Item 7 Glasgow City Council 24th September 2015 Executive Committee Report by Councillor Archie Graham, Depute Leader of the Council Contact: Calum Guthrie 0141 302 2813 Glasgow City Council response to consultation on BBC Charter Purpose of Report: To: Review the draft response to the BBC Charter consultation Recommendations: That the Executive Committee approves this report as the Council’s response to the consultation on the BBC Charter. Ward No(s): Citywide: Local member(s) advised: Yes No consulted: Yes No 1 Consultation on the BBC Charter Review. The Royal Charter, which is the constitutional basis of the BBC, expires at end of 2016. As part of the process of renewal the Department for Culture, the Media and Sport has initiated a public consultation about the future of the BBC. This consultation sets out four areas of potential change. These are: Mission, Purpose and Values – “what the BBC is for”, examining the overall rationale for the BBC and the case for reform of its public purposes; Scale and scope – “what the BBC should do”, examining the services it should deliver and the audiences it should be seeking to serve; Funding – “how the BBC should be paid for”, examining future potential funding models and related issues, such as how best to enforce payment; and Governance – “how the BBC should be overseen”, namely examining options for reform of the current Trust model alongside other governance issues. The proposed response on behalf of Glasgow City Council focuses on those aspects which are of particular relevance to the city and is as follows. 2. Consultation Response. The presence of the BBC in Glasgow contributes enormously to the cultural, social and economic development of the city and Scotland more widely. It is a major employer of specialist and technical staff, provides access to a wide range of production and post-production facilities and commissions new work extensively across platforms. It broadcasts cultural, sporting and heritage outputs which showcase the finest aspects of the city locally, nationally and globally, supporting tourism and building Glasgow’s local and international reputation as a place to visit, do business from, study or invest. The Corporation’s presence also supports the development of an increasingly strong cultural and creative sector ecology in the city both supplying goods and services, and contributing to development of new outputs across media and platforms. This in turn helps make Glasgow a prime location for new productions which we in turn, are keen to develop and support. The BBC’s approach to the promotion of learning and education across a huge spectrum of needs and interests from “softer skills“, such as personal growth and knowledge, to skills linked directly to employability is exceptional. The approach to partnerships and collaborations to promote learning with organisations in the city, including Glasgow Life, is vital. We believe these services and approaches are mutually reinforcing and provide key drivers to support Glasgow City Council’s vision and aspiration for the city – its people, economy, reputation and communities. We want to continue to work in partnership with the BBC to help it adapt and develop. However Glasgow City Council is also extremely mindful of the wider context in which this review of the BBC takes place. This includes: significant budget reductions across Government; the explosion of web-based broadcasting platforms and huge proliferation of online content; new types of consumer access and consumption of programming and learning; disruptive new business models and rapid adoption of new technology; ongoing powerful lobbying by commercial providers for de-regulation of public service broadcasting and increased commercialization; and challenges to the independence of the BBC’s editorial and programming content. The Council strongly supports the BBC and BBC Scotland as amongst the finest public service broadcasters in the world, delivering a crucial role in building a tolerant, literate, creative and pluralist city and society. We believe it should continue to be treasured and nurtured by UK, Scottish and local governments alike. We strongly believe the BBC needs adequate funding and the freedom to develop programming and editorial content independently and without partisan, political or commercial pressure. The proliferation of information, content and programming across web platforms means that protecting the integrity of the BBC as a trusted voice and provider of high quality output has never been more urgent. This strength is integral to the health of our democracy and society. Consequently we strongly endorse the BBC’s public purposes which are: 1. Sustaining citizenship and civil society; 2. Promoting education and learning; 3. Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence; 4. Representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities; 5. Bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK; and 6. Delivering to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services. We have provided a range of additional examples under the headings of greatest relevance to the city, namely education and learning; stimulating creativity and cultural excellence and representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities. Promoting Education and Learning. Glasgow City Council believes that the BBC’s Learning resources are an invaluable resource for the city and its promotion of education and learning should be continued and enhanced. We collaborate extensively with the BBC and other partners, including Glasgow Life and the University of Glasgow to inspire children and young people towards careers such as film-production and broadcasting. We believe that initiatives such as these are fundamental to helping Glasgow to develop its capacity as a future city and we remain extremely skeptical that initiatives such as these could operate without the BBC’s public service role. We are also particularly keen to emphasis the BBC’s role and function in: promoting and supporting formal education goals for children, teenagers and adults, especially related to essential skills developments; stimulating informal learning across a range of subject and issues for all audiences; and engaging audiences in activities targeted to achieve specific outcomes that benefit society. The BBC’s learning resources are exceptional, long established, sit within a worldwide setting and are delivered across many platforms. They are trusted, safe and most importantly freely available for all. A wide range of Glasgow community and voluntary organisations funded by the City Council and other funding bodies, use BBC resources including: ‘Skillswise’ and ‘Bringing Learning to Life’ factual videos to support adult learners; English and Maths resources for those with literacy and numeracy issues and newly arrived EU migrants or refugees and asylum seekers; computer and internet basics for a wide range of citizens who need to engage with the world of technology; and CBeebies for early years and parenting programmes. We believe these resources markedly improve the quality of life and educational opportunities for local people and communities with a wide variety of needs.across the city. Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence. The presence of the BBC in Glasgow contributes enormously to the social and economic development of the city. We support the de-centralisation of BBC production. Glasgow has benefited hugely, in terms of all its public purposes by the presence of BBC Scotland and local production of UK programmes (especially in the arts). The relocation of BBC Scotland’s headquarters to the riverside location has been instrumental in regenerating the surrounding area and providing opportunities to enhance the city’s cluster of creative and cultural industries (CCIs) which is the most significant in Scotland. A number of different definitions of the sector are in use. The Scottish Government data put Glasgow’s direct employment in the CCIs at 17.7k in 2013/14. This represented a 5.9% recovery from the low point of the recession in 2011. The CCI jobs in the Glasgow conurbation totalled 26.9k and accounted for 38.9% of CCI employment in Scotland. Glasgow’s strengths remain in music, the performing arts, broadcasting, film, architecture, books and press, and advertising. Glasgow’s creative and cultural economy has also benefited from the BBC’s employment in the city of significant number of media professionals. These add to the critical mass of creative people in the city and have a wide impact on the creative sector in the city, increasing confidence and ambition. Glasgow also has a strong track record in film, both in terms of location and production and we are very keen to further pursue the development of these functions, working in partnership with the BBC. The city has strong relationships within the BBC which add significant value. For example, there is a wide range of collaboration, from the formal contractual arrangement that sees the BBC Symphony Orchestra residing and performing in Glasgow's City Halls, to bespoke programming developed around major events such as Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games in 2014. The addition of 'BBC at the Quay' to the Festival 2014 City live zones, for example, proved to be a valuable asset, as a fully integrated part of the programme. Joint work on Glasgow 2014 went far beyond the normal range of broadcasting platforms and extended to developing additional programme content and delivery, serving both the broadcast audience and the City’s strategic aspirations. This reflects the major role a public-service broadcaster plays in supporting access for all to major sporting events. The culture and ethos of the BBC enabled all partners to go beyond simply televising the competition, fully capturing and projecting the vibrant atmosphere of the city in to local, national and international audiences. This contribution is massively important to Glasgow’s continuous transformation. In addition there have been many very successful collaborations using the City’s services or collections BBC programming content. For example the documentary on William Burrell, “The Man Who Collected the World”, narrated by Kirsty Wark.