Culture secretary Lisa Nandy has said that changes she’s planning to the BBC’s Charter will not end the periodic renegotiation of the broadcaster’s structures and funding.
At present changes to the Charter – a binding agreement which allows the BBC to operate – are negotiated between the broadcaster’s senior management and government ministers every ten years.
If an agreement isn’t reached, the BBC would cease to exist and the Culture secretary would be empowered to dispose of its assets.
The latest renewal process is currently underway and, in its response to a government consultation, the BBC called for a permanent, perpetual charter which gifted it reduced oversight by both ministers and regulators.
In a speech on Tuesday, Nandy confirmed that she will “end the bizarre situation where if the Charter isn’t agreed in time, the BBC ceases to exist,” but stressed that “the terms, the structures and the funding for the BBC will continue to be negotiated every several years.”
This would appear to be less of a meaningful change than the BBC had wanted as the new arrangements will retain significant ministerial control and oversight.
And she stressed that “a future-proofed BBC, does not mean an unaccountable BBC,” adding: “we intend to strengthen the accountability of the leadership of the BBC – not to politicians – but to the people it serves in every nation and region.”
At present the BBC’s complaint process is the only mechanism viewers and Licence Fee payers have to hold the broadcaster to account.
However the system has earned a reputation for being slow, laborious and overly defensive, with media regulator Ofcom raising significant concerns about how it operates.
Much of the BBC’s operations are shielded from public scrutiny – its executive board meets in private and anything that can be classified as relating to programme making is exempt from Freedom Of Information requests.
In her speech, Nandy said the new Charter will contain “a much clearer expectation that licence fee payers will be able to see how their money is spent and the result of those decisions.”
Previous initiatives to open up the BBC, for example by requiring it to publish salaries for top earning executives and presenters, were fiercely resisted by the broadcaster.