"Millions of people enjoy the coverage of major
sporting and music events provided by the BBC. But, particularly
given the current economic conditions, the BBC has not done enough
to demonstrate that its coverage provides the best possible value
for money. When the BBC decides that it wants to cover a major
sporting or music event, it should carefully explore a range of
options, and set down clear objectives against which it can measure
its achievements after the event. Without that, the BBC will not
convince licence fee payers that their money has been well
spent."
Amyas Morse, Head of the National Audit Office, 28 January
2010
"The Trust commissioned this report as
part of our programme for assessing value for money and welcomes
the analysis that the NAO has produced. While covering high profile
sports and music events is a core part of the BBC's job - and,
as this report notes, the BBC's work in this area is valued by
millions of listeners and viewers - the Trust is emphatic that
value for money must be delivered in this area, as is essential
across the BBC.
"The report finds that the BBC has
succeeded in coming in very close to or under budget for all but
one of the major events considered. But it is also clear that there
are areas for improvement, particularly with regard to approval and
post-event review processes.
"The Trust notes that the Executive
has already implemented many of the NAO's recommendations, but
there is still more to do and we will review progress on a regular
basis in the context of the action plan that we have asked the
Executive to produce."
Jeremy Peat, BBC Trustee, 28 January
2010
The BBC Trust today (28 January 2010)
published an independent report commissioned from the National
Audit Office on the BBC's management of its coverage of major
sporting and music events.
The NAO review looked at the effectiveness of
the BBC's management of its coverage of major sporting and music
events, once the decision to cover an event had been taken. It
considered how the BBC initiates, plans, delivers and reviews this
coverage.
The report found that five out of the six
events examined finished under budget or no more than one per cent
over budget (with the sixth five per cent over budget). However,
the NAO recommends that the BBC improve the way it commissions
coverage of events and evaluates them post-broadcast. The Trust
accepts the NAO's recommendations, many of which have already been
acted upon and the remainder of which the Executive is responding
to.
Viewers and listeners generally valued the
coverage with, for example, 70 per cent of people giving the BBC
eight out of ten for its coverage of Euro 2008, while approximately
80 per cent of the UK population watched at least three minutes of
Olympic coverage in 2008.
Key points from the report and the Trust's
response to them include:
-
When the BBC commissions coverage of events,
and approves budgets, it does not identify intended benefits or
carry out a formal cost-benefit consideration of a range of
coverage options. This limits its ability to make informed
judgements about its use of funds. By not setting out what the
intended benefits are, and not carrying out systematic reviews, it
is difficult for the BBC to assess the success of its coverage and
the value for money it has secured.
The BBC Trust's view is that it is appropriate to carry out full
pre-event options analysis and post-event reviews for periodic
events, but considers that the detail required may vary for
recurring annual events where they represent "business as usual".
In all cases the extent of analysis and review must be
proportionate in terms of the benefits delivered, relative to the
time and resources involved. The Trust will require the Executive
to put forward further proposals to improve current
systems.
-
The BBC does not have a clear view of the
total budget for coverage of individual major music and sporting
events. Separate budgets are drawn up for each media platform and
some talent costs are approved separately as part of long-term
contracts.
The Trust's view is that the BBC Executive has already taken action
in this respect, including setting up Popular and Classical Music
Boards, which now ensure costs are collated and reviewed by a
single body. In sport, the 2012 Olympics are being organised and
managed through a dedicated programme overseen by the BBC Director
of London 2012. The Trust will require the Executive to consider
ways in which such arrangements could be applied more widely to
sporting events.
-
The BBC has used only limited and informal
internal benchmarking to compare the costs and production processes
of recurring and similar major sporting and music events it covers.
The BBC should identify events it covers that would allow for cost
comparisons and hold reviews periodically.
The BBC Trust's view is that benchmarking is important but it notes
that the BBC has encountered a reluctance from other broadcasters
to share information, making internal benchmarking particularly
important. To this end several pan-BBC groups have been set up to
allow sharing of best practice and costs. The Trust will keep these
arrangements under review.
Overall the Trust found that many of the NAO's
recommendations have already been implemented by the Executive
following the 2008 events studied. For the remaining
recommendations, the Trust is satisfied that the Executive's
proposed actions are an appropriate initial response to the NAO's
findings. The Trust will require the Executive to produce an action
plan, including a clear timetable, for implementation of the
recommendations. It will share this with the NAO and progress
against the plan will be reported back to the Trust.