Revised guidance on working with children at the BBC

My name is Paul Smith and over the past six months I’ve been leading a project to revise the BBC’s child protection policy and guidance. Today marks a significant milestone in the progress of that work. I wanted to outline here what we’ve been working on.

As a public service broadcaster, the BBC has a remit to make content for young audiences. Around six million children and young people enjoy our services in the UK every year. In order to make this output we work with children every day. That’s something which is central to the way the BBC functions and something we’ve been doing for many years.

The BBC has had a child protection policy in place since 2002. It was drawn up in partnership with the NSPCC. That policy has been updated regularly since 2002 so that both reflected changes in legislation or governmental guidance accordingly.

Last year, at the request of Lord Patten at the BBC Trust, the BBC committed to undertaking an internal review which looked specifically at child protection processes within the organisation.

The findings of the review published in June of this year concluded that the BBC was fully compliant with legal and regulatory requirements, and was in line with international best practice, but that there were opportunities to bring together all of its guidance on working with children into one central online location, easily accessible by programme makers inside and outside the BBC.

In addressing the recommendations in the review, we’ve also taken this opportunity to work with a number of different people and organisations.

We’ve drawn on our in-house expertise and invited staff from radio, television, news and online to contribute to the policy and guidance. We’ve also consulted with the NSPCC, Lucy Faithfull Foundation, other broadcasters and production companies and PACT. The revised child protection information published today represents the culmination of that collaborative and consultative approach. 

We’ve also strengthened our network of ‘nominated managers’ – a group of trained and experienced senior members of staff in each BBC division – who are available to give advice on child protection issues and act as the point of contact in the event of formal concerns which need raising.

The policy and guidance applies to everyone who has a contractual relationship with the BBC, not just staff. This is why we’ve not only consolidated the information into one location on the BBC’s intranet, but also made it externally available to talent, freelancers and independent production companies via the Inside the BBC website. All BBC staff have also received an email today about the revised child protection information and where to find it online.

We take our obligation to ensure children have a safe and positive experience when working with the BBC very seriously. The improvements we have introduced today will make it easier for staff and those working on behalf of the BBC to access guidance and best practice. I believe that what we have now is a robust working document that informs anyone with a contractual relationship with the BBC what we expect of them and how to do it. 

Paul Smith is Head of Editorial Standards at the BBC.

• The BBC's guidance and policy on working with children is available via the Inside the BBC website.