Culture, Media and Leisure Sector

The Culture, Media and Leisure sector plays an important role in the quality of life for everyone. The sector covers the arts, sport, the National Lottery, tourism, libraries, museums and galleries, broadcasting, creative industries including film and the music industry, press freedom and regulation, licensing, gambling and the historic environment.

The National Audit Office’s work in this sector includes auditing the annual financial statements of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, and the many public bodies which it sponsors including the British Library, the various organisations responsible for distributing lottery money to the good causes, the Olympic Delivery Authority, Arts Council England, English Heritage and the Gambling Commission to name but a few.

We also undertake a wide range of value for money examinations across the whole sector.  For example, recent reports cover the BBC, the preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and on the Government’s preparations for Digital Switchover.

Our work at the BBC

The National Audit Office carries out its work at the BBC under the terms of the July 2006 agreement between the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the BBC [Footnote 1]. This agreement requires the BBC Trust to:

• discuss with the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) the possible scope of its audit programme;
• agree with the C&AG the information needed to conduct such a discussion and how it is to be accessed;
• decide upon its VFM programme;
• confirm with the C&AG what studies the NAO will undertake at the BBC, although the Trust cannot compel the C&AG to carry out any study at the BBC.

All studies under this programme are now reported to the BBC Trust’s Finance and Strategy Committee and subsequently laid before Parliament, together with any response from the BBC Executive and the BBC Trust.

1.  [back from footnote 1] Broadcasting: An Agreement Between Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the British Broadcasting Corporation, July 2006, Cm 6872

Features

Preparing for Sporting Success at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond

On 6 July 2005, the International Olympic Committee announced that London would host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
 

Read full article: Preparing for Sporting Success at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and beyond

Making grants efficiently in the culture, media and sport sector

In 2006-07, the nine principal grant-makers in the culture media and sport sector, sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, received some £2 billion in funding from the Exchequer and the National Lottery and awarded grants totalling £1.8 billion.

Read full article: Making grants efficiently in the culture, media and sport sector

Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Progress report June 2008

The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games were awarded to London in July 2005, leaving seven years to prepare. With three years now elapsed, the National Audit Office has reported on the progress made in preparing for the Games.

Read full article: Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Progress report June 2008

Preparing for digital switchover

In September 2005 the Government, after consultation with the broadcasting industry and Ofcom, announced a programme to replace analogue television broadcasts with digital television, region by region, between 2008 and 2012.

Read full article: Preparing for digital switchover