Bbc Trust Meeting

MINUTES OF THE BBC TRUST MEETING Held on Thursday 22 May 2008 in the Viewing Theatre, BBC Scotland, Pacific Quay, Glasgow Present: Michael Lyons Chairman Chitra Bharucha Vice Chairman (Items 77 – 83) Diane Coyle Trust Member Dermot Gleeson Trust Member Alison Hastings Trust Member for England (Items 77 – 87) Patricia Hodgson Trust Member Rotha Johnston Trust Member for Northern Ireland Janet Lewis Jones Trust Member for Wales (Items 77 – 87) David Liddiment Trust Member Mehmuda Mian Pritchard Trust Member Jeremy Peat Trust Member for Scotland Richard Tait Trust Member In attendance Nicholas Kroll Director, BBC Trust from the Trust Sally Willson Head of Secretariat and Governance Unit: Phil Harrold Senior Adviser, Secretariat and Governance Christopher Woolard Head of Finance, Economics and Strategy Tina Stowell Head of Communications Fran O'Brien Head of Editorial Standards Mark Wakefield Head of Performance Items 80, 89, 92 Jon Cowdock Chief Strategy and Policy Adviser Items 83 and 86 Alison Bexfield Chief Financial and Compliance Officer Items 82 and 92 Alison Edwards Adviser, Secretariat and Governance Item 88 Gareth Barr Policy Analyst Item 90 Brij Sharma Senior Strategy Adviser For items: Items 85 – 92 Mark Thompson Director-General Items 85 – 92 Mark Byford Deputy Director-General Items 85 – 92 Caroline Thomson Chief Operating Officer Items 85 – 92 Zarin Patel Group Finance Director Item 88 John Tate Director, Policy and Strategy Item 88 Gautam Rangarajan Head of Policy and Development Item 87 Nigel Chapman Director, BBC World Service Item 89 Pat Loughrey Director, Nations and Regions Items 98 and 90 Bal Samra Director , Vision Operations and Rights Item 90 James Lancaster Head of Rights and Business Affairs Item 90 Chris Waiting Strategy Manager, Public Policy Item 91 David Jordan Director, Editorial Policy Item 92 Nicholas Eldred Group General Counsel Item 92 Neil Land Chief Adviser, Public Policy 2 AGENDA 77. Minutes of the meeting held on 17 April 2008 and 23 April 2008 and Matters Arising 78. Committees and Audience Councils 79. Director’s Report 80. Impartiality Report: Network News and Current Affairs Coverage of the Four Nations Of The UK 81. bbc.co.uk Service Review 82. Complaints Framework 83. Annual Report and Accounts 84. Value for Money Review: In House Commissioning 85. Director-General’s Report 86. Quarterly Financial Report 87. BBC World Service Three Year Plan 88. Public Service Broadcasting Review Update 89. Network Supply Definitions 90. Talent Costs review 91. Editorial Compliance 92. Compliance Reporting 93. Items for Noting 94. Business Handling and Communications 95. Other Business 3 77 MINUTES OF THE TRUST MEETINGS HELD ON 17 APRIL 2008 AND 23 APRIL 2008 AND MATTERS ARISING 77.1 The Trust approved the minutes of the Trust meeting held on 17 April with one minor amendment. The Trust agreed to the proposed redactions. The Trust also approved the minutes of the meeting held on 23 April (Audience Council Day), and agreed to publication without any redactions 77.2 Members noted the matters arising from previous meetings. 78 COMMITTEES AND AUDIENCE COUNCILS 78.1 Members noted the reports from recent meetings of Trust committees and Audience Councils, particularly noting that the Finance and Strategy Committee had agreed terms of reference for value for money reviews into radio production efficiency and management of strategic contracts. 78.2 Members noted that the Trust’s Remuneration and Appointments Committee had agreed a framework within which the Executive Board’s Remuneration Committee would set Executive Director remuneration. 79 DIRECTOR’S REPORT 79.1 The Director, BBC Trust spoke to his report, which highlighted business to be discussed later in the meeting and summarised recent activity that had been undertaken by the Trust. 79.2 The Trust noted the progress that had been made by the Trust Unit and management on streamlining board processes and procedures. 80 IMPARTIALITY REPORT: NETWORK NEWS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS COVERAGE OF THE FOUR NATIONS OF THE UK 80.1 The Chairman summarised the key conclusions of the independent review undertaken by Professor Anthony King into network news and current affairs coverage of the four nations of the United Kingdom. He noted that Prof. King had presented his report in detail to the Trust the day before. Members agreed that the independent review, along with research from Cardiff University and the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) would form the evidence base for the Trust’s report on this matter. 80.2 Members agreed that the report had highlighted the clear desire on the part of audiences to learn about all parts of the United Kingdom. The Trust was pleased that the independent review had concluded that the BBC’s coverage was seen as fair and impartial. Members agreed that the analysis pointed out shortcomings in the BBC’s coverage of the whole of the UK and that management action on this issue would be necessary. 4 80.3 The Trust discussed the findings of the review and the independent research and agreed that a report from the Trust would be developed and approved by members offline. It was noted that the Executive would present their initial conclusions to the independent review to the Trust later in the meeting and that this would assist to inform the Trust’s report on the matter. 80.4 The Trust agreed that due to the importance of this issue, and recognising that the BBC has a particular responsibility to serve the whole of the UK, it would seek a formal action plan from the Executive Board in response to the Trust’s conclusions. 80.5 The Trust agreed that, if possible and practicable, the BBC’s Audience Councils should be invited to play a role in the ongoing monitoring of progress once a plan had been agreed with the Executive. 81 BBC.CO.UK SERVICE REVIEW 81.1 The Trust’s Head of Performance introduced the final report of the bbc.co.uk service, noting that this was the first of the Trust’s rolling programme of service reviews. He noted that the review had been carried out by the Trust Unit, utilising independent research and in house expertise. The Trust’s Audiences and Performance Committee had overseen the review. 81.2 He outlined the three principal conclusions of the review, which were: o bbc.co.uk was an excellent service that was highly valued by users and made a strong contribution to delivering the BBC's public purposes. o As bbc.co.uk developed and responded to the fast-changing online market and the demands of users, it was essential that the service remained distinctive and the boundaries in which it operated were strong enough to make this a reality. The review recommended that the Trust restructure the bbc.co.uk Service Licence and apply the distinctiveness criteria to all parts of the service. o bbc.co.uk should continue to develop to meet changing customer needs. However, it was recommended that the Trust should not approve new investments without further scrutiny and until confident that improved management controls were in place to ensure better financial accountability and editorial and managerial oversight. 81.3 The lead member of the Trust for the review, Patricia Hodgson, noted the quality of the service and said that despite concerns over governance, which required urgent action by the Executive, bbc.co.uk provided a high quality service to licence fee payers and was a valued part of the BBC’s portfolio of services. She also noted that the review had sought to establish the service’s performance within the context of the wider market and had directly addressed issues raised by other providers. 81.4 Members discussed the need for the Executive to ensure appropriate editorial management was in place as part of its response to improving the governance of the service. The Trust noted the potential issues caused by the fact that bbc.co.uk is both a service in its own right as well as a distribution platform for other services. 81.5 The Trust accepted the final report and recommendations of the service review and 5 agreed that it should be published. Members noted plans for publication, including briefings with stakeholders, staff and the media. 82 COMPLAINTS FRAMEWORK 82.1 The Trust’s Head of Editorial Standards introduced the paper, which set out a new framework, and accompanying procedures, for the BBC’s handling of complaints. She noted that the Trust was required under the Charter and Agreement to establish a complaints framework. 82.2 The framework had been developed in consultation with all the relevant Trust committees, which would take a role in assessing complaints at the final stage. She also noted that a public consultation had been conducted on the draft framework and that amendments had been made following input from stakeholders and licence fee payers. The draft framework was also amended following further input from operational areas of the BBC as well as further legal advice. 82.3 Members noted that the Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee would continue to take a lead role in overseeing the complaints processes overall. 82.4 The Trust approved the final framework and procedures, delegating responsibility to Chitra Bharucha and Mehmuda Mian Pritchard to sign off any final changes prior to publication. The Trust also approved the draft explanatory statement for publication. 82.5 The Trust approved the appointment of the Trust’s Head of Finance, Economics and Strategy, and Head of Editorial Standards as Appeals Adjudicators to consider appeals on behalf of the Trust relating to the Digital Switchover Help Scheme. 82.6 The Trust noted that a committee of two members would be established to hear appeals on general complaints.

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