Letter from Sir Michael Lyons, Chairman,
BBC Trust to Mr Mike Hall MP
BBC ANNUAL REPORT
AND ACCOUNTS
At the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee
hearing last Tuesday you raised the issue of the regional background
of the BBC Trustees.
As you know, appointments are a matter for the
Government, not the BBC. For most of the Trustees there is no
location specific criteria for their appointment, with the exception
of the Trustees representing the four UK nations who are required
to have either a business or residential base in that country.
However, both DCMS and I support the appointments of Trustees
from different backgrounds and interests, including those from
all around the UK.
Over half of all Trustees are based outside
London and the Home Counties. The four National Trustees are all
based in the areas they represent, with one each in Midlothian,
Powys, Antrim, and the Wirral. Of the remaining seven Trustees,
five are based in London and the South East, one in Cambridge
and one in Wiltshire. You may be aware that I live in Birmingham.
As well as drawing on Trustees' national and
regional backgrounds and the work of its four Audience Councils,
the Trust undertakes a range of activities and research around
the nations to ensure that it can understand and reflect the views
of all the different communities that make up the UK.
15 July 2008
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