BBC Audience Council Wales Cyngor Cynulleidfa Cymru y BBC CONFIRMED

MINUTES OF THE MEETING HELD AT THE MANAGEMENT CENTRE, UNIVERSITY OF BANGOR FRIDAY 11 MAY 2012 Present: Audience Council Members: Elan Closs Stephens (Chair and BBC National Trustee for Wales), Andy Carter, Rhian Connick, Bethan Darwin, Pamela Hunt, Aled Jones-Griffith, Ruth Marks, Ceri Stradling.

BBC Cymru Wales staff: Rhodri Talfan Davies, Director Wales, BBC Cymru Wales, Siân Gwynedd, Head of Welsh language Programming and Services, BBC Cymru Wales, Mark O’Callaghan, Head of News and Current Affairs, BBC Cymru Wales, Wendy Rees, North Wales Head of Centre, BBC Cymru Wales, Richard Thomas, Head of Marketing, Communication and Audiences, BBC Cymru Wales.

Governance and Accountability Wales, BBC Trust, staff: Karl Davies, Chief Adviser Wales, Siôn Brynach, Accountability Adviser, Cymru Wales, Siân Pitman, Departmental Assistant, Governance & Accountability Cymru Wales, Sabina Pedrós Peralta, Work Experience Placement, Governance & Accountability team, Wales.

Also present: Mehmuda Mian, Trustee, BBC Trust, Georgina Hodges, Chief Research and Audiences Adviser, BBC Trust. Melfyn Clwyd Roberts, Head of BBC Information Wales (for item 32)

26. APOLOGIES, ANNOUNCEMENTS AND DECLARATIONS OF INTEREST Robert Humphreys, Ian Stephens, Alun Williams, Adrian Davies, Head of English language Programming and Services, BBC Cymru Wales.

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There were no declarations of interest.

27. TRUST BUSINESS (IN PRIVATE)

National Trustee’s report on recent Trust Business. The National Trustee informed Council that the announcement regarding the final conclusions of the Trust on the DQF proposals would take place the following week. She said that work was progressing with the appointment of the next Director General of the BBC with the closing date having passed recently.

She informed Council that the BBC Executive’s ‘Nations’ Statements’ had been discussed by the Trust recently, and that she hoped the one relating to Wales could be shared with members of the National Assembly on an annual basis. This has already been discussed by her with the National Assembly’s Presiding officer.

She said that BBC Distribution had recently outlined to Trustees some of the options for improving radio distribution in Wales. This remained an on-going matter.

The National Assembly’s Task and Finish Group on broadcasting and the media had recently published its report and copies had been sent to Council members.

She informed Council that Roly Keating, currently responsible for the BBC Archive, had been appointed to the post of Director of the British Library. The Council expressed its hope that his work at the British Library would include future cooperation with the BBC.

Previous evening’s ACW audience outreach event The Council considered that the event had been a success and warm tributes were paid to both the Governance & Accountability staff, and the staff at Morlo for the huge amount of work which they had undertaken to ensure a good turn-out at the meeting.

One specific point raised at the meeting was the issue of the availability of audio description in all parts of the UK and Chief Advisor Wales said that he had already requested further information on this, and would share this with Council once received. ACTION: Chief Adviser Wales

The Trust team in Wales thanked Aled Jones-Griffith for his assistance in arranging the short term partnership between the Audience Council and Coleg Menai which had resulted in 6 Coleg Menai students filming high quality footage for a Council video at the outreach event in Holyhead.

A full report of the meeting would be distributed at the Council’s next meeting.

2 Report to Trust on progress in implementing the action plan arising from the Impartiality Report on reporting on devolved matters. The Council noted the points made in the written report. Members said that they still felt that there remained significant issues with Network programmes such as Question Time and Radio 4’s Today programme which still seemed to consider England and the UK to be synonymous.

BBC Management joined the meeting

28. MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING AND MATTERS ARISING The minutes were agreed as a true and accurate record of the meeting. Under matters arising Chief Adviser Wales informed Council that the Sports Board of the BBC had considered advice from the Audience Councils regarding the Sports Personality of the Year award and had greatly appreciated their input.

29. PRESENTATION OF BBC NORTH WALES CENTRE BY WENDY REES, HEAD OF THE CENTRE. Head of the BBC’s operations in the north, Wendy Rees, informed Council that the BBC’s operations in north Wales were mainly concentrated in Wrexham and Bangor, but there was also an unattended studio in Penrhyndeudraeth and a number of staff who worked from home. Around 100 staff worked in north Wales.

The facilities in the north included radio and TV studios as well as editing suites and production offices. The new BBC facilities in Wrexham had been open for just over a year and were already paying dividends. Output was seen from the north on all platforms, with around half of Radio Cymru’s output being from Bangor. Most of Radio Wales’ north Wales content was produced in Wrexham but a soon to be established Radio Wales post would boost the amount of Radio Wales content from Bangor. Network Radio content was also produced in north Wales.

TV programmes were produced in the News and Factual genres at Bangor. Head of North Wales informed Council that highlights included the daily output produced day in day out as well as occasional output such as Radio Cymru C2’s occasional Sesiwn Unnos, at which a group of musicians were brought together to compose and record four songs. Among Radio Cymru’s other contributions to Welsh popular culture were Brwydr y Bandiau and Gwobrau RAP.

Radio Wales was increasing its presence in the north and Jubilee Journeys was a recent example of a programme produced at the Wrexham centre. On Network, Underwater Gendarme had received a Sony Award nomination. The recent TV co- commission on the 1982 Falklands War had been a success with programmes being produced in both English and Welsh.

Council was informed that there had been increased Network news coverage from north Wales recently and this would continue during the forthcoming Olympic Torch relay.

3 The forthcoming Eisteddfod yr Urdd would be a big event for the North Wales Centre in early June.

Turning to challenges, Head of North Wales Centre informed Council that there had been critical coverage in the press recently, including speculation that the BBC centre in Bangor was facing closure - an entirely erroneous perception since the centre was in no way under threat.

The BBC’s offices at Bangor had seen a number of protests – regarding the Westminster Government’s decision that S4C should in future be funded from the Licence Fee, the BBC’s coverage of the middle east conflict and a threatened protest following changes to the Performing Rights Society’s re-classification of some radio stations with a resultant decrease in payments made to Welsh language musicians.

Industrial action was still possible, partly as a result of the implementation of DQF’s proposals. The whole climate surrounding DQF was having an impact on staff, despite the fact that the impact of DQF on the north was relatively small. That said the staff commitment to the output had not waned and this was to their credit.

The BBC’s operations in north Wales were important in terms of engaging with the local audiences and the communities served by having a visible presence and being accessible, allowing opportunities to develop partnerships, and developing constructive relationships with key external stakeholders.

Head of North Wales paid tribute to the Audience Council for the valuable audience outreach event the previous evening at Holyhead before showing Council a show reel of some of the output produced in north Wales.

The Council expressed its appreciation of the work produced in north Wales and expressed its regret and concern at the entirely untrue rumours circulating regarding the possible closure of BBC Bangor. Council paid tribute to the staff working in north Wales for the programmes on the 1982 Falklands war which had been important for many members of the audience. Council members availed themselves of an opportunity to tour the BBC’s offices in Bangor.

30. REPORTS

National Trustee The National Trustee reiterated some of the points she had made during her earlier report to Council. She informed the Council that she would be joining the meeting of the S4C authority from June 2012 onwards, which was a positive development.

BBC Wales Executive Board Report. Director Wales said that the Nations’ Statements were to be published shortly and were useful. The Olympic torch relay would be a huge event for BBC Cymru Wales. Young Musician of the Year was currently underway and was an important Network commission for BBC Wales.

4 The S4C Chief Executive would be attending a BBC Wales all-staff meeting the following week, which was a very positive development.

Council was informed that there had been a recent announcement regarding the taking up of the north-east Wales commercial multiplex which would in due course boost the availability of Wales’ national radio stations on DAB in that part of Wales. Information on the numbers of households served would be shared with Council as soon as it became available.

31. BBC TRUST PURPOSE REMIT SURVEY – BBC TRUST CHIEF ADVISER RESEARCH AND AUDIENCES Chief Adviser Research and Audiences BBC Trust was welcomed to the meeting. She described the process of undertaking the Trust’s most recent Purpose Remit survey and outlined some of the survey’s key results to Council.

Half all adults in Wales were high approvers of the BBC – which had been a constant for some years. Only 10% of adults in Wales were low approvers of the BBC. The mean score was 7.13

More than 8 in 10 adults in Wales agreed that they would miss the BBC if it was no longer there, which was similar to the UK overall (82%). The percentage of adults likely to miss the BBC was significantly higher in Wales than in Northern Ireland (77%) but the difference from Scotland (80%) or England (82%) was not significant The BBC was still the broadcaster most adults in Wales would miss if it was no longer there.

On value for money, this score had remained stable compared to previous years, with more than half (55%) of adults in Wales considering the BBC good value for money. The Council asked whether the BBC was content with this score since if it were a business it would be a matter of some concern that 45% of its audience did not consider it good value for money. Chief Adviser Research said that the trend during recent years had been upwards and while this was encouraging, perceptions of this kind were slow to change. She said that it had been interesting that the general feedback at the previous evening’s Audience Council Wales outreach event in Holyhead had been one of the licence fee being good value for money.

Turning to the BBC’s Purposes, Chief Adviser Research said that two of the four largest negative performance gaps overall for audiences in Wales related to portrayal. The two key issues raised related to the statement “The BBC is good at portraying Wales to other people in the UK”, and “The BBC helps me feel more involved and interested in my local communities”. Another question where there was a significant Purpose gap was “The BBC is good at portraying my particular culture or community to other people in the UK”. Purpose gaps were defined as the difference identified by audiences between the importance of a given role or function and the BBC’s success in fulfilling that role.

The Chief Adviser went through the Purposes in turn and outlined the results for each. In relation to the Creativity Purpose a particular focus had been on whether

5 “The BBC has lots of fresh and new ideas”, which had a purpose gap of -16. On Citizenship the largest performance gap was in relation to “The BBC provides high quality independent journalism” with a performance gap of -7. The Council asked whether the research differentiated between the BBC generally and BBC Wales? She said that it didn’t. On the Nations, Regions and Communities Purpose the largest performance gaps were in relation to “The BBC is good at portraying Wales to other people in the UK” (-21), “The BBC is good at portraying my particular culture or community to other people in the UK” (-16), and “The BBC helps me feels more involved and interested in my local communities” (-21). It was the case however that there was a more positive response to “The BBC provides programming and content that caters for my nation” which had a performance gap of -1. There had been an increase in the Purpose gap in relation to the question “The BBC helps me feel more involved and interested in my local communities”, which had a performance gap of -21.

Turning to the global Purpose, the Chief Adviser Research and Audiences informed Council that there had been a positive response to “The BBC helps me understand what’s going on in the wider world, such as international news and events” which had a positive performance gap of +3.

Turning to the education Purpose, she informed Council that there was no gap between the importance and performance when audiences had been asked “I have learned new things while enjoying programmes or content on the BBC”. However, there was a large performance gap of -17 when audiences had been asked whether “The BBC helps children/teens with what they learn at school/college”. The Council asked whether this question was addressed at the correct audience since the Survey had been conducted amongst adults of 15 or older, and suggested that this might perhaps explain this gap. This seemed to Council members to be at odds considering the excellent work being done by BBC Cymru Wales in developing learning resources for children and teenagers. Chief Adviser Research responded by saying that this gap was being driven by the perception of parents of what the BBC was doing to help older teens and that it was important to note parents’ perceptions as well as those of the teenagers themselves.

There were no significant performance gaps in relation to the digital Purpose.

32. PRESENTATION BY MELFYN CLWYD ROBERTS BBC WALES AUDIENCE SERVICES MANAGER BBC Wales Audience Services Manager was welcomed to the meeting and outlined the changes that occurred at the end of the twentieth century in relation to the provision of information and the handling of queries, comments and complaints with the advent of the internet age. He suggested that it was the case that the BBC, at that point, still had some catching up to do.

Audience Services across the BBC now dealt with more than 2 million contacts each year with around 250,000 of them complaints. A 24 hour seven day a week service with 100 staff members was provided by Capita in Belfast. 96% of complaints were being dealt with within the target of 10 working days. 0.16% of complaints

6 progressed to stage two of the complaints process and even fewer, 0.09%, went on to stage three and the BBC Trust.

Looking at recent issues which had elicited a high number of complaints, he made reference to Robbie Savage’s suggestive performance on Strictly Come Dancing, comments made by guest Jeremy Clarkson on The One Show, Top Gear’s India Special programme, and Alex Salmond’s interview on Newsnight during which presenter Jeremy Paxman had compared him to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe.

The audience services department at Bangor was part of BBC Wales and provided a service between 9.30am and 7.30pm Monday to Friday. The contacts involved the whole range of the BBC’s services. 10% of the unsolicited contacts handled by the team were complaints. 5 members of staff provide the service, which is fully bilingual. Around 100 complaints a month were received regarding BBC Wales issues. The volume of complaints relating to Wales Today was high, but usually there were no significant on-going themes. A recent cause of a large number of complaints had been as a result of an interview which had continued during the singing of the national anthem at the Six Nations Rugby Grand Slam celebrations at the Senedd. Dragon’s Eye’s programme on the AWEMA scandal elicited a number of complaints, and consumer affairs programme X-Ray often triggered complaints, but usually from individuals connected with firms investigated by the X-Ray team. Volumes of complaints as a proportion of contacts were generally low.

The daily feedback report was widely distributed within BBC Wales, feedback was discussed and responses organised. The department produced various monthly, end of series and ad-hoc reports.

Turning to the complaints procedure he outlined the 3 stages of the BBC complaints process. Changes were being made to the process with the aim of making the handling of complaints faster, simpler and easier to understand.

The team offered additional services, including support for Radio Cymru events listings, traffic and X-Ray related calls. The team was now also monitoring Twitter traffic for comments relating to the BBC Wales programmes and services.

Turning to challenges facing his team, BBC Wales Audience Services Manager said that DQF was an obvious one with its cost saving targets. He said another challenge was to ensure the continuation of appropriate opportunities to contact the BBC in Welsh and ensure BBC Wales feedback was identified, reported upon, and responded to appropriately in both Welsh and English.

The Council asked whether significant new issues had been identified through the team’s monitoring of Twitter. BBC Wales Audience Services Manager said that there were no significant differences, but that it was obviously an area of growing activity. Council was informed that there was a system in place for dealing with BBC related complaints in relation to programmes output on S4C.

7 Council asked whether greater access to the internet had led to an increase in contacts and complaints. BBC Wales Audience Services Manager said that it was the case that increasing numbers were routed through the BBC complaints website and that it was an on-going challenge to try to differentiate between a ‘complaint’ and ‘comments’ made via this route, with the focus on using the resource efficiently to handle complaints that raised significant editorial issues

33. PRIORITY ISSUES FOR THE BBC TRUST - Following an audience outreach event in Holyhead the previous evening and a tour of the BBC facilities in Bangor Council recognised the importance afforded by audiences in Wales to the BBC’s Welsh language services.

34. CONFIRMATION OF DATE OF NEXT MEETING Council was reminded of the date of its next meeting on Friday, 22nd June 2012 at BBC Broadcasting House, Cardiff, preceded on Thursday 21st June by an ACW outreach event at the same location.

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