Supplementary memorandum submitted by
Ofcom
During our recent appearance at the joint meeting
of the Select Committees you asked me about whether I was aware
of CBBC using children from acting schools as participants in
their shows.
In November last year we investigated the Smile
programme which is broadcast on CBeeebies following a complaint,
amongst several, that children were used from acting schools.
To date we have received no similar complaint
in relation to CBBC. We have also checked with the BBC Trust.
They are similarly only aware of the CBeebies case.
The outcome of the CBeebies complaint was as
follows. Having investigated the complaint the BBC confirmed to
us that typically over 90% of the children who participate in
Smile are from the audience who contact the programme by phone,
letter, email or via its website.
Members of the programme's production team do
visit and film on a weekly basis at many schools and children's
groups and they invite children to apply to participate in the
programme. Among the groups visited by the production team was
Stagecoach Theatre Arts Saturday Schools (of which there are 600
in the UK with 40,000 children attending). The BBC confirmed that
these children were therefore not "supplied by an agency"
and no fee was either offered or requested.
If you have any more information about CBBC
we will certainly look into the matter. However, without any more
specific details I'm sure you can understand that it is difficult
to investigate the points you raised in the Committee. I have
also sent a copy of this letter to the Clerk of the Committee.
May 2008
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