House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee Priorities for the new Director-General of the BBC Oral and written evidence 25 April 2013 Lord Hall, Director-General, BBC, and Rt Hon Lord Patten, Chairman, BBC Trust Ordered by The House of Commons to be printed on 25 April 2013 HC 1099-i [of Session 2012-13] Published on 8 April 2014 by authority of the House of Commons London: The Stationery Office Limited £8.50 The Culture, Media and Sport Committee The Culture, Media and Sport Committee is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and its associated public bodies. Current membership Mr John Whittingdale OBE MP (Conservative, Maldon)(Chair) Rt Hon. Ben Bradshaw MP (Labour, Exeter) Angie Bray MP (Conservative, Ealing Central and Acton) Conor BurnsMP (Conservative, Bournemouth West) Tracey Crouch MP (Conservative,Chatham and Aylesford) Philip Davies MP (Conservative, Shipley) Paul Farrelly MP (Labour, Newcastle-under-Lyme) Mr John Leech MP (Liberal Democrat, Manchester, Withington) Steve Rotheram MP (Labour, Liverpool, Walton) Jim Sheridan MP (Labour, Paisley and Renfrewshire North) Mr Gerry Sutcliffe MP (Labour, Bradford South) The following members were also a member of the committee during the parliament: David Cairns MP (Labour, Inverclyde) Dr Thérèse Coffey MP (Conservative, Suffolk Coastal) Damian Collins MP (Conservative,Folkestone and Hythe) Alan Keen MP (Labour Co-operative, Feltham and Heston) Louise Mensch MP (Conservative, Corby) Mr Adrian Sanders MP (Liberal Democrat, Torbay) Mr Tom Watson MP (Labour, West Bromwich East) Powers The committee is one of the departmental select committees, the powers of which are set out in House of Commons Standing Orders, principally in SO No 152. These are available on the internet via www.parliament.uk. Publication The Reports and evidence of the Committee are published by The Stationery Office by Order of the House. All publications of the Committee (including press notices) are on the internet at www.parliament.uk/cmscom. A list of Reports of the Committee in the present Parliament is at the back of this volume. The Reports of the Committee, the formal minutes relating to that report, oral evidence taken and some of the written evidence are available in a printed volume. Additional written evidence is published on the internet only. Committee staff The current staff of the Committee are Elizabeth Flood (Clerk), Grahame Danby (Second Clerk), Kevin Candy (Inquiry Manager), Keely Bishop (Committee Assistant) and Jessica Bridges-Palmer (Media Officer). Contacts All correspondence should be addressed to the Clerk of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, House of Commons, 7 Millbank, London SW1P 3JA. The telephone number for general enquiries is 020 7219 6188; the Committee’s email address is [email protected] List of witnesses Thursday, 25 April2013 Page Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE, Director-General, BBC, andRt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes CH, Chairman, BBC Trust Ev 1 cobber Pack: U PL: COE1 [SO] Processed: [07-04-2014 08:30] Job: 033283 Unit: PG01 Source: /MILES/PKU/INPUT/033283/033283_o001_steve_130425 Priorities for the new D-G of the BBC corrected.xml Culture, Media & Sport Committee: Evidence Ev 1 Oral evidence Taken before the Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Thursday 25 April 2013 Members present: Mr John Whittingdale (Chair) Mr Ben Bradshaw Mr John Leech Angie Bray Steve Rotheram Conor Burns Jim Sheridan Philip Davies Mr Gerry Sutcliffe Paul Farrelly ________________ Examination of Witnesses Witnesses: Lord Hall of Birkenhead, CBE, Director-General, BBC, and Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes, CH, Chairman, BBC Trust, gave evidence. Q1 Chair: Good morning. This morning the and too many structures that hinder rather than help Committee is considering the priorities for the new the programme-makers. We need to deal with this and Director-General of the BBC, and I am pleased to do so in a specific and concrete way that makes a welcome the Chairman of the BBC Trust, Lord Patten, difference to their lives and helps them to make and the new Director-General, Lord Tony Hall. It is great programmes. worth observing I think, Tony, that you are the fourth Secondly, we also need a BBC that is in tune with Director-General within a year to be appearing before the times. Like everybody else we have to deal with us in this Committee, so we hope we shall be seeing efficiency savings and cuts, so we have to do the same you again. with less. Everyone else is doing that; so should we. Lord Hall of Birkenhead: I shall think about that But we cannot be tone-deaf to what licence fee- carefully when I leave this place. payers—the public out there—have said to us about Chair: I understand you would like to say a few pay-offs for redundancies and so on. So, I have words before we begin. announced this morning that we will consult on a Lord Hall of Birkenhead: Thank you very much, £150,000 cap on redundancy and severance payments Chairman, I really appreciate the time to say a few to affect all senior management, old and new. We have words of introduction. I thought what I would say is to deal with this problem. The level of some payments a little bit about how I have approached the first three wasn’t right. I hope that will deal with the problem weeks in the job. First of all, I now have a top team clearly for the public. I must point out that is in line in place. That strikes me—and struck me when I got with the civil service, which is why we chose the this job—as something that I should try to achieve £150,000 cap. quickly with the right mixture of talented insiders, and Thirdly, we have to continue to rebuild trust in the also bringing in the right talent from outside as well, BBC. The Corporation has been through a really and then getting that team to work together properly. difficult time—you know that, I know that—but not I am really pleased; I do think we have a group of as difficult as those who were directly affected by people there who can lead the BBC forward. Savile and others. We need to learn the lessons of The second thing I have been doing is going around Pollard and the Rose review—which will be coming the country—and indeed around London—meeting out shortly—and take those absolutely and clearly on people. I have been to Cardiff. I have been to Bristol. board. I have been to Birmingham. I have been to Salford. I But I just want to say one other thing, and it is a bit am going to Northern Ireland at the crack of dawn personal. I have had a fantastic and inspiring first tomorrow, and I am going to Scotland next week. I three-and-a-bit weeks. It is a remarkably creative have talked to staff openly about what I hope we can organisation. I have talked about news. I have talked do with the BBC but also issues facing the BBC. I about local radio and its importance to music. I have have talked to programme-makers and I have also seen a 3D Natural History Unit film of going through talked to external partners in a number of places, a reef, which is absolutely stunning, and—among because I think their perspective on the BBC is crucial others—I have talked to the Food Programme about and interesting. As I said on day one, all of those black puddings, one of my favourite dishes. So I feel conversations are to help me and the BBC shape the optimistic about the future of the BBC. That is not to next chapter for the BBC and give a sense of where say there isn’t a very large job that I have to do. Thank the BBC should be going. I hope to have that work you, Chairman. completed by September/October. There are three things I want to do before then; first Q2 Chair: Thank you. We will come on to look at a of all, I want to begin making a simpler BBC. There number of the areas you have raised in more detail. are brilliant people doing some fantastic programmes, When you say you want to see a simpler BBC, does but there is too much bureaucracy, too many processes that mean, firstly, a smaller BBC, is it a BBC doing cobber Pack: U PL: COE1 [E] Processed: [07-04-2014 08:30] Job: 033283 Unit: PG01 Source: /MILES/PKU/INPUT/033283/033283_o001_steve_130425 Priorities for the new D-G of the BBC corrected.xml Ev 2 Culture, Media & Sport Committee: Evidence 25 April 2013 Lord Hall of Birkenhead CBE and Rt Hon Lord Patten of Barnes CH less, and does it mean a BBC with fewer middle top team for the BBC. You have to get the balance managers? right between, on the one hand, bringing in talented Lord Hall of Birkenhead: That is what I am talking committed outsiders—the very best—with the very to staff about as I go around the BBC on how we can best of insiders too. I have to say, as I walk around free them up. I think what happens with organisations the BBC, as I go and meet people, I see some is they accrete layers or they accrete regulations or extraordinarily talented people doing extraordinary they accrete roles. I want nothing that is going to be things. reckless. I want nothing that takes the commonsense from all our managers about what they should refer Q7 Angie Bray: Thank you.