Category: BBC
Date: 02.03.2005
Printable version
The BBC today welcomed the Government's proposal for a new 10 year Charter from 2007 and continued secure funding through the licence fee, as detailed in the Green Paper published by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.
BBC Chairman, Michael Grade, said: "On behalf of everyone at the BBC, I welcome the Government's proposal for a 10 year Charter and secure funding via the licence fee. This is a strong endorsement of the BBC as the cornerstone of public service broadcasting in the UK now, and through digital switchover.
"On behalf of the Board of Governors, I accept the Government's conclusions for future governance of the Corporation.
"It is regrettable that our own reforms have not had time to prove themselves. But it is important that the issue has now been settled ahead of the new Charter, providing the BBC with the necessary certainty and stability.
"In the BBC's Building Public Value (BPV) manifesto, published last summer, we set out a series of radical steps to modernise BBC governance, including the creation of an independent Governance Unit, the introduction of service licences and a stringent public value test.
"These are being implemented in full and are already having the desired effect.
"For the first time in the BBC's history, there is now a clear distinction and appropriate separation between governance and management, and a greater emphasis on objective, evidence-based scrutiny of BBC activities.
"I recognise that our changes have been essentially more behavioural than structural. We had hoped that these crucial reforms would be allowed time to prove their worth. However, we recognise that the consensus in the public debate has been to move beyond behavioural changes and to buttress them with a new structure.
"The Government's decision to opt for its new Trust model heralds the biggest change in the governance of the BBC in 77 years. It is a radical departure, which we have measured against our five principles of governance:
independence
rigorous stewardship of public money
accountability to licence fee payers
clarity of roles and
practicality
"The Board has concluded that the Trust broadly meets those principles and is committed to ensuring an effective and efficient transition to the new system.
"It would be my intention to appoint the Director-General to chair the new Executive Board."
BBC Director-General Mark Thompson said: "The BBC faces exciting and daunting new challenges over the next decade.
"The Green Paper endorses the ambitious public purposes we set out in Building Public Value, adding for the first time an explicit purpose for the BBC to lead the building of digital Britain.
"A 10 year Charter and secure funding for the BBC will give us the right foundation on which to take on these challenges.
"Audience expectations are rising all the time and it's hard to predict what platforms, technology and innovations might emerge between now and 2016.
"But the assurance that original, British content, consistently aiming for excellence, from the BBC will be a guaranteed fixture of any future landscape is good news for the industry and our audiences.
"Over the coming months, as the Charter debate continues, we intend to show by our actions that we are committed to creating a BBC fit for the future, open to new technologies and new ways of serving our audiences, with fair access to the best ideas from wherever they come, drawing on talent from the whole UK, with transparent and coherent commercial activities and with rigorous plans to deliver the best possible value to licence-payers.
"It is equally important that as the Executive Board of a public service broadcaster, funded by the licence fee, we should be properly supervised and held accountable for our decisions.
"The BBC's management endorses the Governors' constructive response to the Government's decision on how the BBC should be governed.
"There are challenges ahead, but also opportunities, including the chance to bring an even wider range of skills and experience to bear on the running of the BBC through the presence of non-executives on the new Executive Board.
"My executive colleagues and I will fully play our part to implement the new arrangements and make them work in the interests of licence payers."
