Confidential Minutes of the Audience Council
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CONFIDENTIAL MINUTES OF THE AUDIENCE COUNCIL SCOTLAND MEETING Held on Friday, 6 June 2014 at Pacific Quay, BBC Scotland Present: Trust member for Scotland/Chair, Bill Matthews Audience Council Scotland Amanda Bryan Jane Ferguson Margaret Hughes Munwar Hussain Andrew Jones Matthew MacIver Lisa Peebles David Tierney Apologies: Neelam Bakshi David Garrick Jennifer Harrower In attendance from the Trust Unit: Allan Jack Chief Adviser, Scotland Governance Co-ordinator & Secretary to Michelle Dunlop the Council Katey Thurlow Assistant to the Council From the Executive: Ken MacQuarrie Director, BBC Scotland Alan Dickson Chief Operating Officer, BBC Scotland Geraldine Reilly Business Manager, BBC Scotland Sharon Mair Project Executive, Commonwealth Games CONFIDENTIAL Minutes and matters arising The Council approved the minutes of its meeting on Friday, 9th May 2014 as an accurate record of proceedings. The National Trustee updated members on the May Trust meeting. He informed members that Nations versions of BBC Two SD on satellite would be retained beyond 2015, as this remained the best way of delivering BBC Two Scotland content to audiences and that the BBC Executive planned to launch BBC Two Nations HD in 2018. Other issues discussed included BBC Scotland’s new current affairs programme Scotland 2014, recent and future audience engagement events and Charter renewal. Network Music Radio review – update and early insights Chief Adviser, Scotland updated members on the most recent audience engagement event to discuss the BBC’s music radio stations. A further sub-group meeting would be arranged before the joint Council’s event in July 2014. Progress against King Report Members considered the progress the BBC Executive has made in reporting the devolved public policy issues on network news and current affairs. The King Report, published in 2008, was the outcome of an independent review of the accuracy and impartiality of the BBC’s network news and current affairs coverage of the four UK nations. The report made a number of recommendations, suggesting that the BBC needed “to improve the range, clarity and precision of its network news coverage of what is happening in the different UK nations and regions and make this coverage more relevant and interesting to all audiences”. Members welcomed the progress made in coverage of the devolved nations however felt that there was still scope to further enrich network coverage in comparisons of policy and approaches across the UK – especially as devolution evolves. The Council also wants to be assured that improvements to date are sustained and built upon. Annual Review 2013-14 – final discussion and sign off Members considered the draft text of the annual review, making sure that it reflected properly on the work of the Council over the last year. The review will be published in July 2014 alongside the BBC’s Annual Report and Accounts. Commonwealth Games Presentation Project Executive, Commonwealth Games updated members on the BBC’s plans for coverage of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She outlined the BBC’s Commonwealth Games sport and culture programme. The offering would include coverage across TV, radio and online. Current activity included coverage of the Queens Baton Relay journey. “BBC at the Quay”, a festival celebrating the cultural diversity of the Commonwealth, would run from 19th July 2014 to 3rd August 2014. The festival will host a huge variety of live and recorded radio and TV programmes as well as non-broadcast events from outside BBC Pacific Quay. Report from the Executive Director, Scotland reported on activity and performance in BBC Scotland over CONFIDENTIAL the last month. He highlighted the recent, successful tour by the Scottish Symphony Orchestra in India and the success of the Radio 1 Big Weekend in Glasgow. Members discussed recent output relating to the referendum debate including the new current affairs programme Scotland 2014. Date of next meeting The next meeting of the Audience Council for Scotland will be on Friday, 5th September 2014. Signed………………………………………………………….. Date………………….. .