9 Accepted

In February 2025, the BBC announced its move to a new international governance model and...

Conclusion
In February 2025, the BBC announced its move to a new international governance model and we asked the BBC about progress with its new international structure. The BBC told us that only one of six regional director roles was permanently filled at the time of our evidence session, with recruitment under way for the others; it described early benefits in ideas flow and accountability but said it was early days for measurable effects.17 On BBC Arabic, given concerns about impartiality and trust, the BBC told us that is had tightened oversight, including appointing a regional director for the Middle East, creating a unified Head of Service for Arabic across TV, radio and digital, recruiting an Arabic speaking Head of Editorial Standards and Quality, rolling out new training, and overhauling specific formats, such as the newspaper review.18 13 Q 14 14 C&AG’s Report, paras 12, 2.20-2.22 15 C&AG’s Report, paras 2.9-2.10 16 Qq 16, 51 17 Q 51; C&AG’s Report, para 10 18 Q 47 9 Measuring value for money
Government Response Summary
The BBC agrees with the committee's observation and is accelerating the implementation of its regional governance structure, aiming to finalise Regional Director appointments by September 2026. They are also strengthening accountability mechanisms, enhancing trust tracking, and refining disinformation assessment mechanisms by December 2026.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government Accepted
1.1 The BBC agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: December 2026 1.2 Since the Committee hearing, the BBC has accelerated its implementation of the regional governance structure across its six global news regions (Africa, Americas, APAC, Europe, MENA, South Asia). Two Regional Directors (RDs) are now appointed, with three more in the hiring process. The BBC expects to finalised these appointments by September 2026. One RD appointment has been delayed until Autumn 2026 to re-assess HQ location for safety and operational readiness. In addition, the accountability mechanisms around the RDs are further being strengthened through: • appointments in areas such as HR, Finance, Strategy & Delivery, Operations; • the creation of robust decision-making and governance processes and forums at the regional and global levels; and • streamlining of editorial decision making across the entirety of the BBC’s international operations, in line with the implementation of the international governance structure. 1.3 The BBC continues to be the most trusted source globally. The tracking of trust and other reputational metrics is being enhanced to understand better regional variations. This will enable baseline setting and monitoring as the international governance structure is fully implemented in the regions. 1.4 Separately, a new workstream is refining mechanisms to better assess the extent of disinformation and misinformation and track the spread of competing narratives, especially in critical markets. This will enable an even stronger BBC response to the global mis/disinformation crisis, using top-tier OSINT/digital forensics tools.
Addressee Bodies
HM Treasury
Timeline
Recommendation age 0.4 yrs
Report published 13 Mar 2026