Forty-Sixth Report - BBC Digital

Select Committee

Public Accounts Committee HC 736 28 April 2023

Report Status Government responded

Conclusions & Recommendations 30 items (4 recs)

Source View on Parliament website

Government Response (AI assessment · 30 of 30 classified)

Deferred 17

Not Addressed 13

Government response

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Forty sixth report from Session 2022-23 · published 27 Jun 2023

Read the government response ↗ Response on the tracker

Recommendations & Conclusions

17 results

2 Recommendation Deferred

Require BBC to confirm digital investment plan details and sufficiency of £500 million savings.

Recommendation

The BBC has a high-level plan in place for its £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment into digital, but it is unclear whether this will cover its new ambition to transition to an internet-only future in the 2030s. Following … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report, which includes this recommendation addressed to the BBC.

HM Treasury

3 Recommendation Deferred

Develop BBC plan for recruiting and retaining specialist digital staff, including succession planning.

Recommendation

The BBC faces a significant challenge in a very competitive market to recruit and retain staff with the right digital skills. The BBC had a 23% staff turnover rate in its digital product group as of June 2022. Shortages of … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government acknowledges the report and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations, implicitly passing responsibility to the BBC for this recommendation.

HM Treasury

4 Recommendation Deferred

Accelerate development of the BBC's personalisation strategy for audiences and public service purposes.

Recommendation

The BBC’s approach to how it will develop personalised services for audiences is not yet well developed. The BBC wants to personalise its products and services such that audiences can access content that is of interest to them, while also … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendation to develop a personalization strategy and report on its progress.

HM Treasury

7 Conclusion Deferred

Director-General clarifies BBC's future digital strategy, stressing no active switchover date.

Conclusion

At our evidence session in January 2023, the Director-General reiterated to us the need for urgency and how, by any forecast of the future, the vast majority of media consumption will be via the internet.8 However, he also told us … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government notes the report's publication and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the report's recommendations.

HM Treasury

9 Conclusion Deferred

BBC acknowledges and addresses NAO recommendations for future broadcast-internet service planning.

Conclusion

The BBC also acknowledged the four recommendations in the NAO report, one of which was to build on its December 2022 announcement and plan scenarios for how it could move between broadcast and internet services in the future. It said … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

10 Conclusion Deferred

BBC has a critical role in educating older, less tech-confident audiences on new technology.

Conclusion

We raised the question of education for people, typically older people, who are not familiar or confident with adopting what may be new technology to them. The BBC stressed its universality obligation to ensure that content is accessible. It also … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

11 Conclusion Deferred

BBC's universal service commitments threatened by inadequate broadband roll-out and affordability issues.

Conclusion

Good quality access to online services will rely of course on the roll-out of broadband, overseen by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. We noted that the BBC’s universal service commitments could not be met with current broadband … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

12 Conclusion Deferred

BBC's funding gap significantly increased to nearly £400 million by inflation.

Conclusion

Following its January 2022 licence fee settlement with government, the BBC estimated that it would have a funding gap of £285 million a year by 2027–28, and that it needs to deliver £500 million of annual savings and reinvestment to … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

13 Conclusion Deferred

BBC's product development spending increasing, with significant investment planned for digital transformation.

Conclusion

The BBC’s spending on its product development has also declined, from £109 million in 2018–19 to £98 million in 2021–22 (in 2021–22 prices). However, due to the renewed focus on the growth of its digital products, the BBC has budgeted … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

14 Conclusion Deferred

BBC's digital product development spending significantly lower than rival media organisations.

Conclusion

The BBC’s spending on digital product development is far lower than many other media organisations, many of which are digital-only, though direct spending comparisons are problematic. Additionally, the BBC has a range of universal service obligations that other media firms … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

21 Conclusion Deferred

BBC faces ongoing challenges attracting and retaining skilled technology staff in a competitive market.

Conclusion

The BBC told us that last year had been really difficult for attracting people. It cited the particular consequences of the covid pandemic for the technology market, with international organisations starting to offer remote working contracts, giving potential employees, for … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

22 Conclusion Deferred

BBC aims to attract brilliant talent at discounted rates through its public service mission.

Conclusion

The BBC considered there may be an increasing sense developing of people wanting to ‘reconnect with purpose’ and of that being a material consideration for people when choosing who they wished to work for; implying that the BBC could benefit … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

23 Conclusion Deferred

BBC making progress towards sign-in targets for enhanced personalised digital user experiences.

Conclusion

Over the past nine years, the BBC has signalled that it sees offering a more personalised experience as important to its future plans and key to this is sign-in, whereby users register for and use a BBC account to access … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government notes the report's publication and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the report's recommendations.

HM Treasury

24 Conclusion Deferred

BBC lacks a comprehensive, organisation-wide strategy for personalising digital user experiences.

Conclusion

Through sign-in, the BBC can collect personal information about its users to understand their preferences. When used alongside recommendation algorithms, this should provide a user experience tailored to their individual preferences. The BBC does not believe that it is possible … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will respond directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

25 Conclusion Deferred

BBC uses a combined approach of human curation and algorithms for content recommendations.

Conclusion

The BBC told us that it tried to make the sign-up process as simple as possible, while at the same time giving the user control, and was very conscious of accessibility and different digital familiarity levels.45 The BBC described to … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government acknowledges the report's publication and states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

29 Conclusion Deferred

BBC planning documents lack explicit strategy for managing reputational risks from increased data use.

Conclusion

The BBC welcomed the recommendations made by the NAO which included on managing potential data risk and said it was taking action on oversight and policy. It outlined some actions taken in recent years to improve its approach, stressed that … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury

30 Conclusion Deferred

BBC reports 27 data breaches since April 2020 with no ICO enforcement action.

Conclusion

The BBC told us it has had no data breaches that it has had to report to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) this financial year. It has reported 27 data breaches since April 2020 and told us that the ICO … Read more

Government Response Summary

The government states that the BBC will write directly to the Committee regarding the recommendations in the report.

HM Treasury