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
Steve Carson
Watch on SPTV
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 and social media—we constantly ensure that we are set up for future audience change. In that respect, I think that we are in advance of other broadcasters. More than five years ago, BBC Scotland integrated into multiplatform commissioning and production, to use a slightly technical term. Louise Thornton commissions right across the genres. Our head of news is in charge of news operations right across the genres. From that point of view, we are in advance of other broadcasters. With regard to future proofing, we are seeing really strong audience growth as a result of the investment that we have put into news online in Scotland, which has included investment in our bases around Scotland. Therefore, I think that we are set for the future. We are constantly making choices and decisions about how to make sure that we are on all services that our audiences want. Our consumption figures remain high. Every week, nearly nine in 10 Scots turn to BBC programming in Scotland. Across a month, the position is nearly universal. On average, people spend more than seven hours a week with BBC TV and BBC radio in Scotland. People turn to us—consumption is strong. The proof of the pudding is that people turn to the BBC. You are right in what you said about perception, which we keep a careful focus on. Our regulator and others such as the National Audit Office track how people perceive the BBC in Scotland. You are right to say that there are reports that show that people feel that Scotland is not portrayed as well as they would like. That is useful for us to know. However, other reports and surveys by the same regulator show a different picture. Last year, according to Ofcom’s annual report, 60 per cent of adults in Scotland had a positive impression of the BBC. The “Media Nations” report said that three quarters of audiences in Scotland were satisfied with BBC One; the figure was the same for the BBC Scotland channel. The figures that relate to how Scotland is portrayed speak directly to the mission that BBC Scotland has always had. We are here to make sure that Scottish stories, places and lives are reflected to audiences in Scotland, and that we reflect Scotland to the rest of the UK and, crucially, to the rest of the world. We are not complacent when we see those figures; we know that we have work to do. We look at that as a form of tracking. It also helps us to make the case for investment in Scotland—we have talked about the growth figures there. For a number of years, BBC Scotland’s mission has been to reflect Scotland, but it is now evident that that joins up with the wider BBC strategy across the UK. When we see figures about representation and portrayal, we focus closely on them, because they show why we need to keep up investment, to do more and to make sure that we are on all the platforms and services that our audience is on. We need to join together on that. As I said, in recent years, we have seen historic levels of investment and historic levels of co-operation between BBC Scotland and the BBC content and BBC audio divisions. Across the UK, there has been direct investment in Scotland. A few weeks ago, I was with the BBC news network technology innovation team, which moved to Scotland just over a year ago. It is now expanding into America. It makes global content right here in Scotland. We recently announced the creation of a network BBC audio unit in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Big titles and new posts are moving here, and overall content spend is growing. That is driven, in part, by our mission: we must make sure that audiences in Scotland feel that they are represented. 09:15
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...