-general that those responsible must be held to account,leading to two senior resignations and the suspension of jonathanRoss, and that there needed to be a dramatic tightening of editorial
control. Our position within the bbC enabled us to act quickly anddeliver clear results.
this case also led us to a much wider examination of the public’s viewson taste and decency, which will inform our new editorial guidelines
next year. we know many people want to see a tightening of editorial
controls and we will be consulting widely on the new guidelines. but
we must steer clear of putting too heavy a burden on programme
makers so that they can still produce the risk-taking, innovative andchallenging content the public expects.

Quality of programming

On that front, we’ve seen evidence this year of improving satisfaction
with the quality of bbC programmes. everyone will have theirfavourites, mine included A Short Stay In Switzerland, Being Human andFive Minutes of Heaven. this is where people most want their licencefee to be used. the extraordinary privilege of this funding gives thebbC the opportunity to take risks and do things that commercial
broadcasters can’t. but it is also the area where it has furthest to travel,
both in constantly coming up with new ideas and stopping doing things
that have become a bit stale.

serving audiences across the UK

the bbC is often seen as too focused on london and the south
east and, as an adopted midlander, it’s one of my personal missions
to address this. it’s an ambition that is shared by my fellow trustees.
we’ve made good progress here with new targets on making
programmes outside london, and new investment in salford andelsewhere. we’ve also pushed for changes in editorial style toreflect better the reality of decision making in the uK’s devolved
administrations and the Audience Councils that advise the trust
are telling us that all this is beginning to make a difference.

Overview/

05

Getting value for money

Getting value for money for the licence fee payer has never been
more critical than in these challenging economic times. Despite licencefee funding the BBC is not immune from the recession. Income fromboth the licence fee and commercial enterprises goes down, putting
the BBC’s budget under pressure, which makes securing maximum
return on investment for licence fee payers more important thanever. This year the BBC made good progress on reducing overheads,
but we have set some challenging targets over five years to release
another £1.9billion in efficiencies. And we need to maintain andstrengthen discipline on top salaries. Every penny saved means money
released for better programmes and new services like the iPlayer.

Supporting other public service broadcasters

The BBC also has a duty to help other public service broadcasters
whose funding is now coming under strain. Over the past year the
BBC has stepped up its efforts to work with other broadcasters tofind ways to help them reduce their costs or increase their income
through imaginative partnerships. This is important because we know
the public welcomes choice and regards competition as important,especially when it comes to news. But at the same time we needto maintain focus on the BBC’s own services, since it cannot afford
to be distracted or spread its energy and resources too thinly.

Defending the BBC’s independence

One of the things licence fee payers value most about the BBC is its
independence, which is the foundation of its reputation at home andabroad. The Trust’s job is to protect the right of the Director-General
to make editorial decisions without fear or favour. An example of thisover the past year was the DEC Gaza Appeal. It was important thatthe BBC made the decision whether or not to broadcast the appeal
without undue influence. Our job was to give the Director-General
the space to make this decision. Defending the BBC’s independence
will continue to be one of the most important parts of our role.

The Trust’s six commitments

The BBC’s relationship with licence fee payers rests on six
clear commitments:• Standards: to maintain the very highest editorial standards thatreflect the broad views of BBC audiences• Serving all audiences: to offer value to everyone in the UK,
whoever they are, wherever they live
• Content: to be a leader not a follower, offering content of thehighest quality and of a kind that no-one else is doing• Supporting public service broadcasting: to the extent possible
within the obligations to licence fee payers, to support the provisionof public service content by others and sustain contribution to the
UK creative sector• Value: only to spend as much money as the BBC needs to deliver
the public mission set out in the Charter• Independence: never to allow external interests to exercise undue
influence on the BBC’s editorial or operational independence
The BBC has big ambitions to serve the public better, bringing
them new technologies and content without losing any of the very
high standards of journalism and programme making that are its
foundations. As Chairman, I am determined that the Trust will support
and challenge the BBC to serve all of the audiences in the UK better
than ever, continually improving itself so that it maintains and deserves
the high level of trust and affection that the British public has for it.

Sir Michael Lyons
Chairman
18 June 2009

Overview/
performance against strategic objectives/

PERFORMANCE AGAINSTSTRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Performance across the BBC against its six
objectives is moving in the right direction,although we expect any significant
improvements to take several years.

Overview/

06

Here we set out the Trust’s assessment of the BBC’s performanceagainst the six objectives we agreed with the Executive last year forthe duration of the licence fee period. Agreeing these objectives
was a condition of our approval of the Executive’s strategic plan,‘Delivering Creative Future’, and last year we made a commitment
to report publicly on them. We judge performance against an agreed
set of measures, and the data is gathered from the BBC’s main
audience surveys.

1. The BBC should maintain the
maximum reach consistent with
its purposes and values.
BBC exceeds 90% reach target• Weekly reach across all BBC services in 2008/09 has remained
steady at 93% (93% in 2007/08)1
Reach is an important measure since the BBC can promote its
purposes only when people use its services. We agreed a target
with the Executive that the BBC should aim to reach 90% of UK
adults with its services each week, and this year the BBC hascontinued to exceed that target, reaching 93%. With an everincreasing choice of media available, the Executive deserves credit
for this very strong performance.
The number of people watching TV has remained high, despite
increasing numbers turning to online activities and media on demand.
The number of people listening to the BBC’s radio stations has also
held up very well.

2. The BBC should increase thedistinctiveness and quality of
its output.
Slight improvement across all metrics• The BBC’s average score out of 10 for ‘High Quality’ has risen
to 6.4 (6.3 in 2007/08)1• The proportion of those who agree strongly that the BBC
is High Quality has risen to 34% (32% in 2007/08)1• The proportion of those who agree that the BBC is High Quality
has remained stable at 66% (66% in 2007/08)1• The average appreciation index (AI) score for BBC Television
has risen to 80 (79 in 2007/08)2, 3• The average appreciation index (AI) score for BBC Radio hasrisen to 79 (78 in 2007/08)2, 3• The proportion who agree strongly that BBC Television is‘original and different’ has risen to 36% (32% in 2007/08)2, 3
As a publicly-funded broadcaster, this is a major responsibility for
the BBC.
Headline measures show a small positive trend. Our main measure –those who agree strongly that the BBC is high quality – is demanding,and just over one-third of those surveyed fall into this category.
A further measure, those who agree at all that the BBC is highquality, captures around two-thirds of those surveyed.
Appreciation scores for BBC TV and radio programmes have risen
slightly this year, as have audience perceptions that TV programming is‘original and different’. However, our new purpose remit research (seepage 33) shows that audiences think that this objective is increasingly
important and it therefore remains our highest priority for the BBC.
We will use our reviews of BBC One, Two and Four this year to focus
on how BBC Television can meet audience expectations of being
original and distinctive.

Small signs of improvement• The proportion of those who are ‘high approvers’of the BBC has risen to 37% (36% in 2007/08)1• The proportion of those who are ‘low approvers’of the BBC has dropped to 12% (13% in 2007/08)1
There have always been varying levels of approval of the BBC
amongst the public, but the BBC has always aimed to serve all,regardless of their level of approval.
At the end of this year there were marginally more high approvers
and marginally fewer low approvers. While we recognise that it isunrealistic to expect that the BBC will perform equally well among allgroups in society, there is still some way we can go towards appealing
to middle and lower approvers.

4. The BBC should restore trust
in its output.
We remain very focused on this area following a serious
breach of editorial guidelines this year on BBC Radio 2• The average score out of 10 for ‘I Trust the BBC’ has risen
to 6.0 (5.9 in 2007/08)1• The proportion of those who agree strongly with the statement‘I Trust the BBC’ has risen to 29% (28% in 2007/08)1• The proportion of those who agree with the statement ‘I Trust
the BBC’ has risen to 57% (55% in 2007/08)1
We set this objective in response to a number of editorial incidents
in 2007 which seemed to have a tangible impact on the level ofaudiences’ trust in the BBC.
Our main measure for this objective is demanding – those who‘strongly agree’ that they ‘trust the BBC’. There has been a small
increase in the proportion of those surveyed who fit into thiscategory to 29%, while 57% of adults ‘agree’ that they trust the BBC.
Importantly, the proportion of those who trust BBC News is muchhigher at around 78%.
The very serious breach of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines which
took place on Radio 2 in The Russell Brand Show in the autumn
demonstrated to us that, while lessons about taking audiences’ trust
seriously had been learned in many parts of the BBC, editorial control
and compliance were still weak in some areas, leading to a very serious
breach of the BBC’s editorial standards. As we report on page 39,
we have instructed the Executive to take a number of measures as aresult of this incident and we will be assessing the effectiveness of theseactions later this year.

source: Pan bbC tracking survey.
bbC Pulse survey, weighted average for programmes across all hours,with minimum 50+ respondents per programme.
3
Changes to bbC Pulse panel may have had some impact on trends from2007/08 to 2008/09.
1
2

5. The BBC should increase the deliveryof its public purposes.
There are some areas where delivery of the public
purposes appears to be increasing, but audience
expectations remain high so significant improvement
is still required
The BBC is required by the Charter to promote a number ofpublic purposes across all of its services. Our audience research in2007 showed that there were a number of areas where the BBC’s
performance in delivering these purposes was below expectations.
We termed these areas ‘performance gaps’, and this objective covers
our aim that these gaps should be addressed during the current
Charter period.
The research we commissioned shows that the public believes there
to have been some improvements this year. However, improved
BBC performance is matched by rising public expectations in someareas, such as high quality journalism and demand for high quality
and original television.
We recognise the scale of the challenge in meeting these highexpectations and will continue to urge the Executive to find ways of
doing so in the coming year. Our own programme of work, such as
the television service reviews, will contribute by helping us understandaudiences’ expectations and behaviour better. You can read more
about the BBC’s performance in delivering its public purposes on
pages 22 to 32.

6. The BBC should deliver an improvementof 3% each year against its efficiency
targetEfficiency savings of £192million have been made thisyear (net of costs); BBC appears to be on track todeliver this target
Licence fee funding is a great privilege for the BBC, and it has a duty
to make sure that it spends public money as efficiently as possible.
For this reason, we set the Executive a cumulative 3% efficiency
target over the five-year period to 2012/13.
The Executive is reporting good progress against this target but weaccept it is too early to make a judgement as to whether the savings
declared are real efficiency gains or have affected content quality.
However, performance measures suggest that service quality is holding
up well. We have reviewed the information systems to ensure wehave a good foundation for assessing performance and you can readmore about this over the page. You can read more about specificactions we have taken to assess and improve the BBC’s efficiency inspecific areas, for example talent costs, later in this Annual Report.

07

Overview/

3. The BBC should maintain perceived
value among high approvers; And, theBBC should increase perceived value
among middle and low approvers.

OveRview/
finAnCiAl PeRfORmAnCe/

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCEThe BBC is funded in a unique way, withmost coming from the licence fee paid for byhouseholds across the UK. This funding gives
the BBC exceptional privileges and we have a
responsibility to ensure this money is spent well.

Overview/

08

Unlike profit-making organisations we are not focused on the bottom
line. Instead we need to ensure the BBC delivers real and tangible
value both for the licence fee payer and for the wider UK economy.
This translates into five key financial objectives:• maximising the BBC’s income by collecting the licence fee
as efficiently as possible• making the BBC as efficient as possible, and providing goodvalue for money• maximising the returns the BBC makes on programmes paid
for by the licence fee• spreading the benefit of the licence fee across the whole of the UK• ensuring the licence fee supports the wider creative economy
The BBC’s performance against these financial objectives is set out
opposite, and you can read a detailed commentary in the financial
review in Part Two of this Annual Report. We comment below
on the financial risks facing the BBC and our response to them.

Managing financial risk in the recession

Although the licence fee provides the BBC with considerable
security, the BBC is not immune to wider pressures in the economy.
These include:• the effect of falling property values on plans to make the BBC
estate more efficient• lower growth in the number of new households paying thelicence fee• the trading environment for BBC Worldwide, whose profits goback to the BBC to be used for the benefit of licence fee payers
You can find out more about these specifics risks in the financial
review in Part Two of this report. With more uncertainty overfuture income it is important for the BBC to live within its means.
Accordingly the Executive has identified further potential savings
within the current licence fee period, beyond the 3% pa (net)efficiency target we had previously set. These include:• reducing the scale of ongoing expenditure• freezing senior executive pay in 2009/10• not paying bonuses in that year
We have approved these further cost savings, although we havemade clear that they must not compromise programme quality,
which we will be monitoring closely.

Measuring performance

The BBC Trust and Executive have developed a measurement
framework to help us make an informed judgement as to how wellthe BBC is delivering against the strategic objectives set out in thesix-year plan, and also to assess the BBC’s effectiveness in driving
efficiency while maintaining quality.
In particular we will be considering the quality measures in thecontext of the financial savings made in order to reach a judgement
as to whether the savings being achieved under the BBC’s
continuous improvement programme represent real efficiency
gains, ie that they have not impacted on the performance of theservices the BBC is delivering.
In order that we can make informed judgements on BBC
performance we wanted some assurance on the data used
to report performance. Accordingly we asked the National
Audit Office (NAO) to consider the quality of the data systems
underpinning the reporting of the performance aspect of efficiency
savings. The NAO has confirmed to us:“The BBC uses well-established systems for measuring performance
which have been in use for some time and pre-date its continuous
improvement programme. They provide the BBC with a goodlevel of assurance that performance data are accurate and reliable.
The BBC is using these performance measurement systems to
support its reporting on the impact of its continuous improvement
programme for the period 2008/09 to 2012/13.
The BBC’s measurement arrangements, however, can give
only limited assurance on the direct impact of the continuous
improvement programme as many factors, not just efficiency
initiatives, influence performance. The arrangements should,
however, give accurate and reliable information on performanceoverall and, over time, could identify recurring adverse impacts
on performance.”
The NAO work focused on the non-financial data since the BBC’s
external auditors, KPMG, review the financial savings declaredeach year.
At this stage of the continuous improvement programme we
recognise that it is too early to make a judgement as to whether thesavings being achieved are real efficiencies in terms of the impact onservices, for example because of the time between commissioning
decisions and delivery of content. However we are pleased that theperformance data systems in place provide a sound foundation onwhich we can make our judgements in the future.

We want to make it easier for people to pay their television licence– online and telephone transactions now account for over one-thirdof the total, and have helped the BBC to keep collection and evasion
costs at 2007/08 levels.
Licence fee collection/evasion %
06/07
07/08
08/09

9.2
8.7
8.7

LI
Spend outside London is down very slightly year-on-year as
the BBC delivers efficiencies and implements its plans to make 50%
of its network television production outside London by 2016 – upfrom just over one-third this year. We are reviewing what targets
should be in place for radio.
Licence fee spend in nations/regions £m
06/07
884
984
07/08
948
08/09

SPEN

Once more, the BBC spent over £1billion in the UK’s creative economy– commissioning programmes from independents (37% of total eligible
hours over the year) and collaborating with other creative partners.
Spend in creative economy £bn
06/07
07/08
08/09

Despite difficult trading circumstances for the industry, BBC
Worldwide increased its sales to £1billion for the first time (including
its share of joint ventures and intra-group sales), however its statutory
profit was down – partly due to continuing investment as well as
cost write-offs in relation to the collapse of Woolworths and theCompetition Commission’s rejection of Kangaroo, its video-ondemand proposal.
BBC Worldwide statutory profit
before interest and tax £m
06/07
07/08
86
08/09

111
118

E

The BBC started its new efficiency programme in April 2008 and has
already saved £237million (£192million net of costs). We set the BBCa target to achieve 3% cumulative savings of £1.9billion (15% of BBC
cost base), which will be re-invested in better content and services.
Gross efficiency savings £mProjected

2,000

530

1.9bn

08/09 09/10 10/11 11/12 12/13

Total

1,500

470
1,000

390
500

1.1
1.1
1.1

09

BBC worlDwiDe

0

300
237

Overview/

LI

OveRview/
suPPORting And ChAllenging the exeCutive/

Supporting andchallenging the
Executive

Overview/

10

We supported the Executive in delivering value
for licence fee payers, ensuring great quality
content and, this year, building partnerships
with industry, while challenging themwhere the BBC has fallen short of its own
high standards.

50

11

16

12

6

16,93950%

28

Audience Council meetings with licence fee payers

radio phone-ins carried out by Trustees to hearaudiences’ views

Select Committee hearings of the Parliaments
and Assemblies of the UK attended by Trustees
as representatives of the BBC

pieces of audience research commissioned

public consultations held

responses received to 12 consultationsof Network TV production to be based outside London editorial complaints appeals upheld/partly
by 2016 (under Ofcom’s definitions) – a challenging
upheld by Editorial Standards Committee
new target set by the Trust for the Executive
out of a total of 75 consideredSp

ConsulTaTion resPonses

Trust expenditure £m
Trust expenditure as a percentage of BBC UK public services
spend has fallen from 0.34% to 0.31%.

Total responses: 16,939

07/08
08/09

Review of services foryounger audiences
Review of licence fee collection
Review of children’s services
Trust assessment of
Project Canvas proposals
Local video provisional
Other

11,90910,517

Trustee remuneration
Other operating costs

Staff costs
Restructuring costs

54%
24%
15%
5%
1%
1%

Ofcom fees £m
07/08
08/09

3,744
4,482
11

Overview/

Regulatory fees
Market impact assessment fees

2008/09 evenTs
Ap

M

June 08

July 08AS• 27 updated BBC
service licences
published, reflecting
outcome of Trust’s
major research andconsultation work
last year.
• Trust and Executive
launch debate
around public service
broadcasting (PSB)
ahead of Ofcom’s
first report on the
future of PSB.

• Service review
of BBC Online
published; key
findings on
performance,
distinctivenessand budgets.
• Trust sets significant
increase in target% of Network TV
produced in thenations and regions.

• Impartiality reportconcludes BBC
must improve range,
clarity and precisionof network news
coverage of nations
and regions.
• Review of BBC
talent costs says noevidence BBC ispushing up market
price or overpaying
for talent andhighlights importanceof nurturing newtalent and controlling
cost pressures.

• Trust upholds partsof appeals about theuse of sponsorshipin BBC Sports
Personality of theYear and begins apublic consultation
on revised
sponsorship policy.
• Trust begins review
of BBC’s commercial
activities.

• First Gaelic TV
channel in UK,
BBC ALBA, given
service licence
following a full public
value test by the Trust.
• Review of theWindow of Creative
Competition(WOCC) finds that
it is working well,with no bias towards
in-house teams
or independent
producers.

• Public consultations
for review ofservices for younger
audiences/tv licencecollection begin.
• New complaints
system comes
into operation.

Oct

N

D

Jan 09FM• Trust conducts
and publishes fullinquiry into offensive
calls broadcast on
The Russell Brand
Show and requires
Executive tobroadcast on-air
apology. BBC
Executive alsoannounces a raftof measures toensure futurecompliance witheditorial guidelines.

• Executive plans for
local video service
rejected by the Trust;Executive required
to develop new plans
for local news.

• BBC’s partnershipplans highlighted
as part of trust
response to
Phase 2 of Ofcom’s
Psb review.
• Individual complaints
about licence feecollection consideredby the trust for the
first time.

• Trust considers
complaint against thedirector-general’s
decision not tobroadcast a deC
appeal for gaza,
determining that hehad acted correctly
throughout.

•R eview of BBC’s
services for children
concludes services
performing very well
but some areas for
improvement.
• Public consultation
on BBC plans forInternet Protocol
Television joint
venture (Project
Canvas) launched.

• Review of licence feecollection concludes
TV Licensing must
balance firmness
with fairness.
• Value for money
report on strategic
contracts concludes
efficiencies are being
achieved but BBC
needs to do betterto improve services.

OveRview/bbC seRviCes At A glAnCe/

BBC Services at a glance
NETWORK television

Overview/

12

BBC One aims to be
the UK’s most valued
television channel, withthe broadest range of
quality programmes of any
UK mainstream network.

BBC Two brings programmesof depth and substance to abroad audience. It originates
the greatest amount andrange of factual programmingof all BBC TV channels,
combined with distinctivearts, comedy and drama.

BBC Three is dedicated toinnovative British content
and talent. The channel aims
to provide a broad mix ofprogrammes aimed primarily
at younger audiences.

BBC Four aims to be British
television’s most intellectuallyand culturally enriching
channel, offering a distinctive
mix of documentaries,
performance, music, film
and topical features.

The CBBC channel offers adistinctive mixed schedule for
6–12 year olds, encouraging
each child to strengthen his
or her existing interests anddevelop new ones.

BBC Radio 3 centres onclassical music, around which
it provides a broad spectrumof jazz, world music, arts
programmes and drama;
there is a strong emphasis
on musical performancefrom across the UK.

BBC Radio 4 aims to use thepower of the spoken word tooffer programming of depth
which seeks to engage andinspire, with a unique mix offactual programmes, drama,
readings and comedy.

BBC Radio 5 live broadcasts
live news and sport 24 hours
a day, covering events as they
happen in an accessible style.

BBC Global News brings
together the BBC World
Service, BBC World News
television channel, theBBC’s international-facing
online news services inEnglish, BBC Monitoring and
BBC World Service Trust.

BBC Local Radio is a primarily
speech-based service of news,
information and debate,with a strong emphasis
on interactivity.

Radio Scotland is a speech-led
service for adults; BBC Radionan Gàidheal is a speech andmusic radio service for Gaelic
speakers. Both services offer
a wide range of genres andreflect the issues, events,
culture and interests of thepeople of Scotland.

NETWORK radio

BBC Radio 1 aims to offer ahigh-quality service for young
audiences combining the best
new music, a comprehensive
range of live studio sessions,concerts and festivals, andtailored speech output.

BBC Radio 2 brings listeners
a broad range of popularand specialist music focusedon British talent and live
performances, complemented
by a broad range of speech
output including current
affairs, documentaries,
religion and the arts.

Journalism

The BBC News channel
is a 24 hour television
news service, providing
comprehensive coverage andanalysis of the biggest andmost significant stories in the
UK and internationally.

BBC Parliament is the
only UK channel dedicatedto the coverage of politics,
featuring debates, committees
and the work of the
UK’s parliamentary andlegislative bodies, and theEuropean Parliament.

The Trust assesses the Executive’s performancein delivering the BBC’s services and holds themto account.

The BBC HD channel is a highdefinition television showcase
for a range of programmingfrom across the BBC’s othertelevision services.

BBC ALBA offers, to Gaelic
speakers and learners,
distinctive coverage ofsubjects as diverse as live
contemporary and traditionalmusic, football and children’s
programming and a range oforiginated programming thatreflects and supports Gaelic
culture, identity and heritage.

BBC Radio 5 live sports extra
is a part-time network thatprovides additional sports
coverage using rights alreadyowned by the BBC, and sodelivering greater value tolicence fee payers.

BBC 1Xtra plays the best incontemporary black music,
with a strong emphasis ondelivering high-quality live
music and supporting new
UK artists.

BBC 6 Music aims to engage
with lovers of popular music
by offering the best musicfrom the BBC sound archive
together with current releases
outside the mainstream,
complemented by music
news and documentaries.

13

Overview/

CBeebies aims to offer a
mix of high quality, mostly
UK-produced, programmes
designed to encouragelearning through play in
a consistently safe
environment for children
under six.

BBC 7 is a speech-based
digital radio service offering
comedy, drama and readings
mainly from the BBC
archive. It also broadcasts
programmes for children.

BBC Asian Network aims
to offer challenging debate,
informed journalism, music,
sport, entertainment anddrama for British Asians
from different generations.

Interactive media

Radio Wales is a speech-led
service for adults; BBC Radio
Cymru is a speech and music
radio service for Welsh
speakers. Both services offer
a wide range of genres andreflect the issues, events,
culture and interests of thepeople of Wales.

BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle
is a speech-led service
that covers a wide range
of genres and reflects all
aspects of contemporary
life in Northern Ireland,
combining coverage of local
issues, interests and eventswith coverage of national andinternational developments.

BBC Red Button delivers
interactive services to digital
television viewers, including
all day, up-to-the-minutecontent and information,
including news, weather,learning, entertainment andinteractive programming.

BBC Online aims to provide
innovative and distinctive
online content that reflectsand extends the range of theBBC’s broadcast services.

OveRview/the tRust’s ROle/

THE TRUST’S ROLE
The public expects great programming,
exciting content and editorial integrity
from the BBC. It’s our job to support andchallenge the Executive to make surethe BBC delivers for licence fee payers.

Overview/

14

Audiences have high expectations of the BBC – and rightly so,
considering it’s funded by the licence fee. They trust it to makebrilliant programmes; to maintain the highest standards of distinctive,
independent broadcasting; to offer everyone something they will love;and to do things that others can’t or won’t attempt. They expect it tobe special and to stay special, particularly at a time when broadcastingis undergoing such change, and consumers have so much choice.

Your Trust, our responsibility

At the BBC Trust it’s our responsibility to get the best out of the BBC
for licence fee payers. Whether that means protecting it from politicalinterference and the pressure to become more commercial, or
ensuring that the BBC continues to provide excellent value for money
and stays true to its founding principles, it’s our job to do it.

Who are we?

The Trust is the governing body of the BBC and is made up of 12
Trustees (see pages 48 to 49 for details). To support us in our role,
we have a team of professional staff, the Trust Unit, who work for the
BBC but report directly to us. The Trust Unit’s independent advice
helps us to assess objectively any proposals from the Executive andto carry out our role in the best interests of licence fee payers.

Our relationship with the BBC Executive

On a day-to-day basis the BBC is managed by the Executive, led by
the Director-General who is supported by the Executive Board.
The Trust appoints the Director-General – the BBC’s Editor-in-Chief
who is responsible for all BBC content – and holds him to account.

What we do

Our role is both supervisory and regulatory. We are responsible
for setting the high-level strategy for the BBC and ensuring that theorganisation delivers its six public purposes, as set out in the Charter(see pages 22 to 32).
We also sit in judgement on some aspects of the BBC’s operations.
One important role is to hear appeals against complaints about
editorial output. We must ensure that the BBC maintains thehighest editorial standards and also that when it makes mistakes,
lessons are learnt.

How we do it• For each public purpose we have set a remit defining ourpriorities and explaining how we will judge the BBC’s performanceagainst them.
• For each of the BBC’s services we have established a ‘service
licence’, setting out our expectations for the service and outlining
a budget. The licence also explains how the service contributes
to the public purposes.
• When the BBC Executive wants to change a service significantly orlaunch a new one, we conduct a ‘public value test’. This test assesses
the value the service might have against the potential impact it could
have on other providers of services in the market.

Living our principles

The BBC is in a highly privileged position, being funded by the licencefee. While we encourage the BBC to innovate and develop newservices to meet changing demands from licence fee payers, we doso at the same time as being aware of the impact that this has on thewider media market. We listen to people inside and outside the BBC
when making decisions on what new ideas the BBC will progress.
A key principle for us is to ensure that we always act transparently,
and consider the public’s views when making decisions. We publish
the evidence we have used to come to our decisions as well as thedecisions themselves. To find out what the public’s views are, we carryout nation-wide audience research and get advice from Audience
Councils in each of our four nations.

The regulatory framework

The BBC exists to inform, educate and entertain. How it should dothis is defined by six public purposes, set out in the BBC’s ‘constitution’,the Royal Charter and the Agreement between the BBC and theSecretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
The Charter defines the relationship between the Trust and the
Executive and the duties and functions of both. It also guarantees theBBC’s editorial independence. The Agreement expands on manyof the subjects mentioned in the Charter and sets out the BBC’s
regulatory obligations.

Relationship with Ofcom

Under the terms of the Charter, the Agreement and theCommunications Act 2003, (‘the Act’), some areas of the BBC’s
activity are regulated by Ofcom, some by the Trust, and some by both
together. A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed in March
2007 to clarify the respective roles and responsibilities of the Trustand Ofcom.
Below you will find a summary of the key points of these responsibilities.

TRUST AND OFCOM AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY
The BBC is accountable to the Trust for accuracy and impartiality of content; Ofcom
sets certain programme standards. Both have duties to consider complaints.

Quotas and codes
News and current affairs

The Trust sets quotas for news and current affairs on BBC One/Two, consulting
Ofcom (and getting agreement in some cases) before imposing these requirements.

Original productions

The BBC and Ofcom must agree an appropriate proportion of programming
to be original productions.

Nations and Regions programming

The Trust sets quotas for programmes about the Nations & Regions, consulting Ofcom(and getting agreement in some cases) before imposing these requirements.

Programmes made outside London

The BBC and Ofcom must agree a suitable proportion of programming to be madein the UK outside the M25 area.

Independent production

The Trust requires the BBC to follow a code of practice for commissioning independent
productions, and reviews delivery against the WOCC. The Trust and Ofcom monitor
compliance with targets for independent production.

AccessThe BBC must observe Ofcom’s code for providing services for the deaf and thevisually impaired.

Public value tests

The Trust must apply a public value test before allowing significant change to the BBC’s
UK public services. Ofcom provides the market impact assessment element of the test.

Competitive impact

The Trust must consider the economic impact of the BBC on the broadcasting sector.
Adjudications on matters of competition law are the responsibility of Ofcom or the Officeof Fair Trading.

Radio spectrum

The Trust must ensure efficient use of the BBC’s allocated spectrum; Ofcom is responsible
for ensuring best use is made of the whole spectrum.

Some further areas of common responsibility (including public service broadcasting, media literacy and the promotion of equal opportunities
and training) are set out in the Act and Agreement.

15

Overview/

Programme standards

Performance/17
PerformanCe/

18 / HOW WE DID AGAINST OUR
PLANs FOR 2008/09/
20 / audience councils/
22 / purposes/
30 / HOW THE PURPOSES ARE BEING DELIVERED/
33 / service performance/
36 / stewardship of the licence fee/
38 / upholding licence fee payers’ interests/

PeRfORmAnCe/hOw we did AgAinst OuR PlAns fOR 2008/09/

HOW WE DID AGAINSTOUR Plans FOR 2008/09
On these two pages you’ll find a summary of what we did comparedwith what we said we’d do in our 2008/09 work plan, published inlast year’s report in July 2008.
Each year, the Trust publishes a work plan so that everyone who
engages with us, both inside and outside the BBC, or anyone who isinterested, can find out what our priorities are, why we have set them,and what we will be doing about them in the year ahead. We reportback here on how we did against the work plan for the year, so you
can find out to what extent we’ve done what we set out to do. Of
course, since we also respond to events as they occur, the work plan
won’t contain everything we’ve done during the year, but we reporton other such events elsewhere in this report.
You can find a summary of our work plan for 2009/10 on pages
44 to 45, with the full version on our website.

PerformanCe/

18

2008/09 principles and outcomes

We set ourselves some principles to follow in the way in which we
conduct our work. These are summarised opposite together with ourassessment of how well we did. Within the work plan we split ourwork into three main objectives and identified priorities for the year
for each. The table opposite summarises what we did on each priority.
The results of this work, including the impact it has had, are explained
more fully in the relevant sections of this report.
Our overall priority was to make the Trust work better for ouraudiences, the licence fee payers.

Stewardship of thelicence fee
Our strategic role

To ensure that licence fee income is spent in ways that meet
audiences’ expectations and deliver value for money.
Priority 1

Value for money studies

We planned to do three studies on:a) radio production costsb) management of strategic contractsc) asset management
Outcomea) We commissioned this from the National Audit Office; the reporton ‘the efficiency of radio production at the BBC’ was publishedin February 2009.
b) We commissioned this from the National Audit Office; the reporton ‘the BBC’s management of strategic contracts with the private
sector’ was published in March 2009.
c) To reduce costs, we decided to defer this review.
Priority 2

Digital switchover

We planned to monitor the progress of digital switchoverand the targeted help scheme.
OutcomeWe reviewed quarterly reports on the progress of switchoverand the operation of the help scheme.
Priority 3

Licence fee collection

We planned to carry out a public consultation on the collectionof the licence fee.
OutcomeIn 2008 we consulted the public about how the TV licence fee
is collected. Our review was published in March 2009.

F

Principle

Outcome

We want to be open and transparent in everything we do.
We set out on our website what we do and why.

Our reviews and their supporting evidence have been publishedon our website during the year.

We frequently consult audiences. In doing so we try to avoid
using language that is too technical.

We have undertaken 12 public consultations during the year.
While we have made some progress, we recognise that weneed to work harder to use more accessible language.

We plan to keep audiences and other stakeholders better informedby setting up an electronic mailing list, to which those who wish to
can subscribe.

Members of the public who wish to be kept informed of our work
can sign up to an electronic mailing list by visiting our website –bbc.co.uk/bbctrust

We plan to review how we can make the best use of the work
done by the Audience Councils.

We reviewed the operation of the Audience Councils and are making
some changes to improve how we use their work. (See pages 20 to 21.)

We will review the performance of the Trust Board every year.

We reviewed Trust performance in May 2009. (See page 62.)

We will review the operations of the Trust Unit.

We have reviewed the way in which we support the English regional
Audience Councils and agreed some changes.

Upholding licence fee
payers’ interests

Effectively promoting
the BBC’s public purposes

To ensure that the BBC works effectively in the public interest,and is as responsive as possible to what licence fee payers want.

To ensure that, in all its operations, the BBC promotes the
six public purposes set out by Parliament.

Our strategic role

Priority 1

Priority 1

Editorial standards and impartiality

Remedying performance gapsa) Following the editorial lapses of 2007, we commissioned a review
of how the BBC management had remedied matters.
b) We commissioned an impartiality review of network news
coverage of the nations.
Outcomea) We published the review of management actions in May 2008.
b) We published the impartiality review in June 2008. (See page 55.)
Priority 2

Network supply review

We planned to complete our review of network supply examining
the amount of content the BBC produces in each Nation & Region.
OutcomeThe network supply review was published in June 2008.
Priority 3

Economic value review

We planned to investigate the economic value of the BBC to the UK.
Outcome
Our report on the economic value of the BBC was publishedin July 2008. (See page 54.)

In 2007 we consulted the public about how well the BBC was
performing against its public purposes. This revealed gaps, particularly
in innovation and distinctiveness – the provision of programmes thataudiences find fresh and new. We challenged the Executive to remedy
these gaps and planned to monitor their performance.
OutcomeWe undertook new research in November 2008 and February 2009
to understand the public’s views on how the BBC is performing, andtherefore to measure how well the Executive is remedying the gaps
identified. Monitoring progress will be a major focus for us in the
coming years.
Priority 2

Service reviews

We review each BBC service at least once every five years.
We planned to look at BBC radio, television and online services for:a) childrenb) younger audiences
Outcomea) The children’s review was published in February 2009.
b) The younger audiences review was published in June 2009.

Priority 4

Review of the Window of Creative
Competition (WOCC)

The WOCC was developed to open more BBC programmecommissions to independent producers. We planned to publish
a review of its effectiveness and also commission reviews of radio
and online commissioning and of the BBC’s film strategy.
Outcome
We published a review of the WOCC’s effectiveness in July 2008.
The other reviews were deferred.

For more details see pages 38 to 41.

For more details see pages 22 to 32.

19
PerformanCe/

Our strategic role

PeRfORmAnCe/
AudienCe COunCils/

Audience Councils
Audience Councils in England, Scotland, Walesand Northern Ireland, chaired by the Trustee
for that nation, advise the Trust on how wellthe BBC is delivering its public purposes, andgive an independent assessment of audiences’
expectations.

Performance/

20

To do this, the Councils, which aim to reflect the diversity of the
UK and whose members are volunteers, hold consultations withlicence fee payers, meet monthly and pass their advice back to theTrust. They also comment on proposals from the Executive, and on
matters of topical concern to audiences. Each year they suggest waysof improving BBC services, based on what audiences have told them(‘audience priorities’). Audience Council England (ACE) is supportedby 12 regional audience councils reflecting the diversity of the English
population. Full details can be found on the Councils’ websites at:bbc.co.uk/ace
bbc.co.uk/acs
bbc.co.uk/wales/acw
bbc.co.uk/northernireland/audiencecouncil

Listening to audiences

During the year, Councils held more than 50 meetings with licencefee payers across the UK. Some were held for specific audiencegroups like young people and people with disabilities, and others
for a cross-section. Audiences raised a range of issues such asproblems with reception, scheduling and the digital switchover, tothe portrayal of young people, arts coverage in Northern Ireland,and editorial standards.

BBC performance against audience
priorities for 2008/09

Councils welcomed progress on the suggestions they had made for2008/09. The Trust had decided that more of the BBC’s programmes
should be made outside London, in all four nations. ACE welcomed
investment in the new BBC production centre at Salford, but
expressed concern about the future of network production in
Birmingham and Bristol on the grounds that a talent drain to Salford
might disadvantage other regions. Audience Council Scotland (ACS)said it should be possible to achieve the increase there before thetarget date of 2016 agreed with the BBC.
Councils agreed that, following the Trust’s impartiality review (see page
55 for details), network news coverage of devolved matters was moreaccurate, but said more could be done to explore differing policy
contexts in the nations. Audience Council Northern Ireland (ACNI)
advised the Trust to keep network news under scrutiny, to ensure it
continues to improve. ACE suggested investing in local radio to serve
communities better in England. ACS said audiences wanted a more
Scottish perspective alongside the UK one, and asked for a review
of how BBC news is structured in Scotland.

Councils noted that the BBC has made progress in improving accessto all BBC content, although there are still significant gaps in theavailability of BBC Radio Cymru on Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB);BBC Radio Wales on DAB and FM; BBC Radio Foyle and 11 of the 40
local radio stations in England on DAB; and of BBC Radio Scotland ontrunk routes in northern Scotland.
ACS welcomed the launch of the Gaelic language service BBC ALBA,
run in partnership with MG Alba. Audience Council Wales (ACW)commended the way in which the BBC fulfilled its obligations to public
service television in Welsh by providing programmes for the Welsh
language channel S4C paid for out of the licence fee.

Advising the TrustCouncils consulted on the proposals for local video services from theBBC, and noted the strength of demand for more local and regional
coverage. Council members believed this would contribute strongly to
the BBC’s aim to support citizenship, and represent the communitiesof the UK.
ACE identified a gap in BBC children’s programmes for those
approaching the early teens. ACE and ACS found that many teenagers
and young adults wanted to see more positive representation of theirage group in BBC programming.
Councils informed the Trust of the strength of feeling amongst
audiences on topical issues. There was support for the Trust’scommitment to maintaining the highest editorial standards following
Radio 2’s The Russell Brand Show of 18 October. The future of public
service broadcasting was debated following an Ofcom review, and theGovernment’s Digital Britain report. Councils agreed that audiences
wanted more than one source of public service broadcasting, butemphasised that funding for it should not come from the licence fee.

Delivering the public purposes

Councils advise the Trust on how well the BBC is delivering its six
public purposes (see pages 22 to 32).

Creativity

ACNI emphasised the importance for audiences of distinctive andcreative content from the BBC. ACE noted that entertainment andcomedy, from the familiar to the cutting-edge, could appeal to a wide
range of audience groups and contribute to cultural excellence.

NATIONAL AUDIENCE COUNCILS

N

1-12 ENGLAND
13 SCOTLAND
14 NORTHERN IRELAND
15 WALES

113
14
15

REGIONAL AUDIENCE COUNCIL AREAS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

NORTH EASTNORTH WESTYORKSHIRE
WEST MIDS
EAST MIDS
EAST YORKS & LINCS
EASTSOUTH WEST
WEST
SOUTH
LONDON
SOUTH EAST

R

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12

13

14

1

3

6

2
5
4

9

7

11
10

8

Community

The Trust’s actions following the impartiality review had brought some
improvement in representing politics in the four nations, but networknews was still not reflecting the contemporary UK with the range andprecision expected of the BBC. The move of production to Salford
should help the BBC engage more effectively with audiences in thenorth of England. The launch of BBC ALBA contributed strongly tothis purpose in Scotland, as did new programming in Irish and Ulster
Scots in Northern Ireland.
However, Councils noted the Trust’s research that indicated that,
overall, audiences in Scotland and Northern Ireland do not think thatthe BBC adequately reflects their areas. In England, ACE noted thelack of network production in the east, from Newcastle to Essex.

Citizenship

In a year of economic crisis, the Councils commended the role played
by BBC News and current affairs in providing impartial, detailed
analysis of unfolding events. The Councils underlined the value of BBC
journalism and general programming for local and regional audiences.

Learning

Councils commended the wide range of high quality programming
which supported informal learning. ACS welcomed the launch of
BBC ALBA as a resource for Gaelic learners, and, sub-titled, as a wider
cultural resource for non-Gaelic audiences. Following suspension of theonline learning service BBC Jam, ACW and ACS welcomed plans forthe release of content in Welsh and Gaelic for reuse elsewhere.

Global

ACW noted that sales of Doctor Who and Torchwood to around40 countries should raise the profile of Wales across the world.

Digital

ACW and ACS welcomed the Welsh and Gaelic language interfaces
on the BBC iPlayer. However major communications and distribution
challenges remain, from digital switchover to the rollout of DAB andthe low level of broadband availability in some areas of the UK.

Priorities for the year ahead

12

The Councils agreed on priorities for the year ahead and thesehave been adopted by the Trust. They include:• working towards greater access for all BBC content on digitalplatforms• monitoring delivery of the BBC’s plans for increasing network
television production from outside of London• improving the way the BBC portrays the diversity of the UK• monitoring network news coverage of the devolved nations,and enhancing local and regional services

21
Performance/

15

PeRfORmAnCe/PuRPOses/

Performance/

22

O
One of the Trust’s obligations is to set a remit foreach public purpose (summarised on the following
pages). Each remit has a list of priorities setting out
what the BBC needs to do to promote that purpose,and we measure the BBC’s performance against
them, through the following means:• an annual survey tracking audience perceptions of
how well the BBC is delivering its purposes. We
ask audiences how important each priority of each
remit is to them and how well they think the BBC
is delivering the priorities. Where there is a difference
between these two scores, we refer to it as the‘performance gap’
• additional qualitative research (for some priorities
not included in the survey)• secondary data analysis from Ofcom and Digital UK(for the priorities related to the sixth purpose)• routine performance data from the BBC• a wide range of other activities, including service
reviews, public value tests and impartiality/standards
reviews, which help us understand how well the
BBC is delivering some of the key priorities
The Trust will review the purpose remits in 2011/12
to ensure they remain relevant.

23
Performance/W
The BBC’s mission is to inform, educate andentertain. Under the terms of the Charter andAgreement, through its output, the BBC must
promote the following six public purposes:• stimulating creativity and cultural excellence• representing the UK, its nations, regions
and communities• sustaining citizenship and civil society• promoting education and learning• bringing the UK to the world and theworld to the UK• helping to deliver the benefits of emerging
communications technologies and services

PeRfORmAnCe/PuRPOses/S
You can expect the BBC to offer the best examplesof creative work that engage and delight audiences, break
new ground and encourage interest in cultural, creativeand sporting activities.
2008/09 headlines• BBC’s most pressing priority is to improve performance inproducing fresh and new ideas; this would have the greatest
effect on perceptions of the BBC as offering value for money• BBC’s children’s services are producing distinctive andcreative content• BBC’s Window of Creative Competition is helping foster
openness to ideas and creativity

Performance/

24

Representing the UK, its
nAtiOns, RegiOns And
COmmunities
You can rely on the BBC to reflect the many communities
that exist in the UK. These communities may be based on
geography, on faith, on language, or on a shared interest suchas sport. You can expect the BBC to stimulate debate within
and between the communities of the UK, and to encourage
people to get involved with their local communities.
2008/09 headlines• BBC could do more to represent audiences’ nation, region
or community to the rest of the UK• more stretching targets approved for network programming
for the Nations & Regions• new investment in local programming and content approved

Performance/

25

PeRfORmAnCe/PuRPOses/S
You can trust the BBC to provide high quality news, current
affairs and factual programming that keeps you informed
and supports debate about important issues and politicaldevelopments in an engaging way. You can look to the BBC
for help in using and understanding different kinds of media.
2008/09 headlines• audiences want the BBC to do more to help themunderstand politics in their nation or region• BBC has improved performance in delivering high quality,
independent news and current affairs; these are increasingly
important to audiences• BBC is struggling to reach younger, less well off audiences
through news content – need to boost audiences forchildren’s programming that serves this purpose

Performance/

26

PROmOting eduCAtiOn
And leARning
You can look to the BBC to help everyone in the UK learn.
An important role for the BBC is to support formal educationin schools and colleges. In addition, the BBC will offer engaging
ways for everyone in the UK to build their knowledge andskills across a broad range of subjects.
2008/09 headlines• provision of content for formal education is one of the mostimportant priorities for parents of children under 16• audiences are positive about the BBC’s contribution tolearning but still see a big performance gap• review of formal learning provision is underway to identify
how the BBC can meet audiences’ needs better• audiences have seen improvement in how the BBC
encourages them to learn informally about a rangeof subjects and issues

Performance/

27

PeRfORmAnCe/PuRPOses/Br
You can rely on the BBC to provide internationally-respected
news services to audiences around the world. You can
expect the BBC to keep you in touch with what is goingon in the world, giving you an insight into the way people
live in other countries.
2008/09 headlines• bringing the world to the UK is very important to audiences,and the BBC is performing well
• World Service grew overall reach, driven partly by new
BBC Arabic TV service, but offset by lower audiences
for World Service radio and BBC World News television• BBC Arabic TV Service generally meets the needs oftarget audience

Performance/28

H

You can expect the BBC to help everyone in the UK
to get the best out of emerging media technologies now
and in the future.
2008/09 headlines• BBC’s role in making engaging digital content available seen
as less important to audiences than the other purposes, but
this is changing• consultation on Project Canvas – initiative to allow people
to view on demand and internet content on television• digital switchover continued across the border region

Performance/

29

PeRfORmAnCe/hOw the PuRPOses ARe being deliveRed/

HOW THE PURPOSES
ARE BEING DELIVERED

Stimulating creativity andcultural excellence

Performance/

30

You can expect the BBC to offer the best examples of creative
work that engage and delight audiences, break new ground andencourage interest in cultural, creative and sporting activities.
The BBC’s most pressing priority is to provide distinctive output
with lots of fresh and new ideas. Our work this year has provided
some positive evidence of achievements in this respect. Parents ofyoung children told us that they consider CBeebies to be distinctive
and BBC Three is seen by younger audiences to innovate and takerisks. We also found that BBC Radio 1 makes a strong contribution
to delivering this purpose through its role in promoting new andemerging UK music artists. Its live music programmes and eventsare particularly highly valued by listeners. Our research into quality
and originality identifies the TV content that audiences consider tobe of the highest quality and most original. (See service performance
section for more details.) Although early indications suggest signs ofimprovement, audiences’ expectations have increased, meaning thatthe performance gap for the BBC to address is still wide.

Providing value for money

We have found that improvements in providing fresh and new ideas,
and a wide range of entertaining and enjoyable content, would havethe greatest impact on overall perceptions of the BBC’s value formoney. Our reviews of BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Four later
this year will allow us to assess further the BBC’s performancein this key area.

Talent

The BBC has a role within the creativity purpose to nurtureand support UK talent. Our review of the Window of Creative
Competition found that this initiative is helping to foster openness
to ideas and creativity across the UK’s creative industry, and thatin-house and independent commissions are being treated equally.
Our review of talent costs (see page 36) found no evidence that the
BBC is paying more than the market price for leading TV talent or
systematically pushing up prices. We are currently reviewing how
new talent is being encouraged and used by the BBC.

Cultural activities

Both sport and films have a significant role to play in audiences’
perceptions of how widely and well the BBC covers cultural activities.
We are currently considering the coverage of major sporting eventsby the BBC as part of a wider consultation by the Department for
Culture, Media and Sport, and will shortly begin a review of theBBC’s film strategy.

Representing the UK, its nations,regions and communities

You can rely on the BBC to reflect the many communities thatexist in the UK. These communities may be based on geography,
on faith, on language, or on a shared interest such as sport. You
can expect the BBC to stimulate debate within and between thecommunities of the UK, and to encourage people to get involved
with their local communities.
Audiences feel there are weaknesses in how the BBC represents
the different nations, regions and communities to other people in
the UK. Our network supply review noted that better representationof the Nations & Regions is already a priority for the BBC, and wehave agreed more challenging targets for network production in
the nations. This year we will also work with our Audience Councils
to examine how the UK’s diverse communities are portrayed on air.

Local content

BBC nations and local radio stations play a key role in this purpose.
Despite this, many audiences don’t feel the BBC provides adequate
content for their nation, region or community. Through our review
of children’s services, we highlighted how the Executive might enhance
the appeal of children’s content in ethnic minority homes. We hopethat the launch of the BBC’s Gaelic media service, BBC ALBA, in
September 2008 will improve perceptions of this priority amongst
Scottish audiences. Moreover, the Executive’s proposals for enhanced
television and radio services for the Nations & Regions, the general
direction of which we approved in April 2009, should help to address
the issue.

“Anywhere in the world, people turnto the BBC for news.” †You can trust the BBC to provide high quality news, current affairs
and factual programming that keeps you informed and supports
debate about important issues and political developments inan engaging way. You can look to the BBC for help in using andunderstanding different kinds of media.
Audiences rate the BBC highly in terms of delivering high quality
news and current affairs, but their expectations are also high. News
provision therefore remains a key priority for the Trust and we will
be discussing its quality with the Executive later in the year, mindful as
we are of the requirement we have placed on all divisions of the BBC
to make significant reductions in expenditure without reducing quality.

Younger audiences

Our review of services for younger audiences found that BBC News
particularly struggles to reach younger, less well off audiences. Our
research has also shown that young adults increasingly think the BBC
could do more to engage them in news and current affairs. Addressing
this issue is a growing challenge for the BBC. Our review of children’s
services also raised concerns about the fall in audiences of Newsroundon CBBC. We have asked the Executive to develop plans to address
the citizenship purpose by boosting audiences to programming
which delivers this purpose on CBBC, and update us on progressby summer 2009.

Understanding politics

Audiences (particularly in Scotland) think the BBC could do more
to help them understand politics in the devolved nations. Our
research into impartiality in the nations (which we will re-commission
by early 2010) will help us understand whether the BBC’s
performance in reporting the interests and experiences of thedevolved nations is improving.

Media literacy

The Government’s interim Digital Britain report has placed greater
emphasis on the importance of media literacy. Our research suggeststhat audiences have seen an improvement in the BBC’s performancein helping them make the most of new technologies. However, thisis only one element of media literacy and in June 2009 we endorsed
a new media literacy strategy from the Executive† which will focus
on driving online take-up, deepening audiences’ understanding of
how media content is produced, and encouraging awareness of
online safety and security.

† member of the public taking part in a consultation on the bbC.

Promoting education and learning

You can look to the BBC to help everyone in the UK learn.
An important role for the BBC is to support formal education inschools and colleges. In addition, the BBC will offer engaging ways
for everyone in the UK to build their knowledge and skills acrossa broad range of subjects.
Audiences attribute a great deal of importance to the BBC’s rolein promoting education and learning. Parents, children and teens
responding to our children’s and younger audiences’ service
reviews were positive about CBeebies’ and BBC Bitesize’scontribution to learning.

Formal education

The BBC’s performance in promoting and supporting formal
education, one of the most important priorities for parents withchildren under 16, did not match expectations, and we need to do
more to understand why. We are awaiting the results of a strategic
assessment and subsequently management’s proposals on how formal
learning provision can be enhanced.

Informal learning

Audiences have seen improvement in how the BBC encourages themto learn informally about a range of subjects, although parents believe
the BBC could still do more. Our review of children’s services showedthat CBBC makes a positive contribution to learning, although our
younger audiences’ service review found that they rate BBC Threeless highly.

Social action

The BBC undertakes several campaigns and charitable appeals eachyear that aim to achieve specific outcomes beneficial to society.
Audiences responding to the consultation as part of our younger
audiences’ review were largely positive about the social action
campaigns run by BBC Radio 1, for example on mental health andbullying. We support BBC Radio 1 in its aim to deliver a greater rangeof public purpose objectives through its speech output and we will
strengthen the station’s service licence to ensure a minimum numberof social action campaigns each year.

31
Performance/

Sustaining citizenship and civil society

Bringing the UK to the world
and the world to the UK

Performance/

32

You can rely on the BBC to provide internationally-respected news
services to audiences around the world. You can expect the BBC
to keep you in touch with what is going on in the world, giving
you an insight into the way people live in other countries.
Audiences believe that the BBC performs well in enhancing awarenessand understanding of international issues and broadening theirexperience of different cultures, and that this role is an importantone. However, our children’s service review noted that, while CBBC
produces a range of content which contributes to this purpose, thedeclining viewing figures of Newsround and Blue Peter pose a threat tothe delivery of this priority. We have asked the Executive to address
this threat and report back to us with plans for doing so by summer
2009. CBeebies also contributes to this purpose by introducing
children to other countries and cultures. We will amend CBeebies’
service licence to reflect fully and safeguard this contribution.

BBC Arabic TV Service

In the past year, our research into this purpose covered the recently
launched BBC Arabic TV Service. We felt that it was important to
get a better understanding of this strategic service and its editorial
challenges. The service was found generally to meet the needsof its target audience well (see service performance section for
more details).

Helping to deliver the benefitsof emerging communications
technologies and services

You can expect the BBC to help everyone in the UK to get thebest out of emerging media technologies now and in the future.
Audiences as a whole do not see the BBC’s role in making engaging
digital content and services available as particularly important. This ischanging, however, with, for example, younger audiences increasingly
wanting to access BBC content through mobile phones. Audiences
also rate the BBC’s performance in providing engaging digital content
and services poorly in relation to the other purposes. We haveapproved the BBC’s supply of high definition television on all platforms
and hope that in time this will positively affect perceptions of theavailability of engaging digital content. We also hope that audiences
will see an improvement in the performance of BBC Online,
particularly in terms of navigation, following our approval of additional
funding for the service.

Partnerships

Partnerships with other organisations are necessary if we are toextend the benefits of emerging communications to our audiences.
We are currently assessing Project Canvas, a joint-venture proposition
with ITV and BT to promote a standards-based open environment
for internet-connected digital television devices. If approved by theTrust, it will allow subscription-free access to a variety of on demand
television services (such as BBC iPlayer) and internet-based content
through a new broadband connected set top box. We will publish
our decision on Project Canvas in due course.

Digital radio

National coverage of DAB digital radio currently stands at 85%
and the BBC has stated publicly that this will increase to 90%.
In its interim Digital Britain report, the Government has statedits ambition for DAB coverage to be equivalent to FM coverage.
We note the BBC’s evidence regarding the diminishing return andincreasing cost of expanding coverage, but are keen for the Executive
to continue exploring how to strengthen the reach of the DAB
transmission network.

PeRfORmAnCe/
seRviCe PeRfORmAnCe/SERVICE PERFORMANCE
TV, radio and online services have served
audiences well this year and audiences’opinions of the quality of BBC services isgenerally very good, although we would
still like to see greater ambition andoriginality in some areas of output.

Television

Despite the increasing popularity of new ways of watching TV content,such as through the iPlayer, the average viewing time of traditionalor ‘linear’ television increased this year by over 20 minutes eachweek to 3 hours 45 minutes per day.

Reach

Reach is an important driver of the BBC’s ability to promote its
public purposes. Despite the enormous choice of channels available
in digital homes, around 85% of the population still watches at least
15 consecutive minutes of BBC television each week.

Quality and originality

Our assessment of the Executive’s performance in promoting the
public purposes (see pages 30 to 32) has shown that audiences
continue to place the greatest importance on BBC content that stands
out for its high quality and originality. Audiences expect the BBC todeliver high quality and original content in all genres of programming.
While the BBC’s performance has improved, audiences’ expectations
have increased, which means that a large performance gap remains.
Addressing this gap is, we believe, the BBC’s most important priority.

Perceptions of ‘high quality’ programmes

A range of BBC programmes scored highly on quality. Natural
history and wildlife programmes such as Tiger, Spy in the Jungle andNature’s Great Events (BBC One) continue to attract the highest
scores, while other types of documentary, such as BBC Four’s Anne
Frank Remembered, also stood out. Dramas such as A Short Stay in
Switzerland and Doctor Who (BBC One), and American imports suchas Heroes (BBC Three), also scored well.

Perceptions of ‘original and different’ programmesAudiences judged a wide range of programmes to be ‘original anddifferent’. Factual and current affairs programmes featured very highly.
Documentaries such as Iran and the West (BBC Two), Blood Sweat
and T-Shirts (BBC Three) and Absolutely Chuffed – The Men Who Built
a Steam Engine (BBC Four) received high scores for originality.
Comedy is important in terms of bringing original ideas to audiences.
Successes last year, including The Mighty Boosh (BBC Three) andOutnumbered (BBC One) scored highly again this year, as did titles suchas Ideal and Summer Heights High on BBC Three. However, scoresvary widely for comedy programmes, and we recognise that taking
creative risks does not always result in programmes considered byaudiences to be of high quality.
Some UK drama scored well for originality: A Short Stay in Switzerland
and Criminal Justice (BBC One), God On Trial (BBC Two), Being Human(BBC Three) and Taking Over the Asylum (BBC Four). However, anumber of the BBC’s long-running dramas, despite being perceived ashigh quality, are not seen as particularly original. We would like to see
greater range and ambition across all types of drama on the BBC.

Perceptions of programmes that are neither highquality nor original

Clip or list shows, some reality shows and spin-offs continue to scorelowest in terms of quality and originality.

The Trust’s television services review

We are pleased that the BBC has begun to use quality and originality
measures to inform its understanding of how best to meet audience
expectations of quality and originality. We will examine this area inmore detail in our review of television services later in 2009 to help
us determine how performance in this area can be improved further.

Performance by channel
BBC OneBBC One remains the UK’s most watched channel, although reachhas declined very slightly this year and viewing amongst children
and younger adults continues to decline at a faster rate than amongst
all adults.
BBC One is a very important driver of audience perceptions of the
BBC as a whole. While audience approval of BBC One has risen, andother survey measures relating to quality appear strong, we believe thechannel has a key role to play in closing the BBC’s overall performance
gap relating to quality and originality.

33
Performance/

The Trust assesses the Executive’s performance in delivering theBBC’s services and holds them to account. Here we report on
their performance this year, in the areas of:• Television• Radio• Online• News• The World Service
The Trust uses the BBC’s ‘RQIV’ performance measurement
framework. This is composed of four drivers of public value: reach(how many people are using the services each week); quality (users’
perceptions of the services); impact (awareness and delivery of the
public purposes – not currently measured annually for each service);and value for money (generally measured by cost per user hour).

PeRfORmAnCe/
seRviCe PeRfORmAnCe/

Last year we highlighted the need for BBC One to refresh its
drama and entertainment programming. New drama series such
as Criminal Justice and The Diary of Anne Frank gained high audienceappreciation levels. However, as noted above, we believe there remain
opportunities for BBC Television, including BBC One, to develop
new dramas which are high quality and show greater range andcreative ambition.
Comedy is another important part of BBC One’s programme mix.
BBC One has had some successes this year, notably the second seriesof Outnumbered, while My Family remains the most watched sitcomon British television. Meeting audience expectations for high quality
pre-watershed comedy remains a challenge for the channel andaudiences’ perceptions that BBC One is the best channel for comedy
have dropped.
We will be reviewing the performance of BBC One later this year
as part of our TV services review.

BBC Two

Performance/

34

Reach was stable this year. The principal challenge for BBC Two,
reflected in audience research we conducted in 2007, is to provide
programmes of depth and substance which audiences see as
genuinely different from BBC One. Certain parts of the schedule
have achieved this, notably on Saturday nights where the channel’s
factual programming has provided a real alternative to entertainment
programmes offered on other channels. We believe there areopportunities for BBC Two to apply this approach across other genres
and parts of the schedule so that it provides a more consistently
distinct offering from other television channels.
We believe that drama and comedy play an important role on BBC
Two, and we will look at their roles, alongside that of factual output,
when we consider the channel’s performance later this year as partof our TV services review.

BBC Three

BBC Three increased its reach amongst its young target audience.
We reviewed the channel against its service licence this year andour principal conclusion was that the channel has developed into an
important part of the BBC’s television portfolio through its reach toyounger audiences and its role in commissioning new programmes
which take creative risks. You can find full details of this review on
our website, bbc.co.uk/bbctrust

BBC Four

BBC Four increased its reach slightly this year, and is highly appreciatedby viewers. As part of our review of BBC Four later this year, we
will look into whether the plans to build a closer relationship with
BBC Two, which we approved in 2007, are proving successful inimproving the awareness of BBC Four and helping audiences tofind its output.

BBC ALBAIn September 2008, following a public value test, the BBC launched
BBC ALBA which broadcasts Gaelic language programmes onsatellite and cable. We will be carrying out a review of BBC Alba’s
performance later this year, before the digital switchover in Scotland.

S4C

The BBC provides Welsh language programmes to S4C, including
its news bulletin, Newyddion, and soap opera Pobol y Cwm. We
are pleased that these continue to be amongst the most popular
programmes on the channel. However we are concerned that most
S4C viewers are unaware that the BBC supplies these programmes.
The review of our agreement with S4C later this year will provide
an opportunity to consider how best to ensure that audiences
understand how their licence fee is being spent on S4C.

CBBC and CBeebies

The BBC performs very well overall in terms of services and content
for children, as reported in our review of children’s services thisyear. The CBeebies and CBBC digital channels make an important
contribution to the BBC’s public purposes and offer good value
for money.
Providing content that children enjoy and learn from is one of thecore public service functions of the BBC and one that the Trust fully
supports. To make sure that the BBC continues to produce great
output we identified some areas where improvements are needed.
Our review found that listening figures for children’s radio were low,that usage of the CBBC website was declining and that audiencelevels for key programmes like Newsround and Blue Peter fell whenchildren’s programmes were moved earlier in BBC One’s afternoon
schedule. We also noted key risks and budgetary pressures which, leftunchecked, could undermine future performance. Over the coming
months we will be working with the Executive to address these issues
and ensure that the BBC remains the cornerstone of high quality UK
children’s programming.

RadioThis year there was an increase in the number of people listening
to BBC Radio live via the internet. On-demand listening is popular,
particularly of speech content, with BBC Radio 4 and BBC 7
programmes making up over half the total requests for audio
content on iPlayer.

Performance by station• BBC Radio 1 and BBC 1Xtra: we completed reviews of thesestations in June; you can find the details on our website. Radio 1
in particular plays a very important role in promoting the BBC’s
public purposes amongst young people, and we have made a seriesof recommendations which we hope will enable it to continue
to do so.
• BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music: we are considering theperformance of these stations as part of their service licence reviews.
Further details can be found on our website.
• BBC Radio 3: ended the year with its highest audience figures since
the end of 2006, at just below two million adults. Listeners are highly
appreciative of the quality of the station’s programming.
• BBC Radio 4: recorded its highest share of listening for many
years – 12.5% between January and March 2009. While the strong
news agenda contributed to its performance, we recognise theimportance and strengths of other parts of the schedule, suchas documentaries, features, drama and comedy. We believethat Radio 4 has been able to refresh its schedule while retaining
intellectual rigour.
• BBC Radio 5 live and 5 live sports extra: these stations had asuccessful year, which included extensive coverage of the Beijing
Olympics. Surprisingly the Olympics did not significantly boost reach.
We assume this was due to the popularity of content offered on
BBC Online.
• BBC 7: the most popular of the BBC’s digital-only radio stations, witha weekly reach of just below one million adults. The station attracts
a very high volume of requests to listen again online, with archiveshows particularly popular.
• BBC Asian Network: reach declined this year. We have discussed
the Executive’s plans to address this and will expect some
improvement in reach next year.

“It is imperative the BBC remains
independent and impartial.” *BBC Online

BBC Online performed well this year, with iPlayer proving very
popular and driving a growth in users to around 22 million eachweek. Further extending the reach of BBC Online is becoming
increasingly challenging, however, with the number of users
remaining flat in many areas.
The iPlayer had a very strong first year with usage growing to around40 million requests in March 2009. As requested by the Trust, theExecutive has made the full iPlayer service available on non-Windows
operating systems, and its functionality was further enhanced after wegave permission for series stacking and pre-booking.
The Executive has made considerable progress in addressing theactions we set out in our service review of BBC Online last year,
including developing a new management framework and beginning toaddress those areas we highlighted as being weak. The external searchengine was closed and linking to external sites from BBC Online
appears to be improving.
We approved new investment in BBC Online for the next three years
and look forward to seeing the outcome of this investment, in termsof improved navigation and enhancements to core public service areas
such as news, children’s and nations’ sites.

* member of the public taking part in a bbC survey.

News

Audience figures for the BBC’s main news bulletins and current affairs
programmes on Network Television and Radio have remained steadythis year. User numbers for news on BBC Online have continued to
grow. Both the BBC News and BBC Parliament channels increased
reach and share compared with last year, and perceptions of quality
amongst viewers of these channels are high.
Audience perceptions of trustworthiness, accuracy and impartiality
all remained stable this year, and the reputation of BBC News remains
very strong overall. We comment on audiences’ perceptions ofimpartiality in more depth in the impartiality section.
Younger adults and those from less well off backgrounds remain thehardest audiences to reach. The Executive is well aware of this and islooking at ways to address it. The role of BBC Online and short andtargeted TV and radio bulletins, such as the BBC One 8pm bulletin,
Newsbeat on Radio 1 and 60Second News on BBC Three play animportant role alongside longer and more in-depth programmes.

The World Service

The World Service is funded by Parliamentary Grant-in-Aid rather
than the licence fee. It reached 185 million people last year. Usage ofWorld Service online grew strongly to 17 million, with particularly
strong growth from the Spanish language site, BBC Mundo. Other
growth areas were the new TV services, BBC Arabic and BBC
Persian, while radio listening and World News audiences continue
to fall, driven by the decline in short-wave radio listening andincreasing competition.
As part of our programme of audience research on the World
Service, we assessed BBC Arabic TV. We found that audiences
appreciate BBC Arabic TV but we agree with the Executive that
editorial values of impartiality and accuracy must take priority overseeking the kind of greater emotional engagement that is often valuedby viewers.
Coverage of the Gaza conflict last winter was the first major test faced
by BBC Arabic TV and it showed balance, fairness and impartiality.
Our review identified a number of areas for improvement, including
variety of content and visual appeal. You can read the full review on
our website.

35
Performance/• English local radio stations: levels of listening to the BBC’s
40 local radio stations in England vary widely but there has beena gradual decline in audience numbers to many of these stations.
The Executive is addressing this and we will be looking at theoutcome of their plans next year.
• BBC Radio Ulster/Foyle: continues to be the most popular radio
station in Northern Ireland offering a wide range of programmes
and scoring well for measures of quality.
• BBC Radio Scotland: long-term decline in audience numbers
stabilised this year.
• The BBC also provides BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, Scotland’s only
dedicated national radio service for Gaelic listeners.
• Audience numbers for BBC Radio Wales have risen slightly
year-on-year, while those for the BBC’s Welsh language station
Radio Cymru have remained stable. Both these stations are looking
to attract new audiences, especially younger listeners, and thechallenge will be to deliver this while maintaining the stations’appeal to existing listeners.

PeRfORmAnCe/
stewARdshiP Of the liCenCe fee/

STEWARDSHIP OF THE
LICENCE FEE
In the current challenging economic climate,delivering value for money for licence fee
payers is more important than ever.

Performance/

36

The Trust’s role is to ‘ensure that licence fee income is spent in waysthat meet audiences’ expectations and delivers value for money’.
We do this in three ways by:• focusing on efficiency to make sure the BBC gets the maximum
value for every pound spent without compromising quality• conducting value for money studies• monitoring operations in the specific areas of licence fee collection
and digital switchover

1. Focusing on efficiency

Due to the long-term nature of licence fee funding, the BBC has adegree of financial stability. However the BBC is not immune fromthe pressures on the wider economy and, like many organisations, hasrevisited its longer-term financial plans during the past year. We havereviewed progress against the efficiency targets we previously set for
the BBC and have also approved new plans for further efficiencies andcontingency plans to ensure the BBC’s financial health remains sound.

Annual target: 3% cash-releasing efficiencies

In October 2007, the Trust approved the BBC’s six-year plan, the aimof which was to make the BBC fit for a digital future. The plan was
designed to ensure that existing services are managed in the mostefficient way possible in order to release funds for the newinvestment required without compromising the quality of existing
services. In approving the plan the Trust set the BBC the target ofachieving 3% pa (net) cumulative cash-releasing efficiencies overthe five years to 2012/13.
At this stage in the programme it is too early to judge whether
reported savings have affected content quality. This year we havefocused on understanding the quality of the data on which wewill make our judgements in the future. We asked the National
Audit Office (NAO) to consider the quality of the data systems
underpinning the reporting of the performance aspect of efficiency
savings, and their comments on this are set out on page 8. We arepleased that the underlying performance data systems provide us
with a sound foundation on which we can review BBC progress
and performance.

Talent costs

Talent costs are a big part of the BBC’s expenditure. Last year, we
commissioned an independent report into the BBC’s role in theon-screen and on-air talent market which was published in June 2008.
On the basis of this report the Trust found that, on the whole, theBBC was not paying more for its top talent than other broadcasters
were willing to pay, and that a large proportion of its talent deals
were agreed at levels below those that might be available in the wider
market. However, we also found there was room for improvementin the BBC’s practices which could achieve better value for money
in some deals.
This year we asked the Executive to report on progress. We foundthat the BBC has made good progress on our recommendations,achieving some significant savings. However, in the context of thecurrent economic climate, we believe the BBC should go further in
reducing its overall spend on talent, and we have tasked the Executive
with achieving further substantial savings during the remainder of thislicence fee period.

2. Value for money studies

This rolling programme of studies, mainly commissioned from the
NAO, provides an independent check on the Executive’s activities.
This year we commissioned two studies, the efficiency of the BBC’s
radio production and the management of the BBC’s strategic
contracts. You can find full reports on these studies on our website.

Radio production

The study looked at what the BBC is doing to maximise the efficiencyof radio production across all stations. It reviewed efficiency plans
and the BBC’s assessment of the impact of efficiency initiatives on
performance, and used cost comparisons for similar programme types
both from the BBC’s own stations and commercial competitors.
The study found that the BBC has achieved savings in radio
production, with plans for further savings, but that it needs tounderstand better why the cost of producing similar programmes
on its different radio stations varies so widely.
We agree with the NAO that the BBC should adopt a more
systematic approach to using comparative cost data and identifying
potential savings, but caution that any such work should also takeaccount of the possible impact on the quality of programming. We
accept all of the recommendations of the study and have agreed with
the Executive a plan for their implementation, and they will reportback to us on progress.

“I have always found the BBC to be
the best public service broadcasterin the UK. I consider my licence fee
to be money well spent.” *“Should the BBC be paying this amountof money to so-called stars?” ‡This study looked at whether the BBC is securing the service andfinancial objectives set out in its current high-value strategic contracts(for services such as IT support, HR, facilities management and soforth), on which it spent £715million in 2007/08.
The study concluded that ‘the BBC had kept its spending on strategic
contracts in line with forecast and exceeded its savings targets. It now
needs to concentrate on securing the levels of service for which it has
paid – as well as achieving greater innovation – to provide the BBC
and licence fee payers with value for money’. It also found that, acrossthe five contracts examined, the BBC’s approach to relationshipmanagement was above average compared with other organisationsin the public and private sectors.
The study identified a number of recommendations for improving
the management of strategic contracts. We have again accepted
these recommendations and agreed with the Executive a plan for
their implementation.

3. Monitoring operations
The digital switchover

The Government and Ofcom are responsible for the switchoverof the UK to digital broadcasting, but asked the BBC to help certain
vulnerable groups in society at the time of digital switchover by
ensuring they are aware of what digital switchover means and receive
the assistance they need to deal with this (‘the targeted help scheme’).
The Trust’s main role in relation to the targeted help scheme is toensure that the Executive’s operation of the scheme provides value
for money.
The financial review in Part Two of this report provides an overview
of the scale of operations in the past year and the money involved,
with £24million spent by the help scheme in 2008/09. To date thehelp scheme has spent less than forecast mainly due to the take upof the scheme being lower than expected. Although the review of thefirst transmitter switchover operations suggests the help scheme wasoperating satisfactorily, it is in the coming year that arrangements will
be tested as the scale of activity increases significantly.

Licence fee collection

The Trust has a duty to ensure that collection of the licence fee is‘efficient, appropriate and proportionate’. This year we undertook adetailed study of the collection arrangements, which included a public
consultation to obtain the views of licence fee payers.
We concluded that, in collecting the licence fee, the BBC must balance
firmness with fairness. TV Licensing needs to improve the tone of its
early dealings with the public, especially households that do not havetelevisions. At the same time, TV Licensing should do more to target
the minority of hard core licence evaders to make sure that everyone
who should pay does pay.
We were pleased to note that since the BBC took over collecting thelicence fee in 1991 the evasion rate has dropped from 12.7% to 5.1%,
although that decline has since levelled off with a slight rise to 5.39%.
The BBC has also made savings in collection costs of £43.5million
since 2006/07.
We have suggested that the BBC should put more effort into targeted
enforcement of payment of the licence fee, even if this leads to modest
additional cost. We consider the range of payment methods onoffer to be satisfactory for the vast majority of licence fee payers, butwould like to see payment plans simplified, particularly those schemes
requiring upfront payment which may be difficult for people on low
incomes. The Executive will be responding to our recommendations
early in 2009/10 and we will monitor progress as part of our annual
review of licence fee collection.

Service licence budgetary compliance

In 2008/09 all but two services complied with their service budget
parameters. We were content with the reasons for HD TV and
BBC ALBA under spending against baseline budget by more than
10%. The HD TV underspend was due to greater savings being
achieved in contractual costs than initially forecast. We monitor
underspend as well as overspend so that we can take a view as towhether any reduction in investment is significantly impacting onservice quality. In this case we welcomed the efficiencies that had
been achieved. The BBC ALBA underspend reflected the start ofthe service mid year against an annual service licence baseline.

2008/09 work plan

* member of the public taking part in a bbC survey.
‡ letter from licence fee payer to the trust during 2008/09.

The areas discussed above all featured in our 2008/09 work plan.
Additionally we had planned to do a third value for money review on
asset management, but realised that two reviews per year was a more
realistic target than three, and therefore focused our efforts on the
more significant subjects.

37
Performance/

Management of strategic contracts

PeRfORmAnCe/uPhOlding liCenCe fee PAyeRs’ inteRests/

UPHOLDING LICENCE FEE
PAYERS’ INTERESTS
We must make decisions on behalf of all licencefee payers, taking account of both individualinterests and the wider public interest.

Performance/

38

The Trust’s role is to ensure that the BBC works effectively in the
public interest, and is as responsive as possible to what licence fee
payers want.
How do we do this? It comes down to four things:• listening to licence fee payers to understand their views of the BBC
and how it can be improved• considering issues brought to our attention through complaints andappeals, and making judgements to ensure that the BBC continues
to meet the highest standards• ensuring we consider the views of all interested parties when making
decisions about the BBC’s services and how they are run• defending the BBC’s independence by resisting influence andpressure from any source

1. Listening to licence fee payers

To be able to respond to licence fee payers, we must of course
understand what they want. We have various methods of gathering
audiences’ views, including advice from Audience Councils, direct
research, public consultations, public meetings and radio phone-ins.

2. Continuing to meet the highest
standards

Most of the issues brought to our attention through the complaints
and appeals process are around editorial standards (see page 57 for
how the editorial appeals process works), although we also concern
ourselves with other standards, for example fair trading.
The results of all appeals that we consider are explained on our
website. We report below on the most significant appeals that we
considered during the year, as a result of which we have changed
BBC policy or are taking additional action to review compliancewith standards.

The Russell Brand Show incident

The furore around an incident on The Russell Brand Show was
the most significant issue to have arisen over editorial standards
this year, and provoked more than 42,000 complaints to the BBC.
In October 2008, broadcasters Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross
left highly offensive telephone messages for the actor Andrew Sachs
during a pre-recorded programme on BBC Radio 2. The Trust’s
Editorial Standards Committee found that there had been a very
serious breach of the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines on offence andprivacy, and that editorial control and compliance procedures in
non-news areas of the BBC’s Audio & Music division were inadequate.
Ofcom imposed fines totalling £150,000.

“It would be a great shame for thequality of BBC programmes to becompromised.” †Sponsorship/BBC Sports Personality of the Year

This appeal did not attract the numbers of complaints seen in the
Brand/Ross incident but was significant in that the Trust has required
major changes to be made to BBC policy concerning the sponsorshipof on-air events.
In December 2007, BBC One and Radio 5 live broadcast BBC Sports
Personality of the Year. The event was sponsored by Britvic Soft Drinks.
Complaints were made that a number of Guidelines had been broken
for reasons which included the prominence of the Robinsons logo
and, more broadly, that the BBC should not be offering guarantees
of on-air mentions in return for on-air event sponsorship funding.
The complaints were initially addressed by the BBC Executive
and not upheld.
On appeal, the Trust concluded that several of the editorial guidelines
had been breached. We believe that audiences expect BBC
programmes to be free of advertising, or the impression of advertising.
We instructed the Executive to ensure breaches of this kind were notrepeated. We also stipulated that there should be tighter controls on
event sponsorship.
The Executive’s revised sponsorship guidance and policy propose thatthe BBC will no longer accept commercial sponsors for on-air BBC
events and end contractual obligations to on-air or website mentionsof the sponsor of a BBC on-air event. The policy, accompanied by therevised guidance, has been put out for public consultation and we planto publish the results in summer 2009.
† member of the public taking part in a consultation on the bbC.

3. Considering the views of all interested
parties in making decisions
We believe in conducting business openly – and are required to doso – which includes taking account of the views of interested parties
when making decisions about the scope of BBC services and activities.
We do this in a variety of ways including meeting interested parties
and consulting publicly on significant issues.
We set out below the most significant decisions we have made in thepast year.

Local video

This year we refused permission for the Executive to develop a local
video service, after conducting a public value test.
The Trust rejected the proposals because it did not consider that theywould improve services for the public enough to justify either theinvestment of licence fee funds or the negative impact on commercial
media. Instead, we believe the BBC’s priority should be to improve thequality of its regional services. We asked the Executive to come backto us with new proposals during 2009/10.

Network supply review

We have set more challenging targets for the amount of BBC
network production to be made outside London.
To get the best creative output and ensure value for money, we want
the BBC to draw on the full range of talents in the UK when sourcing
Network Television production. The Executive completed a review in2008, which resulted in us changing how we set targets for the BBC
in this area.
We used to use a BBC-specific definition of what counts as network
production but have decided to use Ofcom’s definition to bring us
in line with the rest of the UK broadcasting industry. The Ofcom
definition is more demanding than the BBC’s existing definition
and applying it in future means a significant stretch to the targets
previously set.
Under the new targets the BBC must:• ensure that 50% of network production is made outside London
by 2016• increase network production from Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland (combined) to 12% by 2012 and 17% by 2016
We have not set formal targets for individual nations but we will
monitor delivery to ensure a strong and sustainable network
production base in each nation.

39
Performance/

The Trust instructed the Executive to:• submit proposals to strengthen editorial controls in Audio & Music,
which the Trust approved in December 2008
• strengthen immediately the editorial controls around any
programme which represents high levels of editorial risk
• assess immediately the editorial controls and compliance proceduresin place for all programmes across television and radio where
the production company is owned and/or managed by thefeatured performer
In autumn 2009, we will carry out an independent audit to determine
the effectiveness of the Executive’s measures to strengthen editorial
controls in the Audio & Music division.
This incident underlines the importance of understanding the editorialboundaries for high-risk material. In 2009 we will be reviewing theBBC’s Editorial Guidelines, taking account of common understandingof what is acceptable from research into public opinion on this subject.

“In my view the BBC is very middle of
the road, middle class, middle Englandand it doesn’t cater for diverse views.” ^High definition service on digital terrestrial television

Performance/

40

Working with Ofcom we agreed in principle a way to allow
HD on Freeview.
Digital terrestrial television (DTT), including the BBC’s Freeview
service, is key to the Government’s strategy for achieving universal,
free-to-air public service broadcasting. The digital switchover offers
an opportunity to take advantage of new technologies and upgrade
the platform to offer a wider set of services, including the potential
for services in high definition (HD).
We know from previous consultations that there is much support
amongst the public for HD services. Our approval of the new BBC
HD channel, announced in November 2008, made clear that all
licence fee payers, including those on Freeview, should have accessto it as soon as possible.
We therefore welcomed Ofcom’s proposition to license commercial
public service broadcasters to broadcast HD services. In April 2008,
we agreed to work with Ofcom to allow HD on Freeview, reflecting
our respective responsibilities for the services and licences whichfacilitate operation of the DTT platform. The BBC can now move
forward with its HD service on Freeview.

iPlayer pre-booking

After a public consultation, we approved the Executive’s plans
for adding pre-booking functionality to the BBC iPlayer.
Pre-booking will allow users to select programmes from the iPlayerschedule up to seven days in advance and download them for viewing
on their home computers. We will be monitoring the impact ofpre-booking on the iPlayer’s reach and usage to ensure that it offers
value for money, and have asked the Executive to report back after
six months.

^ Public meeting attended by the Chairman of the bbC trust.

Project Canvas

We are assessing the Executives proposal for a joint venture
to promote a standards-based open environment for internetconnected television devices.
In November 2008, the Executive asked for permission to developa joint venture to promote a standards-based open environment forinternet-connected television devices, otherwise known as Project
Canvas. For consumers this would enable subscription-free accessto on demand television services and other internet-based content,
through a broadband connected digital device such as a set-top box.
Based on the information submitted by the Executive at that time, we
determined that Project Canvas is a non-service activity, and that afull public value test would not be appropriate. We therefore applied
a non-service assessment to Project Canvas, involving a detailed
evaluation of both the public value and the market impact of the
proposals. We conducted an initial public consultation, where
we invited industry stakeholders, audience groups and licence fee
payers to comment on the proposals. The consultation attracted
a significant response and we have now asked the Executive toprovide us with further information on key areas before continuingwith our assessment.

“I love the fact it has no adverts, and awide range of programmes from thehilarious to serious and educational.” †One of the main reasons the public trusts the BBC is because of its
independence, and defending that independence is therefore a crucialrole of the Trust.

The DEC Gaza Crisis Appeal

One of the most controversial issues on which we have had to
adjudicate was the decision in January 2009 by the Director-General
not to broadcast the Disasters Emergency Committee appeal forhumanitarian aid for the residents of Gaza. (See page 56 for detailsof the complaints and appeals around this issue and the reasons why
the Trust did not uphold the appeals.)
The Director-General’s decision provoked huge public debate andthere were calls from a number of senior politicians for the DirectorGeneral to reverse his decision. The intensity of feeling led ourChairman to write an open letter to the Director-General in which
he made an unequivocal statement about the Trust’s role insafeguarding the independence of the BBC. He said he felt that the‘level and tone’ of some of the political comment was ‘coming close
to constituting undue interference in the editorial independence of theBBC’. Sir Michael assured the Director-General that the Trust would‘do everything in our power to ensure that you are given the space tomake the editorial decisions you feel, after due consideration, are rightin the circumstances’.

† member of the public taking part in a consultation on the bbC.

2008/09 work plan

Some of the decisions and outcomes described above resulted fromwork we had planned to do within our 2008/09 work plan. Others
were the result of our work in considering appeals and complaints
during the year. We had a number of other priorities for work in
the year, which although not so significant in outcome, were
nonetheless important.

Impartiality review

We conducted a review on the impartiality of our coverage of thefour nations, which you can read about on page 55.

41

Economic value review

Performance/

4. Defending the BBC’s independence

Making sure that the BBC’s economic impact is a positive one is
an important issue for the Trust. To this end, in January 2008, we
commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers to conduct research into
the economic impact of the BBC’s publicly-funded services on the UK
broadcasting and creative sector. Their findings are set out on page 54.

Review of the WOCC

As set out in the Charter and Agreement, the BBC makes 50% of
television programmes in-house, as well as commissioning 25% fromindependent production companies. The BBC also operates the
Window of Creative Competition (WOCC) within which in-houseand independent producers can compete for the remaining 25%.
In 2008 the Trust reviewed how well the arrangement is working,getting views from a wide range of stakeholders as well as conducting
a public consultation.
Overall, we concluded that, under the current system, ideas aretreated equally and commissioning decisions are being made on merit.
Commissioners have clear incentives to pick the best ideas and there
is no obvious bias towards accepting in-house ideas over independent
ones or vice versa. As well as delivering benefits to audiences throughbetter programming, our stakeholder analysis revealed that the
WOCC is also broadly welcomed by commissioners, in-houseand independent producers.
There are always opportunities for improvement, however, andwe made various recommendations to the Executive to this effect.
We will assess progress through a follow-up review in 2010.

Lookinahead/

44 / THE TRUST’S PLANS FOR 2009/10/43
lookingahead/

g

Look

THE TRUST’S PLANS
FOR 2009/10
As explained on pages 18 to 19, where we report back on our
2008/09 plan, each year, the Trust publishes a work plan so thateveryone who engages with us, both inside and outside the BBC,or anyone who is interested, can find out what our priorities are,why we have set them, and what we will be doing about them inthe year ahead. Following is a summary of our plan for 2009/10.
You can find full details of both the plan and the consultation
around it on our website bbc.co.uk/bbctrust

Getting the most out of the BBC
for licence fee payers

Lookingahead/44

In the year to come, we want to consolidate the work we’ve donein our first two years, but serve licence fee payers better by achieving
more for them through concentrating on a smaller number of issues
in greater depth. How will we do that? By finding out what issues they
are most concerned about, and making sure we do something about
them. We are helped particularly in this by the valuable contributions
made by the network of Audience Councils.
We will also continue to play a full role in the unfolding debate
about the future of public service broadcasting. We will assess thepartnership proposals submitted to us by the Executive on how
the BBC can use its strength better for the benefit of the whole
UK broadcasting sector.
Our work plan for 2009/10 centres on making sure that the BBC
remains focused on delivering high quality, distinctive programming;that it is efficient; and that overall it delivers the best value to audiences
across the UK. As well as more intensive work on editorial standards,
we will be reviewing some of the BBC’s most popular services
including BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Radio 2. Alongside that, we
will continue to review the Trust’s and the Trust Unit’s performanceto ensure we deliver value for money.

Stewardship ofthe licence fee
Our strategic role

To ensure that licence fee income is spent in ways that meet
audiences’ expectations and deliver value for money.
Priority 1

Six-year plan

We will continue to monitor implementation by the Executive of
the BBC’s six-year plan. In particular we’ll be looking at the qualityof the BBC’s services, and whether the Executive has achievedsavings through greater efficiency, to allow investment in new services.
Priority 2

Challenging economic environment

We will pay close attention to the effects on the BBC of a morechallenging economic environment.
Priority 3

Value for money

We will commission two value for money studies:a) capital investment in the BBC’s property portfoliob) financial and project management of a number of major external
events covered by the BBC such as the Olympics and Glastonbury
Priority 4

Trust’s Talent Report

We will publish a follow-up report on progress made on therecommendations in the Trust’s Talent report published in 2008.

In the coming year we will concentrate ona smaller number of issues in greater depth.

Upholding licencefee payers’ interests

Effectively promoting
the BBC’s public purposes

To ensure that the BBC works effectively in the public interestand is as responsive as possible to what licence fee payers want.

To ensure that, in all its operations, the BBC promotes
the six public purposes set out by Parliament.

Our strategic role

Priority 1

Priority 1

Editorial standards

Purpose remits

In the coming year the Trust will oversee the review of theBBC’s Editorial Guidelines. As part of this work, and following an
unacceptable breach of standards in The Russell Brand Show, we
will look at taste and standards in BBC programmes and commission
an independent review into compliance by the BBC’s Audio &Music division.
Priority 2

Public Service Broadcasting review

The UK broadcasting sector has seen a number of reviews overthe past three years, central to which have been Ofcom’s second
review of public service broadcasting and the Government’s Digital
Britain review.
We will continue to be an active participant in the Digital Britain
review as we believe it is vital that the interests of audiences areplaced first and foremost in the outcome.
Priority 3

Public value tests

We will be returning as we promised to the decision we took on
the Gaelic and iPlayer public value tests to examine how the services
are operating.
Priority 4

Partnership proposals

We have a formal role in approving new proposals from the Executive
for the BBC to work in closer partnership with the wider broadcasting
industry. We will be reviewing and commenting on these proposals
during the year.

Purpose remits set out how we expect the BBC to deliver eachof its public purposes. In 2007/08 we identified a number of
performance gaps particularly in respect of programming thataudiences see as fresh and new, and also in the provision of news
and current affairs to underserved audiences and how effectively
the BBC represents different nations. We will continue to monitor
the BBC’s performance here.
Priority 2

Service reviews

The Trust has a duty to review each BBC service at least once
every five years, offering the opportunity for the public to havetheir say on how they feel the BBC is doing against its remit.
In 2009/10 we will review:a) Television• BBC One• BBC Two• BBC Four
• BBC Red Buttonb) Radio• BBC Radio 2• BBC 6 Music

45
Lookingahead/

Our strategic role

Governance/

47
governanCe/

48 / The BBC trustees/
50 / delivering value for money/
52 / BBC and the wider economy/
55 / SECURING EDITORIAL STANDARDS/
57 / serving all audiences/

Go

The BBC trustees
The BBC Trust, as the governing body of the BBC,is separate from the Executive which manages
the BBC’s day-to-day operations.
Our job is to represent licence fee payers and make sure the
Executive delivers the high quality programmes and services the
public wants, while ensuring that the BBC is accountable and open.
We also protect the independence of the BBC from commercial
or political influence.

Sir Michael Lyons Chairman

Other roles: Chairman, English Cities Fund; non-executive
director, Mouchel plc, Wragge & Co, and SQW Ltd; governor,
Royal Shakespeare Company.

Chitra Bharucha MBE Vice Chairman

Chairs Remuneration and Appointments Committee andAudience Councils Committee. Led review of complaints
process (see page 57).
Other roles: Trustee, Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Diane Coyle OBE

Chairs Trust’s Strategic Approvals Committee. Led public
value test on proposed local video service (see page 39).
Other roles: Economist; member, Competition Commission;
member, Centre for Economic Policy Research; visiting
professor, University of Manchester, Institute of Politicaland Economic Governance.

Anthony Fry

48

Joined Trust on 1 November 2008
Other roles: Senior managing director, Evercore Partners; nonexecutive director, Control Risks and Dairy Crest; executive board
member, Edinburgh International Television Festival; board member,
English National Opera.

Governance/

Alison Hastings

Trustee for England (chairs Audience Council England). Led review
of services for younger audiences (see page 31).
Other roles: Media consultant; vice president, British Boardof Film Classification.

Dame Patricia Hodgson DBE

Led review of BBC’s online services (see page 35).
Other roles: Principal, Newnham College, Cambridge; non-executive
director, Competition Commission; member, Higher Education
Funding Council for England.

Rotha Johnston CBETrustee for Northern Ireland (chairs Audience Council, Northern
Ireland); chairs Finance and Compliance Committee. Led review
of Window of Creative Competition (see page 41).

Other roles: Non-executive director, Allied Irish Bank (UK) plc andNorthern Ireland Office; deputy chairman, Invest Northern Ireland;
pro-chancellor, Queen’s University, Belfast.

Janet Lewis-Jones

Trustee for Wales (chairs Audience Council Wales). Led review
of TV licensing collection methods (see page 37).
Other roles: Chair, membership selection panel, Glas Cymru Cyf(Welsh Water); trustee, Baring Foundation and Maytree Charity.

David Liddiment

Chairman, Audiences and Performance Committee. Led work
on distinctiveness (see section 30).
Other roles: Non-executive director, All3Media; associate,
Old Vic Theatre Company.

Mehmuda Mian

Led review of children’s services (see page 31).
Other roles: Board member, Independent Safeguarding Authority;
associate director, Lokahi Foundation.

Jeremy Peat

Trustee for Scotland (chairs Audience Council Scotland). Led value
for money studies (see page 36 to 37).
Other roles: Chairman, BBC Pension Trust Board; director,
David Hume Institute; member, Competition Commission.

Richard Tait CBE

Chairman, Editorial Standards Committee. Leads the Trust’s
work on editorial standards and compliance (see pages 55 to 56).
Other roles: Professor of Journalism and director, Centre for
Journalism Studies, Cardiff University; vice president, International
News Safety Institute.
For more information on the Trustees, their former careersand experience, please see our website bbc.co.uk/bbctrust
This section of our report sets out how our governance activities
serve the public, under the headings:• delivering value for money• the BBC and the wider economy• securing editorial standards• serving all audiences
Pages 60 to 67 set out the Trust’s own corporate governanceprocesses while Part Two of this report provides more informationon the Executive’s position on corporate governance.

SIR MICHAEL LYONSCHAIRMANCHITRA Bharucha
VICE CHAIRMAN

Diane coyle

Anthony Fry

Alison Hastings
ENGLAND

Dame Patricia Hodgson

Rotha Johnston
NORTHERN IRELAND

Janet Lewis-Jones
WALESDavid Liddiment

Governance/

49

mehmuda mian

Jeremy peat
SCOTLANDD

Richard tait

Go

DELIVERING VALUEFOR MONEYAs Trustees, our ultimate responsibility is tomake sure the BBC delivers value for money.

We oversee the BBC’s financial and business performance, keeping
a close eye both on its own financial needs and on how it spends
its income.
We carry out our financial duties through the Finance and Compliance
Committee (see page 61 for membership), which scrutinises BBC
budgets, financial performance, and other operational compliance,
as well as undertaking reviews on specific areas of expenditure. This
committee formerly operated as the Finance and Strategy Committee
but was reformed in January 2009 under its new name with revised
terms of reference. Key strategic decisions are now reviewed by theStrategic Approvals Committee.

Setting financial budgets and objectives
Each year we review and question the BBC’s finances and, once ourquestions have been answered and any changes we feel necessary
have been made, we approve the BBC’s budget and its long-term
financial plans. As part of this we set a budget for each individual
service licence. Where necessary, we may also set management
financial objectives to guide the way the Executive manages
operations. Last year we set a target for the BBC to make cumulative
3% efficiencies over the five-year period from 2008/09 to 2012/13.
We report on progress against that target on page 7.

Risk management

Governance/

50

Each year we review and question the risk management activities
undertaken within the BBC to ensure that the Executive is adequately
identifying and addressing the key operating risks facing the BBC.
We do this through review of regular risk management reports andthrough questioning of the external auditors, internal audit and the
Audit Committee.
Occasionally we will make recommendations as to areas for moredetailed review. An appropriate management information system isfundamental to effective decision making for any organisation. In recent
years the BBC has reformed its financial systems, achieving significant
savings through the establishment of a central finance service centre in
Cardiff and other outsourcing arrangements. We reported last year
on some issues concerning the controls around spend and accounting
for the BBC Online. In view of this we have asked the Executive toprovide us with assurance as to the current status and quality ofmanagement reporting across the BBC’s public services.
We welcome the Executive’s proposals to engage the external
auditors to review this during 2009/10.

Specific reviews

Each year we look in detail at particular areas to ensure they deliver
value for money, in accordance with our Charter duties. You can finddetails of this year’s reviews on pages 36 to 37. As well as this planned
programme, we carry out other reviews, informed by our Charter
duties. This year we reviewed the collection of the licence fee, looking
at whether it is efficient, appropriate and proportionate. We arefollowing up on the actions taken by the Executive in response to
our review of talent costs from the previous year.

Executive pay

Through our remuneration and appointments committee (see page
62 for membership), we set the strategy that determines the pay
and benefits of the Executive Board.
Our approach to executive pay is to ensure that it reflects
the expectations of licence fee payers as well as the needsof the organisation.
Our three guiding principles for executive pay are:• it should be consistent with a remuneration strategy for
the BBC as a whole• it should take into account the unique opportunities that working
at the BBC can offer• the BBC should follow, not lead, the market
We are responsible for and set the remuneration of the DirectorGeneral and the non-executive Directors. For other members of the
Executive Board, we set the remuneration strategy but we do not
set individual salaries or award bonuses. These are determined by
the Executive Board’s Remuneration Committee, consisting entirelyof non-executive Directors.

we continue to pay close attention to the concerns of licence fee
payers and other stakeholders about the levels of executive pay atthe bbC. the bbC operates in a competitive market and we want
to attract the very best people to work for the organisation; this will
ensure that we can continue to provide the high quality programmes
and services that licence fee payers expect. however, we are equallyclear that the level of remuneration – particularly of top executives –needs to reflect the fact that the bbC is funded by the public throughthe licence fee.
As part of our ongoing responsibility to deliver value for money in thisarea, we have decided to review our approach to executive pay andbenefits, including performance related bonuses. this review will takeplace during 2009. Consistent with our guiding principles, the directorgeneral will review the remuneration strategy for the bbC as awhole, taking into account the current economic circumstances andthe need to demonstrate value for money to licence fee payers. Afterconsidering the outcomes of his review we will determine the strategy
for the executive board.

EXE
1. Director-Generalthe director-general, mark thompson, is the Chief executive
Officer of the bbC. he is the bbC’s editor-in-chief and chairmanof the executive board. we set the director-general’s salaryand conditions and determine if any performance-related bonus
is to be awarded.
Our approach to the director-general’s remuneration is to provide
a package that attracts and retains a person of the calibre required
to undertake this demanding role and provide the leadershipnecessary to direct the uK’s largest public service broadcaster.
the director-general’s remuneration consists of a base salary, apension and the option to be considered for a performance-relatedbonus (maximum 10% of base salary). the director-general is also
provided with a chauffeur-driven car which he uses principally forbusiness journeys in london, but he is not entitled to a personal
car or fuel allowance.
in August 2008 we awarded the director-general a 2% increase tohis base salary, mirroring the increase awarded to staff. for 2008/09
the performance-related bonus scheme for the bbC’s public service
directors was suspended (see below), and therefore the directorgeneral did not receive a bonus.
the trust undertakes an annual performance assessment of thedirector-general. he continues to meet the objectives set by
the trust and we believe that he provides strong and effective
leadership of the organisation.

2. non-executive Directors

the non-executive directors receive a fee determined by the trust,which reflects the complexity of the role and the time required toundertake their role effectively. the fee levels are set with reference
to rates paid by other uK corporations, but at a level such that the
non-executive directors are not financially dependent on the bbC.
each non-executive director receives a base fee (currently £35,700pa), while an additional fee (currently £5,100 pa) is awarded tothe chair of each committee for each role performed. the seniorindependent director is awarded an additional fee of £10,200 pa
for undertaking his role. the non-executive directors are also
reimbursed for expenses incurred on bbC business, and any tax
arising on those expenses is settled directly by the bbC. their fees
and taxable benefits are set out in Part two of this report.

operation of the trust’s remuneration andappointments Committee

the trust’s committee is advised by staff from the trust unit. As set
out in the 2006 Combined Code on Corporate governance, whennecessary, the committee takes specialist advice from our chosen
external professional adviser, towers Perrin. they give us relevantmarket information and advice on remuneration strategy whenrequested. for matters relating to the executive board, the directorgeneral, the director bbC People, the Reward director, and the
Chairman of the executive board’s Remuneration Committee attend
the trust’s Remuneration and Appointments Committee as required.
the director-general is never present when his own remuneration
is discussed.

trustees’ remuneration

see page 65 for details of trustees’ remuneration.

from 1 january 2009, we gave the non-executive directors a 2%
increase to their fees (the pa amounts listed above reflect thisincrease). the fees of the non-executive directors are reviewed
by the trust every other year, and this was the first review.
the executive board undertakes its own performance assessment,
which is reported to the trust, details of which can be found inPart two of this report.

3. executive directors

Our approach to executive pay is to set a strategy which provides
remuneration that is able to attract, motivate and retain the key
talent required to lead the bbC and deliver outstanding public
service broadcasting. As stated above, we believe that this mustreflect the expectations of licence fee payers as well as theneeds of the organisation. in the current economic environment,these expectations serve to put increasing pressure on levelsof executive pay.
within a strategy set by the trust, the executive board’s
Remuneration Committee determines the individual remunerationof executive directors. it then presents a formal report assuring usthat this strategy has been followed. On reviewing this year’s report
we concluded that our strategy had been followed with respect toexecutive directors’ pay, and therefore accepted the committee’s
assurance on this matter.
this year the executive board suspended the discretionary bonus
arrangements for most bbC staff. this decision made all public
service executive directors ineligible for a performance-relatedbonus. the Chief executive, bbC worldwide, has a bonus related
to the profits arising from the bbC’s commercial operations. moredetails on this are available in Part two of this report.
the performance of the executive directors is a matter forthe director-general. the report of the executive board’s
Remuneration Committee can be found in Part two of this report.

51
Governance/FGo

The BBC AND THE
WIDER ECONOMY
Our duty as Trustees is to prevent the BBC fromusing its economic power in ways that might
stifle enterprise or initiative from elsewhere andto make sure the BBC conducts its commercial
trading activities fairly.
The BBC is a major presence in the UK media sector. It spent£3.6billion in 2008/09 (£3.5 billion in 2007/08), including £1.1billion
spent outside the BBC on independent productions, artists and otherprogramme resources (£1.2billion in 2007/08).
We know the public places a high value on the breadth of choice thatcomes from a thriving UK media market and maintaining that breadthof choice in the public interest. We ensure that the BBC is a fair player
in the wider UK media sector.

Approval of new services

One of the main things we consider when looking at the BBC’s
investment in new services is what the impact would be on themarket. We weigh up the benefit to a particular group of licence fee
payers with the broader public interest. To ensure that we strike theright balance when there are competing interests, we apply a public
value test before approving any new services. The test considers
both positive and negative market impacts. No new services wereapproved during the year.

BBC’s commercial activities

Governance/

52

As well as its public services, the BBC has some commercial activities,
which have to be carried out through subsidiaries, the main one being
BBC Worldwide. The aim is to generate revenue to reinvest in public
services for the benefit of licence fee payers.
Our role is to make sure the BBC conducts its commercial trading
activities fairly and to prevent the BBC from using its economic powerin ways that might stifle enterprise or initiative elsewhere. We set
the framework in which new commercial services are approved
and overseen, which covers four criteria. As set out in the BBC
Agreement, services must:• fit with the BBC’s public purposes• exhibit commercial efficiency• not jeopardise the good reputation of the BBC• comply with BBC fair trading guidelines, in particular avoiding
distorting the market
While we set the framework and require the Executive to reportagainst it, in practice most operational decisions are made either by
the Board of BBC Worldwide or by the Executive Board. In a small
number of cases our approval is required for new services. No newservices were approved in 2008/09.

Overseeing fair trading arrangements

All BBC trading activities are covered by the BBC’s fair trading regime
which is designed to ensure that the BBC’s commercial and othertrading activities are conducted fairly and aims to minimise any negative
impact on the market. The BBC recognises that it plays a unique rolein the media market and has chosen to abide by constraints on its
operations in addition to those imposed on it by UK and European
competition and state aid rules.
The Trust is required by the Charter to adopt a statement of policy onfair trading and to hold the Executive Board to account for compliancewith it. The BBC Trust’s Fair Trading Policy and the BBC Trust’s
Competitive Impact Codes came into effect on 1 July 2007.
Responsibility for day-to-day fair trading compliance by the BBC andfor handling fair trading complaints lies with the Executive throughits Fair Trading Compliance Committee.
Responsibility for monitoring fair trading compliance and for handlingfair trading appeals lies with the Trust’s Finance and Compliance
Committee (which replaced the Trust’s Public Value and Fair Trading
Committee on 1 January 2009).
The Trust believes the BBC’s Fair Trading Commitment, the BBC
Trust’s Fair Trading Policy and Competitive Impact Codes and the
BBC Management’s Fair Trading Guidelines are consistent with therequirements of the Charter and Agreement. Through the workof our Committee, we have gained reasonable assurance that thecontrols and procedures designed to ensure these policies are applied
throughout the BBC have been operating effectively throughout theyear. We will continue to review the policies in the context of theevolving media market. The Executive reports in Part Two of thisreport on its own measures to ensure compliance.
In 2008, the Trust considered four fair trading appeals and upheld twoof them in part. At the time of writing, the Trust is considering threefair trading appeals; we will report on the findings next year. Findingsof all appeals are published on our website.
The Trust is advised by independent fair trading auditors and advisers.
The independent auditors conduct an annual fair trading audit todetermine whether the BBC has established and applied a system
of internal controls which provides reasonable assurance that it hascomplied with its Fair Trading Policy, Competitive Impact Codes andthe Fair Trading Guidelines. The audit includes a wide programmeof reviews, tests and evaluations across all BBC divisions.

In our role as the BBC’s fair trading auditors, we have audited thesystem of internal controls established within the BBC to provide
the BBC with reasonable assurance that the BBC Executive
has complied with the requirement of its Fair Trading Policy,
Competitive Impact Codes and the Fair Trading Guidelines (‘theFair Trading Arrangements’) for the year ended 31 March 2009.
Our instructions for this engagement, including the scope of work
to be undertaken, were agreed with the BBC Trust’s Public Valueand Fair Trading Committee (replaced on 1 January 2009 by the
Finance and Compliance Committee). These instructions include
agreement that our audit should be conducted in accordance with
the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000,
agreement on the limit of our liability in respect of this work, andagreement that our duty of care in respect of this work is solely
to the BBC Trust, as a body. We are satisfied that the agreed scopeof our audit was sufficient to enable us to express the opinion set
out below.

Respective responsibilities of BBC Trust, BBC Executive
and Fair Trading Auditors

The BBC Trust is responsible for ensuring that the BBC Executive
trades fairly. It is also responsible for preparing the section within
this report entitled ‘Overseeing fair trading arrangements’ which
includes a statement on fair trading.
The BBC Executive is charged by the BBC Trust with establishingand operating a system of internal controls designed to ensurecompliance with the BBC’s fair trading arrangements for the year
ended 31 March 2009, including identifying and assessing risks
that could threaten fair trading, and designing and implementing
responses to such risks.
As the BBC’s fair trading auditors, it is our responsibility to form an
independent view, based on our audit work, of the extent to which
the BBC has established, and applied, a system of internal controls
which provide reasonable assurance that it has complied with therequirements of its Fair Trading Arrangements for the year ended
31 March 2009. We have reviewed specific decisions reached by
the BBC on fair trading issues only in so far as this is necessary toform an opinion on the application of the system of internal controls.
We have also reviewed whether the BBC Trust’s statement on fairtrading reflects our findings of the BBC’s compliance with its system
of internal controls and we report if it does not.
Our opinion has been prepared for and only for the BBC Trust,
as a body, in accordance with our instructions which were agreed
with the Trust Unit of the BBC on behalf of the BBC Trust’s Public
Value and Fair Trading Committee. We do not, in giving this opinion,
accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any
person other than the BBC Trust or BBC Executive to whom thisreport is shown, or into whose hands it may come, and no otherperson shall be entitled to rely on our opinion, save where expressly
agreed by our prior consent in writing.

Our approach

We have performed a reasonable assurance engagement as
defined in ISAE 3000. The objective of a reasonable assurance
engagement is to perform such procedures as to obtain informationand explanations which we consider necessary in order to provide
us with sufficient appropriate evidence to express a conclusion on
the BBC’s compliance with its Fair Trading Arrangements for theyear ended 31 March 2009.
Our work consisted of enquiry and testing to enable us to form aview as to whether an appropriate system of internal controls wasin place. We also reviewed the processing of a sample of materialtransactions to provide us with reasonable assurance that thesystem of internal control had been applied.

Inherent limitations

As with any system of control, it is not practicable to ensure thatno errors or irregularities have occurred without being detected.
Our audit work was designed to give the BBC Trust reasonableassurance as to the adequacy of the system of internal controls
which were in place and being applied to deliver compliancewith the requirements of its Fair Trading arrangements for theyear ended 31 March 2009. Further, because fair trading issues
require judgements which ultimately might be tested in a courtof law, competition authority or elsewhere, there is always a riskof challenge even where the system of internal controls has been
followed and decisions have been taken with the greatest care.

OpinionBased on the results of our procedures, in our opinion the BBC
has established and has applied a system of internal controlsthat provide reasonable assurance that it has complied with therequirements of the Fair Trading Arrangements for the year ended
31 March 2009.
Deloitte LLP
Chartered Accountants
London18 June 200953
Governance/

Independent fair trading auditors’
report to the BBC Trust for the year
ended 31 March 2009

Go

Understanding the impact of the BBCon the UK broadcasting sector

There has been a long-running public debate over the scale of thelicence fee and the possible adverse impact that a publicly-funded BBC
might have on other commercial broadcasters. Understanding thisdebate and making sure that the BBC’s overall impact is in the interestsof licence fee payers is a crucial role of the Trust. When considering
the issue, and whether adverse impacts do arise from the scale andscope of the BBC’s activities, it is important to understand the broader
benefits that come from channelling public funds into broadcasting. To
this end, in January 2008, we commissioned PricewaterhouseCoopers(PwC) to conduct research into the economic impact of the BBC’s
publicly-funded services on the UK broadcasting and creative sector.

Summary of PwC’s report

PwC estimated that the overall positive impact of the BBC’s
expenditure on creative activities, including on overheads andinfrastructure, was approximately £6.5billion per year, with morethan £5billion contributing to the creative sector alone. PwC createda hypothetical scenario in which the BBC was replaced with acommercially-funded broadcaster, and the results were an economic
impact of just £4.4billion, since the licence fee brings additional money
into the industry which advertising revenue would not match.

Governance/

54

Therefore, the report concluded that the long-term stable funding of
the BBC, through the annual licence fee, while a privilege for the BBC,is also a vital source of stability for the whole UK broadcasting industry.
A smaller or commercially-funded BBC would mean, for example,
lower investment in the UK production sector.
PwC concluded that the BBC’s impact on the broadcasting market
was mostly positive, and that the BBC does not draw revenue awayfrom commercial providers. Nonetheless, there are areas to bewatched carefully, such as the impact of the BBC on commercial radio
and choice of technology. While the economic impact of the BBC’s
greater investment in the four nations and regional broadcasting is
beginning to be felt, there is potential to increase it by developing
stronger relationships with local broadcasters.
The challenge for the BBC is to ensure that, wherever possible,
it delivers positive benefits to other stakeholders in the sectors
in which it operates without compromising its ability to deliver
the public purposes.
The full report from PwC is available on our website
bbc.co.uk/bbctrust

Go

SECURING EDITORIAL
STANDARDS
Upholding editorial standards is oneof our most important responsibilities.
Within this, protecting the BBC’s editorial
impartiality is crucial.

Impartiality and the nations

Our outreach work through public meetings, audience research andthe Audience Councils told us that many licence fee payers believed
the BBC was failing to reflect adequately the changes brought about inthe UK by devolution. In particular, people felt that the BBC’s network
programmes were not reflecting the diversity of the four nations, nor
was BBC network news reporting accurately the nations’ differing
political and social policies.
Therefore the Trust’s first impartiality review, published in July 2008,
addressed the question of whether the BBC’s network news andcurrent affairs coverage of the four nations was impartial, accurate,and clear as to which facts and views applied to the individual nations,and whether the nations’ policies were properly reflected andexplained. The review was carried out by Anthony King, Professor
of Government at the University of Essex.
The review concluded that, while there was little or no evidence that
BBC coverage in this area fell short on grounds of impartiality, there
were concerns over the accuracy and clarity of reporting, the range
and precision of coverage, and missed opportunities for drawing on
the rich variety of the UK.
Following publication of the review, the Executive presented an action
plan to the ESC to address the weaknesses identified, and was givena year to implement it.
In February 2009, the Executive made an interim report to the Trust.
We concluded that substantial progress had been made acrossnetwork news programmes in both content and understanding.
We noted, however, that more still needs to be done to ensurethat network news is meeting its responsibilities towards enrichingcontent to reflect the four nations and that changes in working culture
are permanent.

We need to be sure that changes reported by the Executive can bedemonstrated independently to our satisfaction, and we therefore
intend to carry out independent content research. Meanwhile wewill continue to monitor progress as reported by the Executive.

Addressing editorial complaints andappeals

An important function of the Trust’s work is to ensure that complaints
are addressed properly. Where appropriate, we hear appeals. Whenan appeal is upheld, the Trust can demand that the Executive takes
remedial action.

Executive performance in handling complaints

Every six months the Executive reports to the Trust on serious
editorial issues, complaints handling and complaints findings. Between
April 2008 and March 2009, the BBC received just over 262,000
complaints. This was well over double the volume of complaints in theprevious year. Complaints about The Russell Brand Show and the DEC
Gaza Crisis Appeal contributed greatly to this total. 90% of complaints
were answered within ten working days, which falls below the agreed
turnaround target of 93%. However, 93% of complainants received
an answer to, or acknowledgment of their complaint within ten days.

Appeals to the Trust

In 2008/09, the ESC heard 75 appeals or requests for appeal, of which
36 concerned issues relating to impartiality. Of these 75 appeals weupheld four and partly upheld 24. This was an increase on the previous
year when we heard 63 appeals, of which three were fully upheld and19 partly upheld. 9% were handled within the target time-frame of
16 weeks from acceptance of the appeal to the finding being sent out.
This was due to an increase in the number and complexity of appeals
being handled, and to the additional work undertaken by the ESC
on editorial standards relating to incidents such as Brand/Ross.

55
Governance/

The Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) plays a key rolein fulfilling our duties with respect to upholding editorial standards.
In 2009, the ESC will review the editorial guidelines which define
the values and standards that underpin the BBC’s output. The ESC
is also responsible for hearing appeals concerning editorial standards
and for commissioning research into specific matters pertaining to
the BBC’s editorial performance such as impartiality.

Go

Examples of Trust appeal decisions
The DEC Gaza Crisis Appeal

In January 2009 the Director-General decided not to broadcast
the DEC appeal for humanitarian aid for the residents of Gaza. He
justified his decision by saying that, because the Israel-Gaza conflict
was an on-going news story, the BBC could not broadcast a freestanding appeal, no matter how carefully constructed, without running
the risk of reducing public confidence in the BBC’s impartiality in its
wider coverage of the story.
This decision provoked huge public debate, with the Executive
receiving around 40,000 complaints by the first week of February.
The complaints were rejected, leading to around 200 appeals coming
to the Trust. Because of the importance of the issue to the public, weformed a specially-constituted committee to hear the appeals, which
met on 11 February and made recommendations which were agreed
at a meeting of the full Trust on 18–19 February.
The Trust was satisfied that the Director-General’s decision was
reasonable having regard to the importance of preserving the
reputation of the BBC for impartiality. The Trust was also satisfied
that the Director-General took proper advice in reaching his decision
not to broadcast the appeal, from the appropriate people, including
the BBC’s Charitable Appeals Advisor, senior editorial colleagues andmembers of the independent Appeals Advisory Committee, and that
he paid careful attention to the views of the DEC itself.

The Middle East

Governance/

56

Items about the conflict in the Middle East are sensitive and the Trust
received appeals alleging bias both for and against the Israeli andPalestinian sides. One that we partly upheld was about a BBC News
Online article, How 1967 Defined The Middle East. While rejecting
many of the points raised by the complainants, the ESC found thatthe article breached impartiality guidelines because readers might havecome away from it thinking that the interpretation offered was the
only sensible view of the war. The Committee ruled that more shouldhave been done to explain that there were alternative views on thesubject which had some weight. We also partly upheld points ofaccuracy. However, the Trust has seen no evidence of any systematic
bias in the BBC’s reporting of the conflict.

Other editorial issues

We also requested that the Executive provide us with reports
on acknowledged editorial breaches which were not the subjectof complaints. The ESC considered these and how the Executive
had dealt with them. Following are some examples of the cases
considered by the ESC in 2008/09.

Dermot O’Leary (BBC Radio 2) and Tony Blackburn(BBC London)

In pre-recorded editions of these programmes from 2005/06,
competitions were broadcast as live, meaning that listeners had
no chance of winning. The ESC concluded that, although thesecases were serious and involved audience deception, remedial steps
taken by the Executive during 2007/08 should prevent similar casesin the future.

World Service

Afghan Radio Educational Features were making programmes onbehalf of the World Service Trust to be broadcast on the World
Service. In 2008 a whistleblower brought to light irregularities inprogramming. The resulting enquiry found evidence of serious
editorial failings where interviews with members of staff were passed
off as interviews with experts or members of the public. The ESC
considered these breaches to be extremely serious and required theWorld Service to carry out a review of the skills and experience of theWorld Service Trust teams who make programmes for the World
Service and to introduce a more rigorous compliance system forWorld Service Trust output.

Go

SERVING ALL AUDIENCES
Because everyone who watches televisionmust buy a licence, we have a particularresponsibility to ensure that the BBC serves
them all as well as possible.

Listening to all audiences

Each year we carry out a research programme on various aspectsof the BBC’s service; we get advice from our Audience Councils in
the four nations; and we invite the public to have a direct say throughour consultations. This year we have improved our consultation
techniques, for example by providing a website for children to use
in our review of children’s services. We also hold a small numberof public meetings, although we recognise that these days, mostpeople don’t want to engage with organisations in this way. Radiophone-ins therefore have a valuable part to play in giving the public
an opportunity to question the Trustees directly.

Complaints and appeals

Complaints are an important part of listening to audiences, and weare responsible for ensuring that the Executive deals with complaints
properly. Our overriding principles are that the Trust must act
independently of the Executive in dealing with them and that thesystem should put complainants on an equal footing with the BBC
as far as is practicable. The Trust hears final appeals if people areunhappy with the way their initial complaints have been dealt withby the Executive.
To deal with complaints most efficiently, we divide them into six
categories – general, editorial, fair trading, TV Licensing, Digital
Switchover Help Scheme and complaints about the Trust itself –and have specific procedures for each. You can find more informationon our website at bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/appeals

What audiences think of the BBC

Support for the BBC is strong overall. Our survey in 2009 showedthat 85% of adults would miss the BBC if it wasn’t there, up from
70% in 2007. However some groups in society have a stronger
bond with the BBC than others. In general, the older and better off
are more likely to value the BBC, while ethnic minorities, those in
the devolved nations and those further away from London tend
to be more critical.

So in 2007 we set the BBC two objectives which can besummarised as:• to improve support from those most critical (low approvers)• to maintain support from our loyal audiences (high approvers)
The headline data on pages 6 to 7 demonstrate that the BBC
is making some progress, with marginally more high approvers
and marginally fewer low approvers.

Equality and diversity

We believe that, to represent licence fee payers most effectively, theBBC’s staff should reflect the diversity of the UK population. One ofour major ongoing concerns is the proportion of staff at a senior levelfrom black and ethnic minority backgrounds. The proportion has
risen from 5% in 2008 to 5.6% in 2009, but still lags behind our original
target of 7%, which we had aimed to achieve by 2007. We havemade it clear to the Executive that we expect them to take action
to address this.
The BBC also has duties under equality legislation to promoteequality positively and work to eliminate unlawful discrimination
across disability, gender and race in respect of certain ‘public functions’,
which include TV Licensing, arrangements for digital switchover andsome of the Trust’s regulatory functions. We have published equality
schemes which set out how we plan to achieve this, and reporton performance each year.
Over the past year the BBC has made progress. Examples include
involving disabled people in the development of the Digital Switchover
Help Scheme and undertaking joint research with Channel 4 withdisabled audiences on access to BBC services including iPlayer. This
year TV Licensing began a three-year Equality Impact Assessment
Programme on payment methods and processes to ensure they
are appropriate for a range of needs and lifestyles.
As the Trust, we also need to make sure we consider equality anddiversity in our own operations and behaviour. This year we havemade good progress, seeking input into our work from a wide rangeof people. Our children’s service review included qualitative researchamongst children from minority ethnic homes, and our review of TV
Licence Collection included research with recent migrants, disabled
people, people on low incomes, and the elderly. The performancesummaries for 2008/09 are published in full on our website.

57
Governance/

The licence fee, unique to the BBC, is designed to ensure highquality output, free at the point of delivery, available to all. But ofcourse, it means that everyone who watches television must buy alicence, whatever they think of the BBC. So the Trust has a particularresponsibility to ensure that everyone is served as well as possible.

INSIDETHE
TRUST/

59
insideTheTrusT/

60 / inside the trust/
68 / contacts/

I

Inside the trust
As BBC Trustees we are committed
to upholding the highest standardsof corporate governance.

In this section we set out:
1. How we operate
2. Assessing our own performance
3. Costs of running the Trust
4. Trustees’ remuneration
5. Trustees’ attendance at meetings
6. Responsibilities in respect of the Annual Report and Accounts

1. How we operate

It is our responsibility to get the best out of the BBC for licence fee
payers. As important as what we do is how we do it. In undertaking
our duties, as defined by the Charter and Agreement, ourcommitment is to:• defend vigorously the independence of the BBC at all times• listen to the public and use the views of audiences to shapethe decisions we make• value the professionalism, innovation and creativity of BBC
staff and contributors• hold rigorously the BBC’s management to accountMost importantly, we also ensure that our processes are as open
and transparent as possible. The BBC’s Charter requires the Trustto ensure that the organisation as a whole observes high standardsof openness and transparency and this is something that we takeparticularly seriously.
The duties and responsibilities of the Trust are outlined in the Charterand Agreement. In support of these documents we have established‘protocols’ which provide more detail on how we will deliver theseduties and responsibilities. They also set out, in some detail, therelationship between the Trust and the Executive Board. All of these
documents are published on our website bbc.co.uk/bbctrust

Insidethetrust/60

As we plan our annual programme of work we publish and consult
on an annual work plan and seek comments from others on what
our priorities should be. As part of this process the Audience Councils
also propose priorities for the Trust to consider.
After we make a decision, we publish our conclusions clearly alongwith the evidence that has been used to inform our judgements.
We explain our decisions to licence fee payers and to those within
the BBC who may be affected.
Our regular business is undertaken in monthly meetings of the fullTrust. At these meetings we make decisions related to our duties andresponsibilities and consider proposals from the Executive Board.
We publish the minutes of these meetings on our website. In addition
to meeting as the full Trust, we meet in smaller committees.

The Trust Unit

We are supported in our work by the Trust Unit, which provides
independent and objective advice, calling on outside experts whennecessary. The Trust Unit is independent of the Executive; its
Director is appointed by the Trust; and its staff are outside the BBC
management chain. The unit is made up of professional staff withexpertise across a range of disciplines, including audience research,
economics, policy development, performance and financial analysis,
and corporate governance. The Unit advises Trustees on their duties,
manages the Trust’s regulatory and supervisory functions, and provides
the Trust with independent assessments of proposals from the
Executive Board.

BBC Trust Committees

We do much of our work through seven committees which canmake certain decisions on behalf of the Trust as a whole. Most ofthese committees meet monthly, and you can find a list of thenumber of meetings and Trustees’ attendance on page 66.
The full terms of reference for each of the Trust’s committees
can be found on our website.

Audiences and Performance Committee

Finance and Compliance Committee

The Audiences and Performance Committee (APC) is responsible, on
behalf of the Trust, for overseeing the performance of all of the BBC’s
public services and their delivery of the public purposes. This includes
those within the UK as well as the BBC World Service.
The APC monitors performance of the BBC’s services against thecriteria set out in the service licences. The Executive Board provides
performance data for the APC to review, and the Committee also
undertakes independent analysis through the Trust Unit.
One of the APC’s key streams of work is its programme of service
reviews. The Trust has to undertake a formal review of each of theBBC’s UK public services at least once every five years. Following
a review, the APC considers what action, if any, should be taken to
ensure that the service/s meet(s) the objectives set by the Trust. Ifchanges are required to a service licence as a result of a review, theAPC recommends these changes to the full Trust for consideration.
The APC also oversees the Trust’s programme of audienceengagement and audience research, including the annual surveyof the BBC’s purpose remits.

The Finance and Compliance Committee (FCC) undertakes
the Trust’s responsibilities on matters of finance, value for money
and compliance.
The FCC considers, and can approve, large or significant proposals
for financial investments from the Executive Board. It also considers
and scrutinises the annual budget from the Executive Board prior toconsideration by the Trust.
The FCC manages the Trust’s programme of value for money studies
and is responsible for ensuring that recommendations from thereviews are implemented by the Executive Board.
In terms of compliance, the FCC oversees the Executive Board’s
compliance functions (except for editorial compliance, overseen by
the Editorial Standards Committee) and monitors internal controls
and risk management.
The FCC is also responsible for considering appeals against complaints
already considered by the Executive on fair trading and TV Licensing.
It also undertakes the Trust’s responsibilities with regard to the Digital
Switchover Help Scheme.

Editorial Standards Committee

Strategic Approvals Committee

Richard Tait (Chair)
Chitra Bharucha
Anthony Fry
Alison Hastings
David Liddiment
Mehmuda Mian

The Editorial Standards Committee (ESC) is responsible forcommissioning guidelines on editorial standards from the Executive
Board and is the final appeal body within the BBC in determining
whether those standards have been met.
The ESC considers and recommends draft editorial guidelines to
the Trust for approval and advises the Trust on the application of theguidelines throughout the BBC by monitoring the BBC’s compliancewith them. They do this by commissioning regular reports from the
Executive Board on editorial compliance processes and performance.
The ESC must also ensure there is a framework for the handling ofeditorial complaints within the BBC and, in doing so, it undertakes
an annual review of the process and performance of handling thosecomplaints. The ESC does not consider complaints on appeal unlessthey have been through the Executive’s complaints process. Any
appeal considered by the ESC will have to concern a perceived breachof the BBC’s Editorial Guidelines, and/or the handling of an editorial
complaint by the Executive.
The ESC also commissions and manages impartiality reviews on behalfof the Trust.

Rotha Johnston (Chair)
Anthony Fry
Dame Patricia Hodgson
Janet Lewis-Jones
Jeremy Peat

Diane Coyle (Chair)
Dame Patricia Hodgson
Rotha Johnston
Jeremy Peat
Richard TaitDavid Liddiment (attending in his capacity as chairman of the APC,
and only for matters related to service approvals).
The Strategic Approvals Committee (SAC) considers proposals fromthe Executive Board for new services or changes to existing services,
except those proposed as part of the service review process, which
are considered by the Audiences and Performance Committee. The
SAC must determine whether a public value test (PVT) is required
and advises the Trust accordingly.
The SAC manages PVTs on behalf of the Trust and makes
recommendations to the Trust on possible outcomes.
It also considers proposals from the Executive Board regarding‘non-services’, such as Freesat, and, should it be necessary, the SAC
will manage any assessment of a non-service approval on behalf of
the Trust.
In addition, the SAC oversees the BBC’s commercial strategy andmanages any approval process required for Trust consideration ofcommercial initiatives.
61
Insidethetrust/David Liddiment (Chair)
Diane Coyle
Alison Hastings
Dame Patricia Hodgson
Mehmuda Mian

I

Remuneration and Appointments Committee
Chitra Bharucha (Chair)
Anthony Fry
Sir Michael Lyons
Janet Lewis-Jones

The Remuneration and Appointments Committee (RAC)
manages the Trust’s responsibilities with regard to Executive Board
remuneration and appointments. The RAC sets the remuneration
strategy for the whole Board, and also makes recommendations to
the Trust on the pay and benefits of the Director-General and nonexecutive Directors. Pay and benefits of executive directors, however,is decided by the Executive Board’s Remuneration Committee,
consisting entirely of non-executive Directors.

Audience Council Committee

Chitra Bharucha (Chair)
Alison Hastings (Trustee for England)
Rotha Johnston (Trustee for Northern Ireland)
Janet Lewis-Jones (Trustee for Wales)
Jeremy Peat (Trustee for Scotland)
The Audience Council Committee (ACC) brings together the four
national Trustees to oversee and co-ordinate the contributions of
the BBC’s Audience Councils with the work of the Trust. Its role isto ensure that issues identified by Audience Councils are dealt withappropriately by the Trust and that the Audience Councils workwithin their remit.
On behalf of the Trust, the ACC approves the membership of the
Audience Councils.

General Appeals Panel

Membership is not fixed. The Panel consists of two Trustees andis generally chaired by the Vice Chairman (Chitra Bharucha).
The General Appeals Panel is also a committee of the Trust, although
it does not meet on a regular schedule. Its role is to hear appeals on
general complaints on behalf of the Trust, namely those that do not
fall into the BBC’s specific procedures for editorial, fair trading, TV
Licensing or Digital Switchover Help Scheme complaints.

Insidethetrust/62

2. Assessing our own performance

Every year we review our own performance, including theperformance of each committee, and summarise our findings in the
Annual Report. This is a requirement that we set ourselves in our own
Standing Orders, published on our website, and is also recommended
by the Combined Code on Corporate Governance.
This year we engaged an external consultant to assist us in assessing
our performance. The consultant interviewed all Trustees individuallyand sought their assessment of how effective we are in undertaking
our duties and responsibilities. Through the review we reflected on
the operation of the Trust and its committees and on how the Trustis carrying out its business and fulfilling its remit.
Trustees identified some areas we need to focus on more to improvethe effectiveness of our work:• notwithstanding the progress we made this year, we need to ensurethat we spend sufficient time focused on the long-term as well as
the medium-term future of the BBC – looking beyond the current
six-year plan
• we need to agree how best to seek audience and stakeholder views
on issues which are sometimes very technical, and not always easy
to understand• we need to reflect further on how we best communicate theoutcomes of our work within the BBC and externally
Overall, our assessment concluded that:• the main supervisory and regulatory planks of the Trust’s work are
now more clearly understood and tested, both within the BBC andexternally, but there is more to be done to make the governancearrangements as effective as possible• the relationship with the Director-General and his colleagues inthe Executive is strong and productive and brings benefits to licencefee payers• our approach to setting rigorous standards and holding the
Executive to account to deliver them has been effective
We look forward to the challenges in the year ahead and toprogressing the full agenda we have set ourselves.

We have reduced direct expenditure OF
THE TRUST in real terms to 0.31% of the BBC’s
UK public service spend

3. Costs of running the Trust

The Trust is funded from licence fee money. As such, running the Trust efficiently is very important. Last year, we committed to keeping
the Trust’s direct expenditure to no more than 0.35% of the BBC’s UK public service spend.
We are pleased to report that we have reduced direct expenditure in real terms to 0.31% of the BBC’s UK public service spend, from 0.34%
the previous year. This results both from administrative efficiencies with the Trust itself, and from being more focused in our own work. During
the year we also reviewed the way in which the regional Audience Councils are supported and agreed some changes. This will see a reductionin the cost of supporting them going forward.
We set out below the Trust’s direct expenditure statement and the external auditors’ report on this statement.

Statement of Trust expenditure

2008/09£000

2007/08£000

trustee remuneration1
staff costs2
Other operating costs3
Restructuring costs4

677
4,674
4,858
308

642
4,526
6,741
–

direct trust expenditure5, 6

10,517

11,9092008/09%

2007/08
%

0.31

0.34

2008/09£000

2007/08£000

Ofcom Regulatory fees7
Ofcom miA fees8

3,571
911

3,253
491

total Ofcom fees payable by trust

4,482

3,744

trust expenditure as % of bbC uK public services spendN

The Director, BBC Trust is the chief officer of the Trust Unit as specified in the BBC’s Charter. He is the principal adviser to the BBC Trust andchief executive of the Trust Unit. His base pay for 2008/09 was £237,900 (2007/08: £231,000) and the aggregate of his emoluments to 31 March2009 was £282,648 (2007/08: £296,471). Along with other staff he will not receive a bonus for the year 2008/09. He is a member of the BBC
Pension Scheme.

63
Insidethetrust/Director remuneration

I

Trust headcounttrusteestrust unit staff1
Other staff 2

averagefor the year
2009
no.*

Averagefor the year
2008
no.*

12.0
60.4
9.8

11.9
56.0
9.7

N

The Trust expenditure is included in the audited BBC financial statement set out in Part Two of this report. We asked KPMG to confirm
that we have properly extracted the Trust’s own expenditure, including Trustee remuneration, from the full BBC expenditure. Their reportis included below.

Report of KPMG LLP to the BBC Trust (‘the Trust’)

Insidethetrust/64

In accordance with the terms of our engagement letter dated
3 June 2008, we have examined the above expenditurestatement (the ‘Trust expenditure statement’) for the year
ended 31 March 2009 which has been prepared, further tothe requirements of the BBC Charter dated October 2006,
by the Trustees and is their sole responsibility. The Trust
expenditure statement has been prepared by the Trustees
applying the recognition and measurement requirementsof UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.
Our responsibility, in accordance with the terms of ourengagement letter, is to form an independent opinion, on
the basis of the work performed, and to report our opinion
to the Trust. Our examination was substantially less in scopethan an audit.
Our report has been prepared for the Trust solely in connection
with the Charter. Our report was designed to meet theagreed requirements of the Trust and particular features of ourengagement determined by the Trust’s needs at the time. Our
report should not therefore be regarded as suitable to be usedor relied on by any party wishing to acquire rights against us otherthan the Trust for any purpose or in any context. Any party otherthan the Trust who obtains access to our report (or any part ofit) will do so at its own risk. To the fullest extent permitted by law,
KPMG LLP will accept no responsibility or liability in respect of ourreport to any other party.
In our opinion, the expenditure as shown in the Trust statement
has been accurately extracted from the books and records of theTrust on the basis of the stated assumptions included within theNotes to the Trust expenditure statement.
KPMG LLP
Chartered Accountants
Registered Auditors, London
18 June 2009

4. Trustees’ remunerationFees

Our fees as Trustees are determined by the Secretary of State forCulture, Media and Sport, and reviewed annually by his department.
In 2008 the DCMS recommended a 3% increase in fees for membersof the Trust. We considered this recommendation but decided
to accept only 2%, in line with that being offered to BBC staff. The
increase came into effect on 1 April 2008 and is reflected in the tableopposite. Members of the Trust do not receive severance pay orother compensation for loss of office.

Expenses

We are reimbursed for expenses incurred on BBC business, which
include travel, accommodation, work-related meals and hospitality, andin some cases satellite subscriptions. The expenses we are entitled toclaim are governed by the Trust’s Code of Practice, which is publishedon our website. Every six months we publish a full list of all expenses
incurred by each Trustee as well as the services booked centrally for
Trustees by the Trust Unit.
Some of our expenses and support services are classed as taxable
benefits by HM Revenue and Customs, and this figure is published in
the remuneration table; any tax arising on expenses incurred is settled
by the BBC.

Chairman’s benefits

Under the terms of his appointment, the Chairman, Sir Michael
Lyons, is eligible to participate in a pension scheme with benefits
that mirror those of the BBC Pension Scheme. Sir Michael has
elected not to participate in this scheme, hence the BBC has madeno pension contributions for him. Instead, he receives life assurance
at a similar level of cover to that of pension scheme members.
He also receives private medical insurance cover at the same level
as BBC senior managers. Other than the Chairman, Trustees are
not eligible to participate in a BBC Pension Scheme or receive
private medical insurance.
The Chairman has part-time access to a BBC driver and car whenworking in London on BBC business.

Register of interests

Our Code of Practice requires us to maintain and publish a register ofall external interests that might be seen to affect our ability to performthe duties of a BBC Trustee. This register includes declarations of all
positions of employment, directorships and voluntary positions as wellas interests of close family members, if relevant. The Trust’s registerof interests is available from our website.

Reporting regulations

The BBC is exempt from the requirements of the Directors’ Remuneration Report Regulations 2002 and those of the Financial Services
Authority, but, where relevant, we have prepared this report as if those requirements apply. The section on remuneration received by Trustees
is audited.
On page 62 you will find information about the Remuneration and Appointments Committee and on page 50 our strategy for Executive Board
remuneration.

Trustees’ remuneration

The remuneration of the members of the Trust during the year is shown below.

Chairmansir michael lyons1, 2
vice Chairman
Chitra bharucha3
national Trustees
Alison hastings
Rotha johnston
janet lewis-jones
jeremy Peat4
Trusteesdiane Coyle
Anthony fry5
dermot gleeson6
dame Patricia hodgson
david liddiment
mehmuda mianRichard tait
total

fees
£000

taxablebenefits
£000

Total
2008/09£000

total
2007/08
£000

143

70

213

163

1 may 07 30 April 11

77

2

79

103

1 nov 06 31 Oct 10

41
41
41
41

1
1
1
1

42
42
42
42

42
40
41
41

1 nov 06
1 nov 06
1 nov 06
1 j a n 06

31 Oct 10
31 Oct 10
31 Oct 10
31 dec 10

36
15
21
36
36
36
36

1
–
–
–
–
–
–

37
15
21
36
36
36
36

36
–
36
35
35
35
35

1 nov 06
1 nov 08
1 nov 00
1 nov 06
1 nov 06
1 nov 06
1 Aug 04

31 Oct 10
31 Oct 12
31 Oct 08
31 Oct 10
31 Oct 10
31 Oct 10
31 j u l 10

600

77

677

642

start
date

end
date

N

Insidethetrust/65

I

5. Trustees’ attendance at meetings

Attendance at meetings of the Trust and its committees for the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009 is shown below.
A calendar of full Trust meetings and their minutes, and the terms of reference of each committee, are published on our website.
For more information about the committees and their responsibilities, see pages 60 to 62.
Audiences andPerformance1
trust
Committee

number of meetings

editorialstandards
Committee

finance andCompliance
Committee1

finance andstrategy
Committee1

strategic
Approvals
Committee2

Public Remuneration
value andandfair trading Appointments
2
Committee
Committee

Audience
Councils
Committee

generalAppeals
Panel

14

13

21

3

8

4

9

5

4

2

Chairmansir michael lyons

14/14

–

–

–

–

–

–

5/5

–

–

vice Chairman
Chitra bharucha

13/14

7/83

17/204

–

–

–

–

5/5*

4/4*

2/2*

14/14

12/13

21/21

–

–

–

–

–

4/4

–

13/14

–

–

3/3*

8/8

4/4

9/9

–

3/4

–

14/14

–

–

3/3

8/8

–

–

5/5

3/4

–

13/14

–

–

2/3

8/8

3/4

9/9

–

3/4

–

13/14
2/6
7/8
13/14
14/14
11/14
12/14

5/5
–
5/6
12/13
13/13*
10/13
–

–
6/6
–
–
21/21
18/21
19/19*7

–
3/3
–
3/3
–
–
–

–
–
6/6*
7/8
–
–
–

4/4*
–
–
4/4
–
–
4/4

9/9*
–
–
8/9
–
–
9/9

–
2/2
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–
–
–
–
–

–
–
–
–
–
2/2
–

national Trustees
Alison hastings(england)Rotha johnston(northern ireland)
janet lewis-jones(wales)jeremy Peat(scotland)
Trusteesdiane Coyle
Anthony fry5
dermot gleeson6
dame Patricia hodgson
david liddiment
mehmuda mianRichard taitnotes:
1in january 2009 the finance and strategy Committee was replaced by the finance and Compliance Committee.
2
in january 2009 the Public value and fair trading Committee was replaced by the strategic Approvals Committee.
3
in january 2009 Chitra bharucha ceased to be a member of the Audiences and Performance Committee.
4Chitra bharucha was ineligible to attend one meeting of the editorial standards Committee this year, her attendance reflects this.
5
Anthony fry was appointed a member of the trust on 1 november 2008 and joined committees on 1 january 2009. the numbers therefore show his record for thosemeetings he was eligible to attend.
6
dermot gleeson’s term as a member of the trust finished on 31 October 2008. the numbers therefore show his record for those meetings he was eligible to attend.
7
Richard tait was recused from two meetings of the editorial standards Committee during this period.
* denotes committee Chairman.

attendance at audience Council meetings and other committees

Insidethetrust/66

the trust supports Audience Councils in each of the nations to advise the trust on how well the bbC is delivering its public purposes and how
well the bbC is serving licence fee payers in different parts of the uK (see pages 20 to 21). the Audience Councils are chaired by the respective
national trustee. national trustees’ attendance at Audience Council meetings for 2008/09 was:• Rotha Johnston, 10/10• Jeremy Peat, 12/12• Alison Hastings, 6/6• Janet Lewis-Jones, 11/11
jeremy Peat and diane Coyle represent the trust on the market impact Assessment joint steering group with Ofcom. their attendanceat these meetings for 2008/09 was:
• Jeremy Peat, 6/6• Diane Coyle, 6/6
Chairmanship of this group rotates between the bbC trust and Ofcom. diane chaired this group from April to december 2008.
jeremy Peat is Chairman of the board of bbC Pension trust ltd, the corporate trustee of the bbC Pension scheme, which meets four times
per year. he also chairs the Committee of directors which discusses funding issues and the governance sub-committee. he is separately
remunerated for this role. further details are available in the bbC Pension scheme Annual Report and Accounts.

a) Statement of Trust responsibilities in respect of theAnnual Report and Accounts

The BBC’s Charter requires that an Annual Report and Statementof Accounts is prepared in two parts, Part One by the Trust andPart Two by the Executive Board, with the whole being audited
by external auditors.
The Executive Board’s responsibilities are detailed in the
Governance section of Part Two of this Annual Report. In summary,the Executive Board is responsible for preparing the financial
statements and statements of compliance with applicable corporate
governance codes and remuneration regulations, and delivering
these to the Trust within Part Two of this Annual Report.
In preparing its associated corporate governance disclosures, theExecutive Board has elected to comply with the 2006 Financial
Reporting Council Combined Code and the disclosure provisionsof the Companies Act 1985, and, where applicable, the Financial
Services Authority Listing Rules which apply to a company quoted
on an EU regulated market.
In order to comply with those requirements, the Annual Reportmust include disclosures on the governance arrangements of theTrust as well as those of the Executive Board. These disclosures,
which are audited, are the responsibility of the Trust, and areincluded in Part One of this report.

The Charter also requires the Trust to prepare a statement of its
expenditure and include it within Part One of the Annual Report.

b) Statement of disclosure of information to auditors

The Trustees who held office at the date of approval of this Annual
Report and Accounts confirm that, so far as each is aware, there
is no relevant audit information in respect of the Trust governancedisclosures, remuneration disclosures and Trust statement ofexpenditure of which the BBC’s auditors are unaware; and each
Trustee has taken all the steps that they ought to have taken asa Trustee to make themselves aware of any relevant audit
information and to establish that the BBC’s auditors are awareof that information.
This statement was approved by the Trust on 18 June 2009.

Sir Michael Lyons
Chairman
18 June 2009

67
Insidethetrust/

6. Statements of responsibilities inrespect of the annual report andaccounts

COntACts/

COntACts
we ARe heRe tO RePResent yOu, the liCenCe fee
PAyeRs. PleAse use the detAils belOw tO COntACt
us if yOu hAve Any COmments OR queRies On Any
AsPeCt Of the bbC.

BBC TrustComments or questions about the work of the Trust?
Please write to us by post or by email, or give us a ring.
BBC Trust Unit
Room 211
35 Marylebone High Street
London W1U 4AA
Telephone: BBC Information line 03700 103 100†*
Textphone: 03700 100 212*
(Lines open Monday to Friday between 9.30am and 5.30pm)
Email: trust.enquiries@bbc.co.uk† Calls maybe recorded for training purposes.

BBC Audience Councils

The Audience Councils in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland andWales help the Trust to understand the needs, interests and concernsof you, our audiences, throughout the UK, and to find out how we
can serve you better. If you’d like to contact the Audience Councils,
please write to them at the addresses below, or phone us on the
Trust’s main number: 03700 103 100*.

BBC Audience Council England

BBC Birmingham
The Mailbox
Birmingham B1 1RF
Email: audiencecouncil.england@bbc.co.uk

BBC Annual Report

If you wish to find out more about the BBC’s year – including
full financial statements and each service’s performance against
its Statement of Programme Policy – then please visit
bbc.co.uk/annualreport
This report is also available in Welsh and in audio version.

About the BBC

If you want to know more about how the BBC is run then please visit
bbc.co.uk/info
BBC Information is our audience’s virtual front door to the BBC.
If you have a question, comment, complaint or suggestion about
BBC programmes and services, then please write to:
BBC Information
PO Box 1922
Glasgow G2 3WT
Telephone: 03700 100 222* (Lines are open 24 hours a day, seven daysa week. Calls may be monitored or recorded for training purposes.)
Textphone: 03700 100 212*
Fax: 0141 307 5770
Website: bbc.co.uk/feedback
Last year the BBC had over 1.6 million contacts from the general public.

BBC Audience Council Northern Ireland

BBC Broadcasting House
Ormeau Avenue
Belfast BT2 8HQEmail: audiencecouncil.ni@bbc.co.uk

BBC Audience Council Scotland

Insidethetrust/

68

Zone G1140 Pacific Quay
Glasgow G51 1DA
Email: acs@bbc.co.uk

BBC Audience Council Wales
Room E5108
BBC Broadcasting House
Llandaff
Cardiff CF5 2YQEmail: acw@bbc.co.uk* 0370 numbers are called ‘uK wide’ and cost no more than calls to 01 or 02
geographic numbers.

The BBC produces more hours of UK-originatedkids’ programmes than any other broadcaster– and they are watched by nine million people
each week.

Paper
Printed on Cocoon Offset which is madefrom 100% recycled fibres sourced only
from post consumer waste. Cocoon
Offset is certified according to the rulesof the Forest Stewardship Council.

Cert no. TT-COC 002228

BBC services and content are increasingly
available to viewers, listeners and users on
demand, whenever they want and wherever
they are.

Network and Local Radio provide more hours ofsport commentary than any other broadcaster– reaching over 16 million individuals on averageeach week last year.

The BBC provides more hours of live music
than any other channels, across a range ofgenres, including festivals like Glastonbury
and T in the Park.

48 million people tuned in to BBC Television eachweek last year; 44 million of them watched BBC
One and 11 million watched BBC Three.

The BBC continually works to ensure that its
services keep up with audiences’ demands –BBC iPlayer was launched on mobile earlier thisyear, and the range and diversity of interactive
content and services, including podcasts, isconstantly growing.

The 12 Trustees are supported by a staff of 60,
based in London, with senior staff in Scotland,
Wales, Northern Ireland and the English Regions
at Birmingham.

Photography
All photographs copyright of the BBC except photograph on page 28 © Crown
Copyright/MOD. Reproduced with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s
Stationery Office. Photography on front cover and pages 1, 2, 16, 22, 26, 42, 46 by Janie
Airey. Photography on pages 5, 24, 49, 58, 60, 61 by Mike Abrahams. Four photographs
on top of page 32 by Trevor Aston.
DesignDesigned by: luminous.co.uk
Print
Printed by Royle Print. The printing inks are made with non-hazardous vegetableoil from renewable sources. Over 90% of solvents and developers are recycled forfurther use and recycling initiatives are in place for all other waste associated with thisproduction. Royle Print is FSC and ISO 14001 certified with strict proceduresin place to safeguard the environment through all processes.

British Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcasting House
London W1A 1AA
bbc.co.uk© BBC 2009