CTEEA/S5/21/C19/C006 CULTURE, TOURISM, EUROPE AND EXTERNAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE UPDATE ON THE IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON SCOTLAND’S CULTURE AND TOURISM SECTORS SUBMISSION FROM BBC SCOTLAND Summary 1. This short submission is a supplementary document to the one previously submitted by BBC Scotland to the Committee’s inquiry in May 2020. It details BBC Scotland’s continuing response to serving its audience during the pandemic, and the impact of the pandemic on public broadcasting operations. 2. Covid-19 continues to have a substantial effect on the BBC’s ability to produce programmes and services. The cancellation of key broadcasting events, ceasing of productions, and changes to schedules will continue to have an impact on what audiences see and hear from the BBC across the coming months. 3. In common with other organisations continuing to operate during this crisis, the BBC has faced operational challenges. At times, we have experienced reduced levels of staffing and a huge increase in demand for the BBC’s internal network as over 15,000 colleagues across the UK continue to work from home. For those whose roles cannot be performed at home, for example in certain on-site broadcast-critical functions, safety is paramount and we continue to follow Scottish and UK Government advice. COVID-19 Impact on the BBC 4. The production of numerous programmes and services continues to be impacted. BBC Scotland welcomes the guidance issued by the Scottish and UK Governments which enables TV and film production to continue to operate with strict safety protocols, and production on a number of key titles has resumed. In Scotland, River City returned to filming in the autumn, and production is also underway on dramas such as Vigil and the second series of Guilt. River City has recently found a way within the guidelines to move from producing 30 minutes per week to 1 hour per week of content. Mrs Brown’s Boys successfully filmed its Christmas and New Year specials under the current production guidelines at BBC Scotland’s Pacific Quay studios. Network production has also resumed, with EastEnders, Doctor Who and Call the Midwife all operating within strict new guidelines, but often with reduced amounts of content being made, due to the impact of following the new protocols. 1 CTEEA/S5/21/C19/C006 5. Inevitably, the temporary suspension of production last year will have a temporary impact on future published levels of spend of the Licence Fee in the UK’s nations, until the production landscape returns to nearer normal levels of activity. This will not necessarily be seen universally across each nation. Spend is included in the BBC’s accounts for the year in which a title is first shown on TV, not the year in which it is made. Some productions made pre-pandemic will “count” towards network spend during the current financial year. For example, His Dark Materials, made in Wales, was largely filmed prior to the pandemic, but was shown recently. Shetland, made in Scotland, would have filmed 2 series over the summer, but with filming completely suspended at that point, and postponed until summer 2021, that Scottish spend will not appear in the BBC’s accounts for some time to come. 6. BBC Scotland is also seeing some studio-based business postpone production by a number of months. Much of this is due to particular productions in which interactions with a studio audience are key to the format, particularly in some areas of children’s television. Audiences in Scotland have not been permitted in TV studios at any stage of the pandemic. This has not been universally the case across the UK, where in some areas the limited return of studio audiences has been permitted. 7. Covid-19 has continued to have an effect on big sporting, music and entertainment moments. BBC Scotland continues to work with partners around the nation to assess what levels of activity will be likely later in the year in order to plan coverage accordingly. Similarly, all previously planned activity from BBC Orchestras and Choirs has been impacted, with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra able to resume some operations with reduced numbers of musicians in order to continue to create new content for BBC Radio 3 and for BBC Scotland, including for Burns Night. Operational Challenges 8. The BBC, like other organisations continuing to operate during the coronavirus crisis, has faced operational challenges with some staff self- isolating, others ill or with caring responsibilities, and most, where possible, working from home. The protection and safety of our staff remains of utmost importance and in line with Scottish Government advice on social distancing we continue to evolve the ways in which we operate whilst maintaining core coverage. In common with other employers across Scotland, we are also supporting staff during a second period of schools being closed, and have agreed flexible working arrangements with regards to hours, and where required, additional leave, in order to accommodate this. 2 CTEEA/S5/21/C19/C006 9. With the majority of the BBC’s staff continuing to work from home, the BBC has provided staff with the resources they need in order to work safely in their home environments. 10. For those whose roles require them to attend a BBC site, the BBC has made very clear, especially during this second nationwide lockdown in Scotland, that only people critical to broadcast or transmission, or who need to be on our sites to do their jobs, should be travelling to our locations. In addition to the existing production-specific protocols in place, there are general site-wide measures such as maintaining social distancing with appropriate signage to assist, regular hand washing and using the gels and wipes that are provided, alongside colleagues wearing face coverings in all communal spaces and when away from their desks or studios. BBC Scotland also has sunflower lanyards and face covering exemption cards to help support people who may be exempt from wearing a face-covering because of an underlying health condition. 11. In addition to these measures, in January 2021, the BBC has begun introducing lateral flow testing and social distancing proximity devices. The lateral flow Covid-19 tests will be available to anyone who needs to come into key BBC locations to do their job on a regular basis with testing carried out by colleagues in their own homes prior to travelling to a BBC base. Social distancing proximity devices, which sound an alert when colleagues are within two metres of each other, are also being introduced for those teams who would find them a helpful addition to all of the other production protocols. With these additional measures, the BBC hopes to add a further layer of protection to delivering its key services to audiences at a time when they need them the most. Finance 12. As a result of coronavirus the BBC put in place plans to reduce spend by £125m as a response to projected COVID impact, as noted in BBC Scotland’s written and oral evidence to the Committee previously. While the BBC has the privilege of the licence fee, income has been impacted as it has become more difficult to collect the fee during lockdown periods, there was a delay to the implementation of the over 75s policy and commercial income has reduced. Going into the coronavirus crisis, the BBC already had 31% less to spend on UK public services than if the licence fee had risen with inflation since 2010. On top of that, the BBC now faces the estimated £125m of lost income this financial year due to the crisis. 13. The BBC took a number of steps including a pay freeze for all employees, postponing annual pay negotiations, implementing a recruitment freeze for 3 CTEEA/S5/21/C19/C006 non-critical roles and launching a voluntary redundancy window across all UK teams. BBC Scotland expects around 80 posts to have closed across our sites in Scotland as a result of the voluntary redundancy process by the end of the current financial year. 14. The BBC also notes the continuing financial impact on the wider production sector, including on the BBC’s supply chain. The BBC’s ongoing work with our partners, including Screen Scotland and MG ALBA, ensures that opportunities for the sector in Scotland continue to be developed even within the current production protocols. BBC Response to the Covid-19 Outbreak Changes to Programmes and Services 15. The BBC continues to repurpose our services and programmes for the benefit of all audiences, ensuring we keep the nation informed, educated and entertained in these unprecedented times. Inform 16. The BBC further enhanced our core role to bring trusted news and information to audiences in Scotland, the UK and around the world in a fast-moving situation, and to counter confusion and misinformation. 17. Key news programmes on TV and radio including Good Morning Scotland, Reporting Scotland, The Nine, Aithris na Maidne and An La all serve to keep audiences up to date on the latest developments, advice and changes in regulations. A socially distanced version of Debate Night and Debate Night Extra has featured key discussions on aspects of the pandemic, alongside output such as Lunchtime Live and Drivetime. 18. As noted in BBC Scotland’s initial submission to the inquiry, BBC Radio Scotland evolved its schedule to provide additional live programming. Over the festive period, the schedule on Radio Scotland and Radio nan Gaidheal offered a range of content to enable greater connectedness amongst the audience during a Christmas and New Year period when meeting in person was not possible.