Memorandum submitted by BBC Scotland
The BBC has a duty to serve all parts of the
UK, and to reflect the cultures, needs and interests of all its
licence payers. It seeks to do so in three key ways:
— By providing programmes and services
intended to meet the needs and interests of audiences in different
parts of the UK—through programmes provided on national
and regional versions of its television channels, through its
range of national and local radio stations, and increasingly through
a series of local websites.
— By ensuring that programme-making
talent from all parts of the UK make a proper contribution to
the BBC's UK-wide services.
— By developing a positive and active
presence in communities.
This range of activity ensures that the BBC
can fulfil its aims of:
— Serving the whole nation, in all
its diversity.
— Providing value for money for all
its audiences.
— Supporting local creative economies.
— Reflecting the cultures of the whole
UK.
— Bringing the nation together.
— Making a positive difference to people's
lives, wherever they live.
THE BBC'S
ACTIVITIES IN
THE NATIONS,
REGIONS AND
COMMUNITIES OF
THE UK
Scotland
— Production for BBC television and
radio networks.
— Local television programming across
the full range of genres for transmission on BBC One Scotland
and BBC Two Scotland.
— Radio Scotland—an English-language
radio service for Scotland, and Radio nan Gaidheal—a Gaelic-language
radio service for Scotland.
— bbc.co.uk in Scotland, providing
online news and information, seven Where I Live sites and
BBC Alba, a Gaelic-language website.
— A range of community services including
a National Storytelling project.
English Regions
— Production for BBC television and
radio networks.
— Regional television news, current
affairs and political programming.
— 40 local radio services.
— 42 Where I Live websites.
— A range of community services including
five BBC Open Centres and 10 BBC buses.
Wales
— Production for BBC television and
radio networks.
— Production of at least 10 hours per
week of Welsh-language television programming for S4C.
— Local television programming across
the full range of genres, for transmission on BBC One Wales, BBC
Two Wales and the digital service BBC 2W.
— Radio Wales—an English-language
radio service for Wales, and Radio Cymru—a Welsh-language
radio service for Wales.
— bbc.co.uk in Wales, providing online
news and information and five Where I Live sites.
— BBC Cymru'r Byd—the Welsh-language
online news and information service.
— A range of community services including
Community Studios, a bus and the Digital Storytelling project.
Northern Ireland
— Production for BBC television and
radio networks.
— Local television programming across
the full range of genres for transmission on BBC One NI, BBC Two
NI and the digital service BBC 2NI.
— Radio Ulster and Radio Foyle, radio
services for Northern Ireland.
— bbc.co.uk in Northern Ireland which
provides online news and information.
— A range of community services including
a community bus.
Despite the BBC's long history of activity in
the nations and regions, at the beginning of the current Charter
period it was still viewed largely as London-centric. It has been
a key aim since then to address this, and to ensure that the BBC
truly serves and reflects the nations, regions and communities
that make up the UK.
PROGRAMMES FOR
THE NATIONS
AND REGIONS
The licence fee settlement in 2000 allowed the
BBC to make a step-change in its approach in the nations and regions.
The lasting results of this expenditure are still coming through,
but some key changes have been:
— Planning for and responding to political
devolution, with an additional £20 million invested in news
and current affairs programming, including coverage of the devolved
institutions. Today for example, in addition to substantial coverage
on news and current affairs programmes, coverage of the proceedings
of the Scottish Parliament features on Holyrood Live, broadcast
twice weekly on BBC Two Scotland. This service for the nations
is supported by and reflected on BBC Parliament and through the
BBC's network television, radio and online news coverage, ensuring
that the business of the parliament and assemblies is brought
to a UK-wide audience.
— Investing an additional £50
million a year from the current licence fee settlement into programmes,
services and activities in the nations, regions and communities.
This includes enriching services in the indigenous languages of
the UK: the BBC has been at the forefront of the development of
the new Gaelic Media Service, in collaboration with the Scotland
Office and with other broadcasters and programme makers in Scotland.
— Devolving more decision-making to
the nations, as well as resources, to ensure that programmes and
services more fully reflect the needs and interests of the audiences
for which they are intended. In Scotland, twice-weekly drama River
City was launched and is attracting average audiences of around
500,000.
— Engaging in innovative ways of connecting
with communities, including BBC Open Centres, community buses
and local partnerships delivering education and training in media
literacy.
Technology meanwhile is allowing the BBC to
serve licence payers better. The investment of £17 million
to place all national and regional TV services unencrypted on
digital satellite ensured that people can watch their BBC wherever
they are. For example, a Scot in London can now watch Reporting
Scotland on satellite TV.
The BBC's increasing commitment to the nations,
regions and communities has come at a time when the commitment
of the commercial sector can be seen to be waning. There is a
risk that these commercial trends will continue in the years ahead,
with increasing media centralisation around London. The BBC's
role in supporting audiences and the media industry outside London
over the next Charter period is therefore likely to become even
more important.
PROGRAMME PRODUCTION
IN THE
NATIONS AND
REGIONS
The BBC's substantial investment in programme
production around the UK delivers a number of public benefits:
ensuring that its TV and radio networks better represent the diversity
of the UK; ensuring that its services benefit from a diverse pool
of creative talent; and supporting, nurturing and developing that
talent and so supporting local creative economies.
The picture has changed substantially over the
period of the current Charter:
— The value of programmes produced
outside London for network television has never been higher, rising
from £151 million in 1996-97 to £277 million in 2003-04.
— The value of the contribution of
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to network television production
has more than doubled, from £39 million in 1996-97 to £84
million in 2003-04.
— Increasing numbers of high-profile
and high-impact programmes on the BBC's main TV networks have
come from outside London. Key examples from Scotland include Monarch
of the Glen, 2000 Acres of Sky, Hamish Macbeth, Tinsel Town, Mrs
Brown, Rab C Nesbitt and Restoration. Scotland has
become a recognised centre of expertise in Children's programming,
providing 20% of the BBC's overall output, and in Drama.
A study conducted by EKOS Ltd on BBC Scotland
underlined the fact that the doubling of its income over the past
five years resulted in an output of £177 million to the wider
Scottish economy. Since 1998 direct BBC employment has increased
by 44% to 1,442 and the impact of the organisation on the Scottish
creative and programme-making sector has resulted in the generation
of the full-time equivalent of 3,500 jobs.
FUTURE PLANS
There are clear signs already of increasing
audience approval resulting from the enhancement of its activities
in the nations and regions, and the BBC intends to build on this
in the future. In its document, Building public value,
published on 29 June 2004, the BBC outlined a vision of its future
that had at its heart a clear commitment to programming for and
from the Nations and Regions of the UK.
— The BBC has pledged to increase its
total expenditure in the Nations and Regions to more than £1
billion during the next 10 year Charter period (ie 2007 to 2016)—an
increase of around 35% on the present total.
— It will also increase the number
of its public service staff based outside London from the present
figure of 42% to at least 50% over the same 10 year period.
— Thirdly, it has undertaken to devolve
around a fifth of all BBC network programme commissioning out
of London—in a radical shift from the present situation,
where virtually no network commissioning happens outside London.
Central to these pledges is a strategy to increase
the localness of BBC services across the whole UK and the proportion
of network programmes made in different parts of the UK. In Scotland,
as in the other nations, core services will be strengthened and
new regional and local services developed on television, radio
and online. The commitment to Gaelic programming will be reinforced,
helping future generations to learn the language by providing
learning resources across all media platforms. The BBC will also
continue to invest in the creativity of audiences by creating
more opportunities for them to tell their own stories on the BBC's
different platforms, while building on the increased profile and
volume of production from Scotland to enrich all the BBC's UK
networks.
2 July 2004
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