Executive Board
12 May 2008 1100 – 1530 Rm 3028, Broadcasting House
Attendees ...... 2 Agenda...... 3 1 Minutes of BBC Executive Board held on 7 April 2008...... 4 2 Director reports...... 4 3 Reports...... 5 4 Ofcom PSB Review – Draft BBC Submission ...... 5 5 Approach to Public Service Archive ...... 6 6 BBC World Service Three Year Financial Plan ...... 6 7 Local Video PVT Application ...... 6 8 Impartiality and Independence – Full Year Report ...... 6 9 Management Reponses to Trust Reviews...... 6 10 Any other business...... 7 For noting ...... 7 11 Minutes and Actions from Finance Committee...... 7 12 bbc.co.uk – Service Licence Baseline Budget ...... 7 13 BBC On Demand Platform Capabilities Status and Roadmap...... 7
1 Attendees
Present Mark Thompson (Chair) Director-General Jenny Abramsky Director, Audio and Music Jana Bennett Director, Vision Mark Byford Deputy Director-General Tim Davie Director, Marketing, Communications and Audiences Ashley Highfield Director, Future Media and Technology Steve Kelly Director, BBC People Zarin Patel Group Finance Director John Smith Chief Executive, BBC Worldwide Caroline Thomson Chief Operating Officer
Marcus Agius Senior non-executive director Val Gooding Non-executive director David Robbie Non-executive director Mike Lynch Non-executive director (by telephone) Samir Shah Non-executive director Robert Webb Non-executive director
With Jessica Cecil Head of the Director-General’s Office Jo Clarke Assistant Head of the Executive Unit John Tate Director, Policy & Strategy (Items 3a & 4) Kerstin Mogull Deputy Director, Policy & Strategy (Item 3a) Nicholas Eldred General Counsel (Items 3b & 3c) Balbir Binning Controller, Fair Trading (Items 3b & 3c) Andrea Callender Head of Diversity (Items 3e & 3f) Caroline Prendagast Training & Development Director (Items 3e & 3f) Gautam Rangarajan Head of Policy & Development (Item 4) Richard Halton Controller, Business Strategy (Item 5) Tony Ageh Controller, Internet (Item 5) Nigel Chapman Director, World Service (Item 6) Pat Loughrey Director, Nations & Regions (Item 7) James Heath Head of Strategy, Journalism (Item 7) David Holdsworth Deputy Controller, English Regions (Item 7) Daniel Wilson Adviser, Policy & Strategy (Item 7) David Jordan Director, Editorial Policy (Item 8) Ric Bailey Chief Adviser, Politics (Item 8) Bal Samra Director, Vision, Operations & Rights (Item 9) James Lancaster Head of Rights & Business Affairs (Item 9)
Apologies Lynsey Bigger Head of the Executive Unit
2 Agenda
1 Minutes of BBC Executive Board on held on 7 April 2008. 2 Director reports a) Audiences and all services • A & M Series Stacking Trial b) Journalism c) Regulatory and industry • High Definition on DTT – Reorganisation of Multiplex B d) Commercial e) Pension Trustee Appointment f) Finance • Financial Report – March 2008 • Trust Engagement During the BBC’s Financial Approval Process
3 Reports a) Quarterly Performance Report b) Compliance Report – Quarterly Review Q4 2007 / 2008 & Annual Review 2007 / 2008 c) Compliance with Four Commercial Criteria 2007-08 d) The BBC’s Arrangements for Promoting Equal Opportunities as Required under the Charter and Agreement e) The BBC’s Arrangements for the Training and Retraining of BBC Staff as Required under the Charter and Agreement
4 Ofcom PSB Review – Draft BBC Submission
5 Approach to Public Service Archive 6 BBC World Service Three Year Financial Plan 7 Local Video PVT Application
8 Impartiality and Independence – Full Year Report 9 Management Reponses to Trust Reviews a) Management Response to Trust Talent Review b) VFM Review of In House Production
10 Any other business
For noting 11 Summary of papers and actions from Finance Committee meetings held on 12 & 13 March, 8 & 18 April 2008 12 bbc.co.uk – Service Licence Baseline Budget 13 BBC On Demand Platform Capabilities Status and Roadmap
3 1 Minutes of BBC Executive Board held on 7 April 2008.
1.1 The minutes were approved and the summary for publication noted.
1.2 The Executive Board noted the publication of the PwC Report.
2 Director reports a) Audiences and All services
• A&M Series Stacking Trial
2.1 Jenny Abramsky provided an update on audience figures and services for the last month, noting key highlights for Vision, Audio and Music and New Media including the Freesat launch. She also noted with sadness the death of Humphrey Lyttleton.
2.2 Jenny Abramsky introduced the paper. It requested approval from the Executive Board to launch a six month trial of series stacking for A&M content. Executive Board approved the launch of the trial.
b) Journalism 2.3 Mark Byford provided an update on Journalism matters. c) Regulatory and industry
• High Definition on DTT – Reorganisation of Multiplex B
2.4 Caroline Thomson provided an update on regulatory and industry matters:
2.5 Caroline introduced the paper, which provided an update on Ofcom’s and the Government’s plans to rearrange the digital terrestrial television (DTT) multiplexes.
d) Commercial 2.6 John Smith provided an update on commercial matters.
e) Pension Trustee Appointment 2.7 Stephen Kelly introduced the paper which asked the Board to agree the appointment of a new Trustee to the Board of the BBC Pension Trust, to replace Mark Byford, Deputy Director-General, who had stepped down. The Board agreed the appointment of Helen Boaden, Director News, to the Board.
f) Finance
• Financial Report – March 2008
2.8 Zarin Patel introduced the Finance report which summarised the 2007/08 Financial Results for the BBC for the year ending March 2008.
• Trust Engagement During the BBC’s Financial Approval Process
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2.9 The paper set out the proposed approach to BBC Trust engagement during the BBC’s investment approval process. The Board noted the new arrangements and approved the paper’s submission to the Trust’s Finance and Strategy Committee for its meeting on 4 June 2008.
3 Reports
a) Quarterly Performance Report
3.1 Caroline Thomson introduced the quarterly performance report for quarter 1 2008 (January-March).
3.2 The Board noted the information in the report and discussed the key talking points.
b) Compliance Report – Quarterly Review Q4 2007 / 2008 & Annual Review 2007 / 2008
3.3 Nicholas Eldred introduced the compliance report for the fourth quarter of 2007/2008 and the annual review 2007/2008.
3.4 The Board discussed the key points of the report.
c) Compliance with Four Commercial Criteria 2007-08
3.5 Balbir Binning introduced the report. The Board noted that the BBC Charter and Agreement required all commercial services to comply with the four commercial criteria and that the Executive Board should address compliance with the criteria in its Annual report and Accounts. The Executive Board noted that the report would be updated to include year end figures prior to publication.
3.6 Executive Board approved the summary text for publication and approved the text for submission to the Trust. The Executive Board noted the sample Review at Appendix F.
d) The BBC’s Arrangements for Promoting Equal Opportunities as Required under the Charter and Agreement
e) The BBC’s Arrangements for the Training and Retraining of Staff as Required under the Charter and Agreement
3.7 The Executive Board noted the contents of the two reports setting out the BBC’s arrangements for promoting equal opportunities and for the training and retraining of staff as required under the Charter and Agreement.
4 Ofcom PSB Review – Draft BBC Submission 4.1 Caroline Thomson introduced the paper by saying that Ofcom had published its PSB Review consultation document, The Digital Opportunity, on 10 April. The BBC's response must be submitted by 23 June, and the BBC Trust had asked to see a first draft of this submission for its meeting of 22 May. The BBC submission would be a joint response with the Trust.
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4.2 Executive Board approved the submission of the draft to the BBC Trust and noted that it would return to the Executive Board in June.
5 Approach to Public Service Archive
5.1 Caroline Thomson introduced the paper by confirming that Ashley Highfield had stepped down from sponsoring the paper on his appointment as Chief Executive Officer to Kangaroo. Executive Board noted his appointment and agreed that he could be present during the discussion.
5.2 Executive Board agreed the Archive Policy detailed in Annex 1 to the paper, including proposals for governance.
6 BBC World Service Three Year Financial Plan
6.1 Mark Byford introduced the BBC World Service's Three Year Financial Plan post the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR). The proposals set out in the original Comprehensive Spending Review had been endorsed by Journalism Board in December 2006 and by the BBC Trust in 2007. The accompanying paper set out how the outcome of the bid was going to be delivered in terms of developments and efficiencies.
6.2 The Executive Board approved the plan for onward submission to the Trust. .
7 Local Video PVT Application
7.1 The Executive Board must approve all Public Value Test (PVT) applications. Mark Byford introduced this application by outlining the regulatory process. He said that that the Terms of Reference and an initial Service Proposal had been agreed by BDG on the 18 December 2007 and the Trust Unit on 21 January 2008. Executive Board noted that the application was still subject to Finance Committee (FC) approval.
7.2 Executive Board approved the Local Video PVT application for onward submission to the BBC Trust, subject to approval of the BBC Local finance case by Finance Committee.
8 Impartiality and Independence – Full Year Report
8.1 Mark Byford presented the report to the Executive Board. It was intended to provide the Trust’s Editorial Standard’s Committee with a full year update on delivery against the impartiality objective in the BBC’s Citizenship & Civil Society Purpose Remit. It built on the half-year review which was presented to the ESC in November.
8.2 Executive Board noted the report and approved its submission to the Trust.
9 Management Reponses to Trust Reviews
a) Management Response to Trust Talent Review
6 9.1 Jana Bennett introduced the paper which summarised the conclusions of the BBC Trust’s review of talent and proposed a formal response from BBC Management.
b) VFM Review of In House Production
9.2 Jana Bennett introduced the paper which proposed a management response to the Trust on the Ernst & Young Value For Money Review of BBC In-House Television Commissioning.
9.3 The Executive Board reviewed and approved the management response to the Trust Talent Review and the Ernst & Young Value For Money Review of BBC In- House Television Commissioning.
10 Any other business
10.1 No other business was raised.
For noting
11 Minutes and Actions from Finance Committee
11.1 This paper reminded the Board that the Finance Committee (FC) was established under the delegated authority of the BBC Executive Board and that the purpose of the FC was to ensure the practice of good financial governance across the BBC and the enforcement of the BBC’s Investment Policy and Guidelines.
11.2 In line with the standing orders of the FC this paper provided the Executive Board with summary minutes of recent FC meetings, covering details of all business covered and key actions and outcomes agreed.
11.3 The Board noted the summary minutes and actions.
12 bbc.co.uk – Service Licence Baseline Budget
12.1 The paper set out the expected outturn of expenditure related to bbc.co.uk service licence in 2007/08 and the proposed baseline budget for 2008/09. It was to be submitted to the Trust’s Finance and Strategy Committee on 6 May 2008 for approval.
12.2 The Executive Board noted the paper.
13 BBC On Demand Platform Capabilities Status and Roadmap
13.1 The paper provided an update on the BBC’s progress towards achieving cross-platform compatibility for the BBC iPlayer and the work that the BBC has carried out since October 2007 towards this objective. The BBC last reported to the Trust in October 2007.
13.2 The Executive Board approved the direction taken by the BBC towards achieving platform neutrality the further development in this area over the coming 6 months.
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