BBC Audience Council Scotland Report

Review of bbc.co.uk – November 2007

The Council undertook an online consultation via bbc.co.uk/scotland, a focus group consultation, and reviewed submissions to the Trust consultation. The Council recommended that there should be detailed licences for the bbc.co.uk services in the UK's nations, to allow for more effective oversight, and that the Trust should set performance measures for the services' remit to encourage participation in debate. The evidence suggested that there was an appetite for more material in all genres on bbc.co.uk/scotland. The Council also recommended that the Gaelic resources from BBC Jam be incorporated into the Gaelic Digital Service, and that assessment of /alba against its stated aims as part of the GDS would be more easily managed, and more effective, if /alba were to be included within the GDS service licence.

Response to the Trust's Provisional conclusions on Gaelic Digital Service proposal – December 2007

The Council welcomed the Trust's provisional conclusions on the GDS proposal, acknowledging the value of seeking further evidence of a strategy for new speakers and wider audience appeal. This was likely to increase the level of support offered to the language by the proposal. However, the core purpose – serving the Gaelic community – must not be compromised in the process. Although there were voices not in favour of the proposal, research indicated that Scottish opinion was in the main supportive.

The Council heard strong views expressed in some quarters of the Gaelic community that the conditions set for the GDS in the Trust's provisional conclusions went beyond those set for other BBC services. However it believed that further evidence on the issues raised by the Trust would strengthen the service proposal and so ultimately benefit the language community.

The Council believed it was important that the GDS be available on DTT from the earliest opportunity. A significant proportion of Scotland's Gaelic speakers may be denied the service if it is distributed via satellite and broadband alone. To be fully effective, the service should be made available on as many channels of distribution as possible. The Council believed that the BBC Two Gaelic 'zone' would remain a valuable means of maintaining the broader audience reach to which the Trust aspires for the service.

Consultation on the BBC's Complaints Framework – January 2008

The Council considered the framework comprehensive, accessible and responsive. It contained new elements benefi cial for licence payers, such as the provision, in certain circumstances, for briefings from independent editorial advisers in the appeals procedure for Editorial Complaints; and the requirement that complaint outcomes and handling be systematically monitored and assessed against performance indicators. The Council recommended that audience comments be treated as seriously as complaints, and assessed in the same way for the value they may offer.

The year ahead

The Council's annual business cycle has been revised to allow its priorities to be incorporated more fully into the Trust's priorities for the year ahead. The Council will report to the Trust on progress against priorities, and set priorities for the year ahead, in January. This should allow the Council to take full account of progress on network commissions, the BBC Executive's response to the Nations' Impartiality Review on network news coverage, the launch of the BBC/GMS Gaelic Digital Service, the commencement of switchover in the Border area, and the final report of the Scottish Broadcasting Commission.

Other work will include responses to the Trust's review of services for children and young people from the BBC, and consideration of Ofcom's second review of public service television broadcasting.

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