Committee
Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee 18 January 2024
18 Jan 2024 · S6 · Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee
Item of business
BBC Annual Report
Alan Dickson (BBC)
Watch on SPTV
I will start by offering a few comments, after which I will ask Steve Carson to pitch in. We are proud of the fact that it is a record year for BBC spend in Scotland: £262 million, against last year’s figure of £241 million. That is an increase of £21 million. The percentage spend of licence fee income in Scotland is now 86 per cent, which is up from 77 per cent last year—an increase of 9 percentage points. We are really proud of that. What that represents from a BBC executive perspective is Steve Carson and Louise Thornton not just spending more on local services and content for audiences specifically in Scotland but working with our network commissioners to deliver more growth. In fact, that is the largest number behind that increase—it is about £15 million. Of course, that feeds into the BBC’s total income. Last year, that was a record of £5.7 billion: £3.7 billion from the licence fee but also £2 billion from our commercial business. Scotland is an important part in that number. With regard to the question of raising that income even further, I would like to make two points. One is that there is a lovely tendency when you look at an annual review to think that everything is static from one year to the next. Of course, everyone on this committee knows that that has not been the case, given the economy and the inflation that we have faced. In fact, the annual accounts year that we are looking at is the first year of the licence fee freeze. We estimated that that would be a funding pressure of £285 million. In reality, with higher inflation, the figure is more than £400 million, so there is significant pressure. Therefore, we are actually really proud to see that growth from Scotland, because the savings that we have had to make are not the same for every division across the BBC. Pushing that further means continuing the great partnership with network colleagues to see whether more drama or other content can be produced from Scotland. The last thing to say is that, because of the economy of the BBC, it is important to note that viewers and listeners—all our audience in Scotland—enjoy content that is not represented in those numbers, such as “EastEnders” and major sporting events such as the Olympics and world cups, which do not contribute towards Scotland’s spend. Scottish audiences really value those things. Sitting even above that, of course, the licence fee has to pay for the World Service, which costs £250 million. Therefore, there are real ambitions—and a strategy across the UK, which Steve Carson might want to talk about—to go further, but against that backdrop. That is why the numbers in the annual accounts are particularly impressive.
In the same item of business
The Convener
SNP
Our second agenda item is our annual evidence session on the annual report of the BBC, which has a firm place in the committee’s calendar. We are delighted t...
Steve Carson (BBC Scotland)
It is a pleasure to be here, before the Scottish Parliament’s committee with responsibility for culture, and I am delighted to have alongside me the BBC’s ch...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you for that introduction—and for allowing me to host a showing of “Dr Who” at Christmas time at the Parliament on behalf of the BBC. It was enjoyed by...
Alan Dickson (BBC)
I will start by offering a few comments, after which I will ask Steve Carson to pitch in. We are proud of the fact that it is a record year for BBC spend in...
The Convener
SNP
Thank you for that. Wales and Northern Ireland are sitting at 111 per cent. Does that additional investment come from a UK pot of money?
Alan Dickson
Again, it will be a mixture of those two factors of how many network commissions are going through Wales and Northern Ireland and the local content. The infr...
Steve Carson
I will put a little more flesh on the bones of those numbers. On that metric that is published in the annual report and accounts of licence fee raised and sp...
The Convener
SNP
That is helpful. Thank you very much. We will move to questions from colleagues, and I will bring in Keith Brown first.
Keith Brown (Clackmannanshire and Dunblane) (SNP)
SNP
The total expenditure in the UK is around £6 billion, more than a third of which is raised from sources other than the licence fee. What is the equivalent fi...
Alan Dickson
Steve Carson or Louise Thornton might want to talk about that. The commercial side of the business, which is growing—it has surpassed £2 billion for the very...
Steve Carson
BBC Scotland is clearly funded by the licence fee and is on the public service side of the BBC. Within that, we have several mechanisms for bringing in incom...
Louise Thornton (BBC Scotland)
The way in which my commissioning team is set up is that each commissioner looks after a certain genre and we have point-to-point relationships with the genr...
Alan Dickson
It is true to say that a relatively small percentage of the £2 billion commercial income that the BBC generates is derived from Scotland.
Keith Brown
SNP
I expect that it is, but, for the committee, in trying to come to an idea about the fairness of the apportionment of funds, it is an important figure. If it ...
Alan Dickson
Previous directors general have appeared before the committee, Mr Brown, so I imagine that—
Keith Brown
SNP
It was not so much about the committee. The meeting that happened at Westminster was for a particular political party. Is that courtesy extended to all parties?
Alan Dickson
I am sure that the director general would be open to communication. If there are any issues or concerns to put to him, I am sure that he would respond accord...
Keith Brown
SNP
I will make one last point. The table that we have says that the spend as a percentage of the licence fee collected is 86 per cent. You referred to that figu...
Alan Dickson
No. First and foremost, we always look at our approach and strategy to address the need to serve audiences across the UK, particularly in Scotland, as well a...
Steve Carson
There are a few things to unpack in your question, Mr Brown. On the licence fee raised and spent, we would all agree that if every nation spent 100 per cent ...
Alexander Stewart (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con)
Con
Good morning, and thank you for your comments so far. The record spend is very welcome and shows the commitment that is there. There have been some real suc...
Steve Carson
When it comes to the broader picture in relation to whether we are organised and have the right balance of resources across our services—TV, radio, online an...
Alexander Stewart
Con
Your new concepts, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, seem to be another way to capture people who come back to watch or listen to content at another time. That is ...
Steve Carson
That is another reason why we are well set for the future. If we look back at the creation of the Scotland channel, it was always conceived as being what we ...
Louise Thornton
That is absolutely the right question. We know that we are in a very competitive market, but we are also lucky to have a huge amount of tracking data, which ...
Steve Carson
I can give another example of our approach to working across services—one that shows how we are positioned in both places. You may be aware of a “Disclosure”...
The Convener
SNP
Were those online articles being read on the news section of the BBC website?
Steve Carson
BBC News Scotland has its own home page and we have indexes for all parts of Scotland, but that is also available to audiences around the UK.
The Convener
SNP
Thank you. Neil Bibby has some questions.
Neil Bibby (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Good morning to the panel. You spoke earlier about growth online and of news online in particular. While that is welcome—that is how society is moving forwar...